Meet Our "What She Said" Featured Speakers

The popular What She Said event series will return on Thursday, October 13th to W Bellevue featuring trailblazing women in fashion in partnership with Bellevue Fashion Week. Designed to bring powerful women together for candid conversations that cultivate community and drive progress, the event will include a dynamic panel discussion led by fashion publicist Sydney Mintle of Gossip & Glamour, a curated shopping marketplace featuring local women-owned brands, signature cocktails, brand activations, music by DJ Mixxtress, and immersive photo opportunities produced by The Bellevue Collection. Featured panelists include entrepreneur Elisa Yip of the luxury knitwear brand Sskein, Brittany Sierra of The Sustainable Fashion Forum, jewelry designer Valerie Madison, and fashion consultant Lauren Pistoia.

“It's exciting to be part of the growing fashion community in Seattle,” says Elisa Yip, “With the amount of talent in the city, we have an incredible opportunity to gather and manifest our creativity and share ideas."

The fashion industry is a competitive and ever-evolving place; these inspirational women will share their entrepreneurial journeys, valuable tips for success, and what they wished they knew when they started.

Featured Speakers

Valerie Madison, Valerie Madison Fine Jewelry

Valerie Madison is the Owner and Creative Director of Valerie Madison Fine Jewelry, an e-commerce and brick-and-mortar store in the Madrona neighborhood of Seattle. She oversees all production, creative photography direction, marketing efforts, and her team of 12 full-time employees. As one of the only Black Latina fine jewelry designers in the world, Valerie brings a unique and modern perspective that challenges the fine jewelry landscape. She has built her business from the ground up, with no outside investors, familial connections, or prior experience, to a team of over a dozen women, a flagship storefront, and a thriving e-commerce business. As Creative Director, Valerie is the sole designer and leads a skilled production team in the creation of her designs. With her keen eye for detail and passion for individuality, her designs celebrate not only the beauty of life and love but also the natural world and the stunning gemstones that come from it.

Brittany Sierra, The Sustainable Fashion Forum

Passionate about the sustainable fashion movement but unsure where she fit in the conversation, Brittany recognized a lack in conversation and community between sustainable fashion enthusiasts and industry leaders. In 2017, Brittany responded with the Sustainable Fashion Forum, a wildly popular online platform and growing national conference. Brittany's naturally curious and courageous nature, coupled with a background in public relations and digital marketing, resulted in the Sustainable Fashion Forum rapidly gaining global visibility and a reputation for being a respected source of information from multiple perspectives.

Elisa Yip, Sskein

With over twenty years of knitwear design experience, Elisa has developed a refined aesthetic while working with luxury fibers from across the globe. After her studies at New York's Fashion Institute of Technology and Polìmoda in Florence Italy, she spent her career designing for fashion brands and high end retailers in New York, across Asia and finally Seattle, where she settled with her family. During her career, she has seen the impact "fast fashion" is having on the environment and created SSKEIN to serve as a a sustainable knitwear brand made with purpose and integrity.

Lauren Pistoia, Fashion Marketing Consultant

Lauren has spent the past 10+ years working in marketing strategy and talent management across the fashion and arts industry. She started her career at a talent representation agency where she was the agent to Fashion Designer Brandon Maxwell, Photographers Nan Goldin and Katja Rahlwes, and Editor-in-Chief of The Gentlewoman, Penny Martin. She played an integral role in the development and growth of Brandon Maxwell's eponymous luxury fashion brand, and eventually moved in-house to lead the brand's marketing strategy, drove philanthropic initiatives, and brokered deals in the media and entertainment space for the brand and the designer himself. She recently moved to Seattle and is consulting for brands. In and out of work, Lauren is passionate about engaging the arts community through philanthropic initiatives. She served on the board for performance artist Meredith Monk's "House Foundation for the Arts" and has developed scholarships for children from underrepresented communities looking to pursue knowledge or a career in the arts.

Sydney Mintle, Gossip & Glamour

Sydney Mintle has never not been working in fashion. An early role in retail management opened doors to corporate apparel production; while still in her 20s she gained first-hand experience with design, sourcing, manufacturing, merchandising, marketing, sales, social compliance, and styling on a global and local level. When the moment came to direct her own path, she chose the heart of the industry—its people. In 2010, Sydney launched Gossip & Glamour in Seattle, quickly becoming the city’s top-rated resource for strategic fashion PR and communication, business development, DEI, social media, influencer relations, branding, and partnerships. “Local designers and boutiques are the cornerstones of our community; the ripple effect of independent entrepreneurs and creatives is powerful in markets like ours,” she says. With an emphasis on personal and professional connections, Sydney is a frequent speaker, moderator, mentor, and expert guest. Past panels, presentations, and collaborations include Neiman Marcus, W Seattle, Museum of History and Industry, Fashion Group International, UW Foster School of Business, and PreCycle Innovation Challenge—a Zero Waste Washington and Seattle Good Business network initiative.

Non-Profit Partner

A portion of the proceeds from every What She Said ticket sold will benefit Ada Developers Academy, a Seattle-founded non-profit that offers cost-free coding classes to women and gender-expansive adults. Learn more about their work here.

Get Tickets

The event will also feature a curated marketplace featuring women-owned brands including:

Event sponsors include W Bellevue, Gossip & Glamour, The Bellevue Collection, Bellevue Fashion Week, and Trophy Cupcakes.

About Gossip & Glamour

Gossip & Glamour is a Seattle-based marketing and public relations firm that works exclusively with beauty, fashion, and lifestyle clients. Founded in 2010, Gossip & Glamour has helped hundreds of brands with traditional PR, lifestyle events, and influencer management. www.gossip-glamour.com

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