CFDA Board Member Stacey Bendet of alice + olivia is always one of the first to offer help. During the first days of the COVID-19 outbreak in New York, she responded immediately by making masks to donate to local hospitals. In the first week of April, she donated 5,000. By mid-May she will have delivered close to 75,000 masks to healthcare workers, clinics, and communities in need. This is in addition to the consumer-facing buy one/donate one #MaskTogether initiative on aliceandolivia.com, where masks are currently sold out but available for pre-order to ship May 8. Having used every last inch of printed jersey they owned, and now using up the woven fabrics they have stock on, the pandemic has brought a + o to zero waste!
Outside of the mask efforts, Bendet and her team began an initiative called #AOCares. Each week, a nominated doctor or nurse receives a surprise care package which includes gifts from alice + olivia.
And she’s a devoted mother of three. When asked how she manages a work from home/life balance, she shared, “This year my three children were finally all in school, full time, at the same school. They would leave together in the morning, have activities after school, and we would all come together at 5:30 for dinner. For the first time, I felt like I had a manageable work/mom balance….and then the coronavirus hit!!!! WFH while suddenly also being expected to manage preschool and teach 3rd and 5th grade math was just too much to handle! I went into CEO mode and hired online tutors to help with school. I organized Zoom gymnastics and dance….Sometimes I feel a bit guilty that I am not taking this time to teach, but they are happy with their tutors and I am happy being able to work through this period with my alice + olivia teams.”
Bendet has one message to all working mothers: “You Do You! Not all of us were meant to be math teachers. I do my best to create a schedule and structure for myself and my children every day…work hours, school hours….I try to incorporate them in what I’m doing (they make adorable models!) and what I have loved about this period is how much extra family time we have together.
“I know what a challenging time this is for every business in our industry – disruption doesn’t really begin to describe it,” she continued. “The best advice I can give is to focus on the things you do well, have faith that people will want to dress up again, and really re-think your business for how you want it to run in a future that will inevitably be changed by this experience.”
