EP 167: MERCHANDISER ROUNDTABLE WITH FABIAN NAVEJAS, SUSAN ESAYIAN, AND ERIC VELEZ

The Retail Whore

This week’s episode is sponsored by @salesproducersinc, a progressive business to business company representing Gift, Lifestyle, Fashion, Personal Care, & Kids lines selling to retail stores with a mission to create long-lasting, profitable relationships by adding significant value to our Customer, Vendor, and Team partners. For more information, check out their social media or website www.salesproducersinc.com
Susan Esayian is a native of the Pacific Northwest, and she’s been working in the gift industry professionally for 26 years in a variety of roles. From merchandising Kitchen-Aid mixers, buying fine tableware and even carrying a four-poster bed up a mountainside for a catalog photoshoot... and that was just in the first 10 years!
Since then, she’s kept herself immersed in the gift industry as a buyer for a hospital gift shop and merchandiser for several wholesale showrooms and retailers. Retail is not just a job for Susan, but a career that she’s inspired by and passionate about more every day.
Fabian Navejas was born and raised in LA and is a self-taught creative leader and a bona fide retail nerd. With more than 25 years of multi-unit management experience in the retail home furnishings industry, he still feels he’s in the beginning stages of his career. Currently, Fabian is a gift merchandiser and buyer for A.C. Vroman's, Inc., one of the oldest independent bookstores in the country, is 128 years old. A.C. Vroman's operates two bookstores in the Pasadena area and owns Book Soup in West Hollywood, CA, another independent bookstore founded in 1975.
In addition to working at A.C. Vromans, Fabian, is also the founder of Onederkam.com, which is a small eCommerce gift and home accessories store. He also occasionally works on a variety of TV productions, doing everything from set dressing to working in the props department to being a shopper for the art
department. Fabian also worked at IKEA North America in several markets and as a district manager for
Z Gallerie.
Eric Velez is a confident, competent, and imaginative interior designer with extensive experience in residential and commercial spaces ranging from 300k to 2m. With an excellent commercial approach to solving problems, Eric has a proven ability to create fresh solutions for the renovation of interior spaces or new construction.
During his journey as an interior designer for the past 8 years, Eric has succeeded in all design projects, no matter how large or small. He believes that by having a broad understanding of people’s living situations and needs in their everyday lives at home, you’re able to design great solutions.
In this merchandiser roundtable, we’re chatting live from Las Vegas and digging into what everyone’s working on. We also talk about how retail is a business of relationships and how interacting with others live at a show enhances the whole experience. Our roundtable discussion also includes a little about how each guest built their career and some really funny stories along the way!
What’s Inside:

• A roundtable discussion on the world of retail and merchandising
• The value of the live-show experience
• How each member started and grew their career

Mentioned In This Episode:
Susan Esayian on Instagram
Onederkam Website
Onederkam on Instagram
Eric Velez on Instagram