EP346: Rachel Shechtman, CEO, STORY

Great Minds

Rachel Shechtman is a fourth-generation retail entrepreneur and founder of STORY, a concept store known for its editorial, ever-changing approach to retail. Prior to opening STORY, Rachel built a career in consulting, founding Cube Ventures in 2002 – an independent firm known for its skill of strategically combining business models.

When Rachel launched STORY in 2011 she did so with the belief that retail held the potential to be about more than the transaction – it could serve as a channel for branded, community-based storytelling – retail media. STORY offered the point of a magazine, changed like a gallery, and sold things like a store. After seven years and 44 different ‘themes’, in April 2018, Rachel sold STORY to Macy’s Inc. where she served as Brand Experience Officer until July 2020. During her time at Macy’s, Rachel successfully launched two new businesses for the brand and built a 150+ person cross-functional team specifically and strategically designed to operate, perform and generate effective results efficiently and nimbly within the larger, traditional operation.

Rachel has been recognized as Fast Company’s 100 Most Creative People in Business, Fortune Magazine’s 40 Under 40, Crain’s Under 40 and Ad Age’s 50 Most Creative. The AAF inducted Rachel into its Advertising Hall of Achievement and in 2018 Shechtman was named a Henry Crown Fellow by the Aspen Institute.

Rachel sits on the Board of Directors of the National Retail Federation (NRF) and CAMP, an experiential family retail concept and media company.