THE STORYTELLER

In August of 1995, Chicago native Melissa Skoog set her sights on the Big Apple, giving herself a tight, one-month time frame to move to Manhattan and find a job. It so happened that a family friend had made introductions to Vogue’s advertising department, thus setting her career on an unstoppable path.

Skoog’s interview roster read like Women’s Wear Daily’s Best Dressed List, including famed stylist, Elizabeth Saltzman, who almost 20 years later is still at the top of her career. Spoiler alert: Skoog didn’t get that job, so she returned home to Chicago and began working in office management. Little did she know that this “failure” would lay the foundation of a legendary PR career.

Six months later, her phone rang with a call from Condé Nast— if Skoog could manage to uproot her life and move to New York within three weeks, she had a job as a rover between the magazines’ departments. On her first day of work, Skoog learned Anna Wintour— legendary gatekeeper of all things in the fashion world— needed an assistant. Within a week of temporarily filling that role, Skoog officially became Wintour’s second assistant. If these events recall the plot of The Devil Wears Prada movie, Skoog agrees. “Yes, it was just like Anne Hathaway’s character,” laughs Skoog. The cinematic similarities continued—she was responsible for bringing Wintour her coffee and delivering the “book” (a mock-up of the magazine) to her home. Within a month the first assistant (Emily Blunt’s character) left, and Skoog stepped into that role where she stayed for the next two and a half years in a position that afforded her extraordinary exposure to fashion industry greats. When Skoog was ready to move to her next role, she stayed in-house, becoming an accessories editor at Vogue.

While at a business dinner in New York City with Banana Republic’s PR team, she boldly shared what she would have done differently with their newly released handbag design. At the time, another legendary fashion guru Mickey Drexler was at the helm of Gap, Inc. (owner of Banana Republic), and shortly after the dinner, the team reached out to Skoog saying they had re-made the bag to her specifications. Skoog soon relocated to the Bay Area to work in-house for Banana Republic as a merchant buying ready-to-wear categories such as sweaters and knitwear for the brand.

But New York was calling her back to its storied streets and the world of luxury fashion. Wintour recommended Skoog to the house of Prada, where Skoog stepped into a role of overseeing U.S. communications for the brand and its subsidiary Miu Miu. “Mrs. Prada is extraordinary,” says Skoog of the head of the 100-year-old Italian fashion house.

Soon, however, love intervened. Within six months of meeting, Skoog married her husband and together they moved to Chicago for a start-up opportunity for his career. Back in her hometown, Skoog found a lack of niche luxury public relations, so taking a leap she started her own—the eponymously named Skoog Co. With her three-week old son at her side, Skoog and her team opened 41 stores for LOFT in 41 new markets. “Learning of my move to Chicago, my friends in luxury started calling with regional PR needs for Gucci, Tiffany & Co., and more,” says Skoog. “We supported the launch of Shinola and launched the San Francisco-based brand Rothy’s. I was a national person sitting in a regional market.”

“At Skoog, we are strategists discovering what is going to move the needle for your messaging; bringing your brand into the biggest light and driving sales,” Skoog explains. “That’s our goal.”

Now, creating her own storied brand, Skoog Co. works with the best of the best in luxury, home, and food—Hermès, Mark Cross, Curio Home Goods, Vosges Haut-Chocolat— and is the first U.S. agency on record for the British brand Boden.

“From rebrands and store openings to press placements and influencer campaigns,” Skoog shares, “your brand has a story to tell; and we make sure the world is paying attention.”

“We focus on lifestyle, food, and fashion. And we have a total blast,” says Skoog.

With such incredible heights scaled already, it seems that Skoog’s story is just beginning.

For more information, visit skoogco.com.

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Melissa’s Daily Juggle

5:15 a.m. Wake up. Drink hot lemon water + green tea

6:30 a.m. Wake up the kids, breakfast, get dressed, and ready for school

7:15 a.m. School drop-off

8:15 a.m. Mahjong once a week

10:30 a.m. Client work

Noon Editor lunch

1:30 p.m. Client work

5:30 p.m. Dinner prep

7:00 p.m. Post-dinner 2.5 mile walk or workout

9:30 p.m. Reading

10:00 p.m. Lights out for everyone!

Passionate about helping professional women not feel isolated in their struggles, Skoog is working towards building theJuggl—a community to provide women a place to turn to for support, ideas, tips, tricks, and products to help solve the little and big things in their lives one day at a time. To help manage all you do at work, home, and for your family as you grow older, sign up at thejuggl.substack.com.

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