OUR TEAM:
MARLYN MARAMBA POWELL
Principal
Ms. Maramba Powell's professional background includes being a Business Consultant for more than 14 years with focus on Marketing and Strategic Business Planning. She specializes in the following industries: magazines/newspapers/books, fashion, beauty, modeling, image makeover, advertising and media planning.
In business she specializes in start-ups, executive management, concept and product development, coaching, marketing, brand development, company restructuring, strategic alliances, investors relations, product and company launches, negotiations and sales strategies.
Her diverse professional background include working for a movie company in Hollywood, California as Assistant Vice President in its marketing/consumer products division; she also worked as a journalist for newspapers, magazines and she is also a published journalist with an online publication; and as an experienced entertainment journalist she landed her interviews with prominent people such as Maria Shriver, Elle McPherson, Robin Wright Penn, Andy Garcia, actress/supermodel, Inés Sastre (the face of Lancôme Cosmetics for the last 10 years), and the late Dr. Benjamin Spock (the legendary authority/author of baby book guidelines). She also worked for an advertisement placement agency in Beverly Hills, California, as well as with other media planning agencies. She also worked for a globally known beauty company where she was in charge of the print media planning as well as putting the ads together from copy to fashion shoots to placement of the ads on national beauty industry magazines.
Ms. Maramba Powell is also an award winning business and social activist, who has helped many women deal with their self-image issues by giving them the tools needed to see themselves in a better light so they could make changes in their lifestyle through her Self-Empowerment/Tough Love Seminars and workshops.
The University of Connecticut’s Center for Academic Programs acknowledged Ms. Maramba’s work on the publication she founded, Renaissance Woman Magazine on November 3, 1995. She was one of the first six alumni given the distinguished TRIO ALUMNA AWARD for making positive contributions to the community and her profession. The Connecticut Federation of Business and Professional Women’s Club/Business Professional Women USA also honored Ms. Maramba as Woman of the Year 2000/New Millennium on October 21, 2000.
She has been listed in Who’s Who in America, Who’s Who in the World, and Who’s Who in Women Executives. Ms.Maramba has also been featured in newspapers, radio and television (especially in the Northeast) for her work on her publication, Renaissance Woman Magazine; and in the early 90's, she was a pioneer in her understanding of the concept of “reality” based mediums before it developed to what reality based mediums are today.
Ms. Maramba Powell earned her Bachelors of Arts degree in 1995 in English Literature with a mix concentration of studies at the University of Connecticut. ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________
JEFF POWELL
Mr. Powell has more than 14 years of professional experience in the fashion/apparel industry. He specializes in sports and casual apparels, however, he has a variety of professional background experiences within the fashion and apparel industry.
Mr. Powell also has experience in luxury land development, coffee shops, business development, Interim CEO, VP, project management, marketing, health, nutrition, personal training, as well as martial arts.
His areas of expertise includes but not limited to start-up management, turnarounds, repositioning, fund raising, investors relations, strategic marketing/alliances, concept and product development, fashion catalogs, sales kit development, customer research, trade shows, special events, model scouting, photo shoot creative director/management, product management, conducting due diligence, web design and sales.
Mr. Powell's professional background includes co-founding a sports and casual apparel company in 1993; his duties included but not limited to executive management, pre and post production, sales and marketing, strategic marketing and promotions, merchandising, buyer negotiations, public speaking, and strategic partnership. Within one year the apparel lines became number two within the fitness and body building industry (this included being featured past and present on nationally known fitness and body building magazines such as Flex, Muscle & Fitness and Iron Man magazines. The name of their apparel line became the company’s mission in regards to having a positive attitude regardless of what may come in one’s way. The apparel line relaunched years later into an upscale luxury line dealing with luxury end stores such as Saks Fifth, Neiman Marcus, and many others across the country.
Mr. Powell also co-owned two cafes with his partner in the mid-90s, where they started the cafes from the ground up. He and his business partners were also big in giving to charities, especially charities that involves children/teens. They tried to teach the value of making the right choices in life and that everyone has a choice regardless of their race, religion, education's and financial backgrounds.
Mr. Powell is currently involved in a new high end luxury land developmant project, fashion boutique, as well as entertainment industry projects. _______________________________________________________________________________________
PAUL HYNEK
Senior Financial Consultant Paul Hynek conceived, named, raised the funds for, and co-founded Surf Monkey, the world's first online service for children. He created a partnership with Microsoft that led to receiving $1 million in free technology and he appeared with Bill Gates at the launch event for Microsoft IE 4.0; with Intel that led to a national television commercial; and with InfoSpace that led to an investment in Surf Monkey.
Mr. Hynek also created and leveraged partnerships with Sony, MediaOne, MindSpring, AT&T, Lycos, and others. While at Bandai Digital Entertainment, he conceived and produced the world's first online service for a set-top box, with browsing, chat, and e-mail, managing all aspects of this multi-million dollar effort. He also produced eleven software titles and was the primary evangelist for Bandais set-top box to over 200 developers.
Mr. Hynek won the 2002 Entrepreneur Magazine / Southwest Airlines national business plan contest, beating out over 250 other entries.
Mr. Hynek has served as CFO of Wild Sage Foods, Inc., Founder and Partner of Foglight Entertainment, and as Partner in Venture Spark, a venture catalyst firm.
Mr. Hynek holds a Bachelor of Arts in French from the University of Illinois, a Master of Business Administration in Strategic Management from The Wharton School of Business, and a Master of Arts in International Studies from the Joseph H. Lauder Institute of the University of Pennsylvania. He has lived and worked in Europe and Japan.
Mr. Hynek serves on the Board of Directors of the Santa Monica, California Chapter of the American Red Cross. _______________________________________________________________________________________
MICHAEL SCHUMAN
Music / Entertainment Consultant
Michael Schuman has been actively involved in the music and entertainment businesses for many years. He grew up in Hollywood immersed in, and surrounded by artists, music, recording studios, record companies, and the creators of entertainment enjoyed by millions around the world. Mr. Schuman's passion and focus has always been music, and at the age of 17 had his first job in a well known Hollywood recording studio. With much dedication, long hours with experienced record makers, and lots of experimentation, Mr. Schuman intuitively learned, and continues to learn and expand the fine art of music production.
By the time he was 21, Mr. Schuman became an expert independent recording engineer and record producer, having worked in most of the better studios in Los Angeles. He spent one year in Sweden helping to discover, produce and record some of the most well known and successful artists in the country. Within his first month there, Mr. Schuman recorded and mixed the single that won the Eurovision Record of the Year, which is the European version of the Grammys. (Eva Dalgren, Columbia/GlenDisc) Many of the other artists he recorded have enjoyed continued platinum success over the years....from Tomas Ledin and Tommy Nilson, to Eva Dalgren, Anders Glenmark and Ann-Louise Hansen.
Upon returning to the United States, Mr. Schuman continued to work with such artists as Billy Preston (4 albums, one Grammy nomination), Jermaine Jackson (6 albums), Syreeta (2 albums), Smokey Robinson (2 albums), Switch (2 albums) DeBarge, The Jacksons, Michael Jackson, Stevie Wonder, Robbie Robertson, Chaka Kahn, Rufus, Neil Diamond, Devo, Little Richard, Herbie Hancock, Natalie Cole, Rita Coolidge, Thomas Dolby, Cuba Gooding, Shelia E., The Cages, Ray Parker, Jr., Rudolph Isly, Paul Jackson, Jr., Jean-Luc Ponty, Peter Nero, Laurindo Almeida, John Davidson, Pat Boone, Tata Vega, Black Russian, PFM, Michael Sembello, Michael Henderson, Little Richard, James Brown, Ron Wood, Robert Goulet, George Benson, Earl Klugh, George Duke, Stevie Nicks, Feargal Sharkey, Mother's Finest, Dave Stewart, Tim Conway, Ice T, Cool Moe Dee, Stephen Bishop, Alan O'Day, Wayne Newton, Stephanie Mills, the L A Philharmonic, Tom Scott, Tower of Power, Ernie Watts, Stix Hooper, Joe Sample, Wayne Henderson, The Originals, The Spinners, The Impressions, The Temptations, Martha Reeves, Gene Page, Paulino DeCosta, Ndugu Chancellor, Jonathan Moffit, Joe Pocarro, Jeff Pocarro, Steve Poccaro, Mike Pocarro, Steve Lukather, (ToTo), Steve Lindsey, Nathan East, Nathan Watts, Greg Phillinganes, Abe Laboriel, James Jamerson, James Jamerson, Jr., Michael Boddicker, Ron Elliot, Donald, Eden Ahbez, etc.
During the eighties, Berry Gordy, the head of Motown, continually attempted to bring Mr. Schuman aboard as an A&R executive and Staff Producer. There was even a friendly competition as Berry would occasionally try to remix and/or "out mix" some of Mr. Schuman's mixes. Berry admittedly never could, and Mr. Schuman continued to enjoy his success with Motown independently. In the late eighties, he became the managing partner in another well known Los Angeles recording studio where his clients included Earth, Wind, and Fire, Olivia Newton-John, Anita Baker, James Ingram, Barbra Streisand, Diana Ross, Michael Kamen, Sony Pictures, Paramount Pictures, etc. Mr. Schuman also produced and recorded Tasha Scott for Michael Jackson at Jackson's home 48track studio during this time.
Mr. Schuman has founded MusiColor Entertainment, a 21st century cutting edge boutique unique creative entertainment/production/management/event entity, where artists interests, goals, concerns, and creative protection are a priority. MusiColor's debut artist signing is the local Brazilian band, BADAUE, a very eclectic young group of musicians from Brazil, Mexico, Spain, Africa , Korea, the Philippines, and the United States, and were nominated as Best World Band in 2004 by the LA Weekly Music Awards. On September 26, 2004, MusiColor Entertainment produced, recorded, and video taped the music, the people, and other entertainment at the historic 20 Anniversary Abbot Kinney Festival, in Venice California, along with 18 Great Bands on two stages. This year The Festival became the Second Largest Festival in Southern California with over 100 thousand visitors. _______________________________________________________________________________________
ELLEN J. SILVERMAN
Research & Marketing Communications Consultant Ellen J. Silverman is founder and principal of The Silver Word. Established in 2001, The Silver Word provides writing, research and marketing communication services to Fortune 500 companies, financial institutions and technology firms. She is a former Vice President, Director of Business Development for two software development companies, following six years as a research analyst for Salomon Smith Barney and Deutsche Bank. Prior to obtaining her M.B.A degree and working on Wall Street, she spent eight years in the advertising agency business.
Ms. Silverman's diverse corporate experience in market research, finance and communications, places her in the unique position of understanding the business objectives of her clients, their industries and their products. From her tenure in advertising, she understands the importance of tailoring marketing strategies for specific client needs as well as the value of generating accurate and timely market news from her years as an analyst. After spearheading two software development companies during the Internet boom, she can identify with the hardship and challenges of launching new businesses.
Ms. Silverman's professional experiences include putting together research reports, market surveys, annual reports, business plans, brochures, company profiles, technical white papers, advertorials, press releases and web content. Some of Ms. Silverman's client roster includes: Asset Strategies Group, Bank of New York, The Bull Market Report, Hewlett-Packard, Ideas International Ltd., J.P. Morgan Chase, Microsoft, Unisys and Zacks Investment Research.
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ROBERT H. THOMASIAN
Mr. Thomasian has been in the fashion/apparel industry for more than 12 years since first starting his own brand, Epoch Clothing LLC in 1995. Since graduating from the
After leaving Epoch Clothing to pursue new opportunities, Mr. Thomasian began consulting other apparel and accessory companies, primarily start up’s and others facing growing pains. In 2002, Mr. Thomasian was introduced to Alison Eastwood who had been operating her clothing company Eastwood Ranch LLC, a line that was themed around the western lifestyle. Initially, Mr. Thomasian was involved from a consulting standpoint and then was hired as General Manager to develop a new business plan and restructure her brand and operations. The “Bred out West” marketing campaign was born and the business began expanding its doors while mainstreaming its product line.
Mr. Thomasian has helped other brands get their start in the business which included Scam-Co Industries, a line of vintage tee shirts for men, women and children themed around old comic book ads. Some notable designs are the world famous, Joy buzzer, X-Ray Vision glasses, Squirrel Monkey and Whoopee Cushion. Mr. Thomasian, as brand manager for a Tween watch company, Monji USA LLC helped develop and patent a safety pin glass beaded elastic band watch. He was directly responsible for the product development and production which was all done out of
Most recently in 2007 Mr. Thomasian served as the Disney Couture Jewelry Brand Manger for the licensee, Lucas Design International, who acquired the license from Walt Disney consumer products in 2006. Mr. Thomasian was instrumental in building brand awareness through trade show exhibits and local trunk shows at department stores like Bloomingdales and Nordstrom. Mr. Thomasian also handled in-house sales and opened the first national account for the brand with Mervyn’s and Kohl’s.
OUR TEAM Shawn Clement's Ora Zoe
Marlyn Maramba Powell
Co-Founder, Managing Partner & CEO
Strategic Operations & Product Management Consultant
Jeff Powell
Co-Founder, Managing Partner & President
Retail & Apparel Strategic Management Consultant
Paul Hynek
Financial Consultant
Music & Entertainment Consultant
Ellen J. Silverman
Research & Marketing Communications Consultant
Apparel & Merchandising Consultant
Derek Yarbrough
E-Commerce, Retail, Apparel, Marketing & Strategy Consultant
Our Team of Consultants have a combined business experience of 45 years plus. Some of our Consultants are successful Entrepreneurs; so we do understand the many challenges that Entrepreneurs go through on a daily basis.
We are proud to say that some of our Consultants are also Award Winning Business Entrepreneurs from a wide range of industries. You will find that our Consultants are not only professionals, they are also a positive and down-to-earth group of business people.
Some of our previous consulting projects include: apparel/fashion, consumer good products, real estates, publishing, fashion, beauty, restaurant, Web site design, e-commerce and entertainment.
We look forward to hearing from you and we are confident that we can negotiate an agreeable rate for your business needs. We truly want to see our clients succeed both personally and professionally.
Through our coaching services, we instill our clients with a "CAN DO" attitude. With a positive attitude and persistence success can be yours.