About Manu (Founder)
Shoes to me are an inspiration. I have quite a collection... yet my interests have changed and evolved (as I age): lower heels, flats, sneakers. High-quality wearable fashion shoes up ‘til 9 cm now interest me.
Personal & Studies
I’m Manu, born and raised in Brazil... yet lived a bit here and there. Since my teenage years I felt like I needed to have some experience abroad. I was lucky to have amazing parents who supported me in every possible way, giving me wings to “fly solo” and follow my dreams.
My journey has been – so far – quite an adventure, and a bit longer than planned (+15 years up-to-date!). I lived in Miami in 2001, then in Europe in 2003 – after studying Business Adm. and graduating in Architecture – to learn languages in Cannes, Florence, and Barcelona, while travelling and meeting people. In 2004 I went to NY to study Fashion Design (Parsons) and work in RTW. I moved to Milan in 2006, got a master’s degree in Brand Management (Marangoni), and in 2008 my first job in shoes merchandising.
After 10 career-focused years in Italy, my husband and I got married and moved together to Bulgaria for his work in banking. We had dated long distance for 9 years (he had been 6 years in Vienna, 3 in Kiev), and it was about time…! I quit my job, thinking it’d be a good break for me as well, to focus on my personal projects.
For the past year I have been taking Bulgarian lessons and took the time to recover/start a few old/new hobbies: back to playing the piano, the guitar, yoga, Pilates, while introducing painting and pole dancing into my “new” life. It has been some sort of “sabbatical”, with lots of thinking and interesting travels… time is a real luxury!
...But what next? In the meantime, the idea for the Till Nine Blog & Community was born. The scope here is to focus our attention on lower fashionable yet wearable heels, and hopefully develop a related brand in a near future (…heels ‘til 9cm, to be worn from 9am ‘til 9pm). Like the idea? Hope so!
Career
In Brazil I graduated and worked briefly as architect/interior designer, but I never felt like it was my calling. Fashion intrigued me way more.
So, after moving to the US to pursue a Fashion Design degree, I started off as a design intern for Anna Sui. Through this job I met James Coviello, who designed her knitwear label and had his own rtw & knits collection. I was later hired by him and worked in his company for 1 1/2 years, participating anywhere from design to production to sales. Great experience, nice team, and lots of fun running around in NYC.
In Italy, I worked initially for a sportswear company (project of my master’s) before entering the beautiful “accessories world”. I then worked 5 years for Sergio Rossi / Gucci Group, 3 1/2 years Armani, and > 1 year for Cavalli, building up a career as Luxury Shoes & Leather Goods Merchandising Manager.
Sergio Rossi is a famous Italian-made shoe brand, but the structure/depts. in the Milan headquarters were small and full of young, smart, and motivated people... and that was the beauty of it. Working within the Merchandising dept. put me quickly in contact with the whole company on a worldwide level, and with true shoe experts from all over (some of which I invited to share their precious knowledge here!). I was so lucky to be part of such an amazing group and its magical atmosphere... so shoes naturally became a passion.
After a while, I felt ready for a new challenge. I was considering moving to Bottega Veneta or Louis Vuitton EU, both of which would have been great choices. But along came Giorgio Armani, with a major development plan for Accessories, and an experienced Shoe dept. Director who was looking for a shoe-specialist-merchandiser. I remember his words during my interview (probably the hardest I have ever done...): “Good shoe merchandisers are the hardest to find”. As a larger and more complex company, working there was truly important for my growth and to improve my soft skills... not to mention the opportunity to work with Mr. Armani in person (I’d need too many pages to even describe the honor).
I had moved from Design to Merchandising to learn the business aspects of a brand, gaining confidence to eventually launch my own brand. As the years passed by, I truly fell in love with the Merchandising job, and it became my sole focus at the time. After all, it is where creativity and rationality meet – and the mix suited me...
But the more you know, the more you feel you still have so much to learn. It is a never-ending process. Yet in 2017, while briefly working for Cavalli, I decided it was “time for a change”, for a break, for new goals. I wanted to be with my husband and recover/develop my original plans (almost forgotten by then), so I moved to Sofia.
My plan now is to - career-wise - dedicate my time to consulting (Shoe Merchandising) and research/writing, a passion I have always had but never truly explored. This shoe blog/community will hopefully gather interesting info for shoe lovers, like us... and perhaps – who knows? – we can all somehow contribute to the world of shoes. And... when time is right again, Till Nine may develop into a brand.
Shoes to me
...Are an inspiration. I have quite a collection. Yet my interests have changed and evolved (as I age): lower heels, flats, sneakers. High-quality wearable fashion shoes up ‘til 9 cm now interest me. The present trends are also favoring lower heels. Thus, my collection gets bigger as my needs diverse and amplify... and my 10 cm (or up) heels wave at me from their boxes, sadly.... I still open them up, dust them off once in a while, give them some love. I don’t expect to be understood by normal people. I trust though shoe-people will get it... ;)
Each pair reminds me of a year/collection, an episode, or a career tale/story. I still wear higher heels on rare occasions... mainly “after 9” (for a short time though!).
Beautiful shoes have been – and are still – made by high-skilled artisans. Since my first factory visit (Sergio Rossi), I knew a passion had been born – the quality, the smell of new shoes, all those infinite production steps that precede them. I have kept all my shoes over these years, most still in their original boxes. Shoes to me, as you can see, are an obsession – a harmless one, I hope...
