Social media has transformed our society in the past 15 years. Most businesses rely on social media to advertise and market their business. It’s a powerful tool for communication, marketing and influencing.
As a part of our series about leaders who are using their social media platform to make a significant social impact, we had the pleasure of interviewing Melissa Dulanto
Melissa Dulanto is the Founder and CEO of San Francisco Fashion PR also known as San Francisco Fashion Festival which they are known for their annual festival in San Francisco, California. Melissa is a publicist in Northern California representing luxury fashion brands that are local and industry based. As a consultant and account manager she specializes in public relations & events for her fashion clients while continuing to build a fashion-forward community in San Francisco.
Thank you so much for joining us in this interview series! Can you tell us a story about what brought you to this specific career path?
My love for fashion has led me to starting my public relations agency. With my experience in media relations, fashion and hospitality we are able to serve designers to elevate their brand. I started my fashion career early on as a model collaborating with designers doing runway shows. The creative process was always very fulfilling for me, which led me to go to design school and learn how to be a designer. Going to school has open multiple paths for me, which I did not know a fashion career could have multiple routes. Just as if you enroll in medical school you can choose your specialty, same with fashion. Design has always been close to my heart and I was able to be creative within my role by assisting design teams and executing projects. During my years in school I led the fashion club at the university I was attending which allowed me to connect with all individuals of each program. I was always in charge of organizing the student fashion shows, and assisted my teachers & directors on the side with their own business. My extended family also have businesses in the events & hospitality industry. So I combined both my love for fashion and events and founded San Francisco Fashion PR.
Can you share the most interesting story that happened to you since you began this career?
When I started working as publicist and event producer for fashion brands, other industries recruited me to assist with pr campaigns in food + beverage, art fairs and community building pop-ups. It expanded my network and ability to service other communities while growing my own.
It has been said that our mistakes can be our greatest teachers. Can you share a story about the funniest mistake you made when you were first starting? Can you tell us what lesson you learned from that?
The funniest mistake I’ve learn when I first started was to partner with a college professor to start a business. I was fresh out of college without much experience in the field, it never occurred to me, why would a industry professional want to partner with a student. The experience was quite challenging in the student/teacher dynamic but it led to the start of SF Fashion and its success. One of the biggest lessons that taught me was to be good with people and numbers.
You have been blessed with success in a career path that can be challenging. Do you have any words of advice for others who may want to embark on this career path, but seem daunted by the prospect of failure?
Many young fashion students go to school with an end goal to be a rich and famous designer with over-night success. We are easily influenced by the media and what we see around us. Yes it is much easier for celebrities to invest in a clothing line or sell their name to have a private label. But no one knows how challenging it is to get a business off the grown, the work, the hours, the passion and dedication it takes to build your career path and be good at it. No one really talks about that, they only see the end goal. Success comes with highs and lows. Take a mistake as a learning experience and learn from it to become better and only look back. Be open minded and use your resources around you.
Ok super. Let’s now jump to the core focus of our interview. Can you describe to our readers how you are using your platform to make a significant social impact?
In San Francisco California we have a growing community of fashion enthusiastic, while we are continuing to grow, we are a resource for other brands to come to our city for pop-ups, showcase and expand their businesses. We use our social media and web platform to promote brand awareness within fashion, apparel, footwear and accessories brands. Our PR partnerships help brands spread awareness through our social media channels, as well as endorse campaigns to notify our community that they will be making a presence for a short-time period. Our team also uses influencer marketing to help push product sales and launches. SF Fashion also offers in-person events were brands can be direct-to-consumer and be client facing.
Can you tell us a story about a particular individual who was impacted by this cause?
During the early stages of SF Fashion, we were seeking to go the investor & VC route for funding. It was challenging as a women-owned business to seek capital from other firms. Personally I believe in promoting gender equality fairness. By speaking with other women founders, only 2% get venture capital funding in the early stages of their business. Women receive a smaller percentage of venture capital funding than male-founded businesses. I found that there are other avenues to consider besides venture capital and this may not be for everyone. For fashion businesses there are grants provided by Vogue and CFDA that you may apply and get selected to fund your business.
Was there a tipping point that made you decide to focus on this particular area? Can you share a story about that?
Many people asked me why I don’t have a clothing line since I have an apparel design background. I’ve decided to work in the industry as a publicist and event specialist to create a community of like minded individuals, to have a fashion industry presence. My clothing line will come after. At San Francisco Fashion PR we want to create and cultivate with brands that want to come out here to have presence, visibility and sales for their business.
Are there three things the community/society/politicians can do to help you address the root of the problem you are trying to solve?
The mayor and city of San Francisco can make the city more inviting more fashion industry professionals to come and establish in the city. They can clean up the streets and provide the homeless with affordable housing, shelters and resources. The San Francisco Center can be remodeled and have budget friendly leases for retailers to come back and have their businesses present. The cost of retail lease is not accessible to many companies, and unfortunately they have no choice but to relocate. For San Francisco to have a mall and more existing retailers, leases need to be accessible to our market.
The community also needs to start supporting local businesses. With artificial intelligence and many professionals working from home, it led to online shopping. Brick and order stores are struggling to stay in business because many people do not shop in-person as they use to before pandemic. Society can start purchasing their apparel and home goods in person instead of ordering online.
Why do you think social media in particular has the power to create social change and create a positive impact on humanity?
Social media has transformed our society in the past 15 years. Most businesses rely on social media to advertise and market their business. It’s a powerful tool for communication, marketing and influencing.
Content creators are a huge part of pr. By posting content they help businesses grow and sell their products, events, real-estate and other experiences. Some creators do it as their full-time career while others do it part time. Before social media, we watched TV news, read magazines, articles, TMZ and other media publishers. Now the Gen Z and Millennials use social media in their lifestyle to connect, shop and share with communities. Social media is a platform to connect with your network, keep in touch with friends, family, colleagues, look for inspiration, trends, and be connected with the world.
What are your “5 things I wish someone told me when I first started” and why? Please share a story or example for each.
1. Be Kind to everyone you meet
2. Be careful with what you say
3.It’s ok to ask for help
4. Slow down
5. Put yourself first.
You are a person of enormous influence. If you could inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger. 🙂
If I could inspire a movement to bring the most good to the most people, it would be the Global Empathy Initiative — a movement to integrate empathy education into every level of society: schools, workplaces, governments, and media.
The idea is simple but transformative: if people are taught from a young age to understand and care about the feelings, perspectives, and needs of others — locally and globally — it would drastically reduce conflict, increase cooperation, improve mental health, and foster more ethical decision-making across all sectors.
Empathy is a foundation for solving bigger problems like inequality, climate change, and injustice, because people act more wisely and compassionately when they truly grasp others’ realities.
Is there a person in the world, or in the US whom you would love to have a power lunch with, and why? He or she might just see this, especially if we tag them. 🙂
I’d love to have a power lunch with Ms. Anna Wintour, she has so much insight to give. It would be interested to get her perspective on the Met Gala and the publishing world of Vogue. She is a powerful woman of influence in the industry and would like to bring her in as guest speaker in the near future.
How can our readers further follow your work online?
Follow us on Instagram @sffashionpr
Facebook, Tik Tok & LinkedIn at San Francisco Fashion
Come attend the San Francisco Fashion Festival on Saturday October 11th. You may find tickets at www.sanfranciscofashionfestival.com
This was very meaningful. Thank you so much!