- Will you consider this?

You're a young woman born and bred in Canton, Illinois.

You head off to college and your talents are recognized, and you're challenged nationally.

Stay right here to hear more about our creative guest.

(upbeat music) That right brain goes into full power mode when it's jiggled, and your spunk and determination are realized early on in a big way.

She's done so much in a short 20-plus years.

And joining me now is Canton native Amy Deering who's currently the senior creative director for Chico's FAS.

Welcome, young lady.

- Thank you.

Thank you for having me.

- We have a lot to unpack, but first we'll start with you growing up in Canton.

And what were your interests back in the day?

- Back in the day, I mean, I loved school, I loved art.

I got really into art into high school.

I was a cheerleader, in student council, and in the band.

So always a little bit of a creative streak in me.

And yeah, I loved being in Canton.

I always had a summer job.

I worked at the Shake Shack making ice cream cones all summer.

But yeah, that was a little bit about me.

- And then you graduated, what, class of 1999?

- Class of '99.

Yep.

And I headed to school at Drake University in Des Moines, Iowa, where I actually got a art scholarship and a cheerleading scholarship.

So I was able to do- - You did both.

- both.

Yes.

- How long did the cheerleading last, though, once you got into your classwork?

- Three years.

I made it three years of the four.

But the last year I actually chose to not participate because I took a full-time internship with Meredith Publishing.

I went to school for design and advertising.

I minored in English, and I had an opportunity my senior year of school to work Monday, Wednesday, Friday full-time with Meredith as part of their intern program in their integrated marketing group.

- So you didn't have time for much else on campus.

- Exactly.

There was very little time.

I had to finish my senior year on Tuesdays and Thursdays, so I had a pretty full class load, and then working full-time Monday, Wednesday, Friday, so.

- So I met you in June because of Bruce and Jenny Beale and their anniversary, and we talked.

And your whole story's really fascinating.

So that first job in Des Moines, they gave you a real challenge.

I mean, you weren't just a gopher.

You weren't giving anybody coffee and donuts or anything.

- Right, right.

I mean, it was amazing.

My first day I walked in, and I happened to, the boss I got was the design director of DaimlerChrysler, was her account.

So she had Dodge, Jeep, Chrysler as custom publishing like, loyalty magazines.

So anyone that bought one of those vehicles would get a magazine all about their lifestyle passion points, what they wanted to do.

So quickly I fell into editorial, branding, magazine, and I did anything from help her put together the magazine from a, you know, like collate the book to, you know, getting to work on some layouts.

But at the time, they were shooting film, so I did a lot of organizing of film and all of the little polaroids and all of that and learned all about...

I had been to school for design, so I was familiar with the design, but learning how to apply that in real life, what art direction meant.

I didn't realize art direction could be a job.

So that was a huge experiential, amazing opportunity for me to kind of, it definitely crafted my future and helped me realize, you know, what I wanted to do.

- You had to really pick up the pace on that too.

I'm trying to remember.

It was June (laughs) when we talked.

So it was just kind of flat.

At that point, was it the DaimlerChrysler?

- Yeah, we definitely had to really get in there and learn, you know, the brand.

I had the opportunity to understand, because they were a client.

So you had this very big Fortune 500 company coming to us to say, "What are you gonna pitch us?

What are you going to tell us?"

Like, we had to take like, if you're a Dodge lover, for instance, it would be like, we're gonna pitch you go to barbecue, rodeos, you know, NASCAR events.

And then we would pitch those ideas, and then we would build out how that would look, concept into the creative.

And then my boss would go out on the shoots and execute that vision and bring it back, and we would design the work.

And at the time, I mean, I was, again, a senior in college.

- A senior.

You were 22 years old or something, right?

- So I, you know, I was doing anything and everything to be a part of it, which was amazing.

When they signed the deal, they had the Chrysler Museum magazine called Forward, which was a bit of a like, thrown in as part of the thing, and no one wanted to do it.

And I was like, "I'll do it.

I would love to work on it."

And we had no budget, so we had all of the archive film from the museum.

And I would work on designing this magazine with archive images.

And long story short, I started working on it, and about a year after doing it, it started winning some awards.

It was starting to get some recognition, some notoriety for the design work being done.

And then started to give me a little like, you know, what is this girl doing?

Who is she?

And so at that point, my boss kind of took me under her wing and said, "You know, do you wanna stay on a little bit?"

- She trusted you.

- So when I graduated, they let me stay on freelance.

They didn't have a full-time opening, but they said, "Would you wanna freelance?"

And so she brought me on, and I worked very closely and started being able to travel with her and art direct and learn what art direction was for Dodge magazines specifically.

And the first time I remember, you know, I'd gone on mini shoots, and I was basically her right hand.

Anything she needed I would do.

And then one time I'd planned an entire shoot.

We were going to LA for, it was a NASCAR racer, and he was featuring a new fashion shoe.

And we were gonna do a whole editorial on that, a fashion piece.

And I had planned it all and was gonna go, as you know, her right hand, and she said, "This'll be your shoot."

And no idea.

- You had no idea going into it.

- And we were at the airport, and she was like, "Pretend I'm not here."

And I was like, "Okay."

(laughs) - [Christine] Thank you, mentor.

- Yeah.

And it was amazing.

It was amazing.

She really trusted me.

And to this day, I would always say she's a huge mentor in my life as far as like, what are direction in design and how it works together and how powerful it can be for branding.

- Boy.

Where did you go from there, then?

So that was your first experience.

for many years?

- So that was my first experience.

I was there, I would say, with the internship maybe almost three years, and then they had a full-time opening.

So I took the role, and I had everything from, I worked a little bit on Dodge, I had Liberty Mutual, I had the IAMS account.

So we had other clients.

And then we got a fashion magazine coming in from Lane Bryant, Catherines, and Fashion Bug.

And they said, "We have this 160-page fashion magazine.

It was for women.

And we don't want it to know it's from us, the retailer, but we wanna celebrate women and the diversity of bodies."

We called it Figure Magazine.

And I was able to take that on.

And I led a team of five of us, and we, every month, produced a 160-page fashion magazine.

So they would send us their product, and we would go out and shoot all over the country with telling stories about the looks and then trends of the season.

And it was amazing.

So I did that about two years, and then there was an opening at Better Homes & Garden Magazine, which was the largest- - [Christine] Publisher.

- publisher, brand in Meredith, kind of their mothership.

And they had an opening for a beauty and style art director.

And so very atypical for the magazine.

New territory.

I was fairly young.

I'm 25, and I thought, "You know, this would be amazing."

- I can do that.

(laughs) - So I went for it, and I got the job.

And I was so fortunate that I lived in Des Moines, and it was based in Des Moines, but they shot, and the editor of the beauty section was in New York.

So I would go two weeks to New York and shoot, two weeks in Des Moines.

And I did that for a few years.

- Okay.

And you had a place up there so you didn't have to live out of a suitcase.

- Yes, it was amazing.

I mean, Meredith was amazing.

We actually had a corporate jet that flew back and forth twice a day, and if you could get on the list, you could take the jet.

And then we had a corporate apartment, so I would stay there.

I would work those two weeks and then come back.

It was incredible.

I didn't know how good I had it.

- That single life.

All right, so from there you went to.

- So from there, I was into that about almost three years, and I got recruited.

My first recruiter reached out for a retail company called Lands' End, which was based in Dodgeville, Wisconsin.

- Dodgeville, Wisconsin.

Mm-hmm.

- Mm-hmm.

At this time, I'm about, you know, I think I'm 28, around there, maybe almost 29.

And I think it's a big shift from publishing magazines into retail, but if I'm gonna try this, maybe this is the time.

So I went through a pretty extensive interview process, and I ended up moving.

I ended up as the global creative director of the concepting team, so.

- And what does that mean?

- Right.

So Lands' End had a huge catalog company.

They have men's and women's and kids.

They have a business outfitting, but they also had international brands.

So they were a global company.

And so what our job would be is to understand the trends of the season.

And we would then take that and say, "All right, we're gonna be all about khakis or all about polos, and the trend is plaid."

And we would decide where we're gonna shoot that, how that would look, how we bring that to life.

And then we would mood board up all of the direction.

So I'd work really closely with the merchant team, the style director, and then we would concept and present to the CEO, to the whole company, kind of what our vision would be for the season.

And then that would go out, be shot, executed, and put into the catalogs.

- Were you ever turned down?

Were your ideas ever- - Oh yeah.

Oh yeah, yeah.

- shot down?

Well, how did you take that?

How did you internalize that?

- I mean, it's never fun when no one likes your ideas.

(Christine and Amy laugh) But, you know, you go back and sometimes they end up being better.

Most of the time.

You know, you're motivated by what didn't they love, and you go back at it, and they usually get better.

So yeah.

- Okay.

Well, good.

So you smiled and carried on.

- Yeah.

- From Lands' End, then, in Dodgeville, Wisconsin, then where did you go?

- So after- - You're still with, well, no, you weren't with Better Homes & Gardens anymore.

- Nope, nope.

I left, and then I'm with Lands' End.

And then while with Lands' End, I was actually commuting back and forth between South Florida and Wisconsin, and I was pregnant with my first child.

And I got recruited to OshKosh B'gosh, which a very famous American heritage children's brand.

It felt fairly serendipitous, given I was about to have my first child.

- Right, right.

So OshKosh Carter's, was it pushed together?

- OshKosh.

So Carter's had just acquired OshKosh about a couple years prior to me being recruited.

And what they had done is they kind of, Carter's tried to bring it in as a brand and run it like Carter's and quickly realized this is a separate brand.

We need to build a separate team.

So the president of OshKosh built a design team for the product in Chelsea, in New York.

And then once that was established, she started recruiting to build an in-house creative team.

So I was recruited as the creative director of OshKosh.

And it was about really reinventing and modernizing the brand.

So it had an amazing heritage, but how do we make it relevant again?

How do we bring it back to what's great- - And wholesome.

- and bring it forward?

And so I came in and there was no team.

I think there was one person on the team that lived in Connecticut, 'cause that's where the company had been based, and they had just moved to Atlanta.

So I moved to Atlanta and started rebuilding a team, bringing an entire team together.

And we had everything from catalog to we had the retail store environment, all the marketing and creative you would see.

We had the e-commerce, so all of the site and email.

And eventually, as social media started becoming bigger, at that point we started developing the social content as well.

- Online.

- Yes.

- And so you're responsible for store displays and everything too in your department?

- Correct, correct.

- Interesting.

- So yeah.

So everything customer facing.

So we call it omnichannel, meaning a branding is so important to keep it consistent, right?

So anything from that first catalog or direct mail piece you might get to the email you receive, to the homepage, to then the store experience is all a cohesive look and feel so that... You know, everything in my world is about customer first, customer led, right?

- Really?

- Really.

- Where has that gone?

That's good.

Hang on to that.

- Yeah.

So we try to think about what he or she's experiencing and that it's all, and you know those brands.

You know, my job is to protect the brand and that that look and feel and tone and imagery all celebrates, you know, what that brand means to the consumer.

- Mm-hmm.

Well, I always thought OshKosh B'gosh was from Oshkosh, Wisconsin.

- It was.

It was.

- Okay, that's where it started.

- Originally started in Oshkosh, Wisconsin.

And it was actually a franchise retailer.

So many people would have a little store, and they did it that way, buying into the company.

But then as the brand, you know, aged- - Expanded.

- expanded, it became where it was such a household name.

OshKosh B'gosh, I mean, there were political movements, presidents wore overalls.

I mean, they were amazing.

Has an amazing history.

- Yeah.

- Yeah.

- SO you got to even capture some of that too.

- Oh yeah.

We built an entire, in all of my roles, brand books, we call them.

You know, understanding the history of the brand and making sure we tell those stories and protect, you know, where it's been to where it's going and- - The integrity.

- Yeah.

Absolutely.

- All right, so then from there, you went to now in Atlanta.

- So I am in Atlanta, and I worked for OshKosh for about three years.

And then Carter's, the mother brand- - Mother company.

Right.

- of it said, "You know, we'd love to have you come over and give us a refresh."

We've seen what you've done with OshKosh, and we're loving it.

It's been really successful.

And would you do it for Carter's?"

So I moved to Carter's, a much, much larger brand, a huge company.

But yeah, we really took it.

And it hadn't been refreshed in about seven years, but it's a over-100-year-old company.

And so, again, amazing history, but we really tried to modernize it, bring it to a place where it was more relevant and relatable.

And I also had the ability there to, it's such a large brand, we were able to sub-brand.

So I launched a brand with Amazon with them.

I did all of the wholesale brands at Walmart and Target.

I launched an organic line called Little Planet.

So I was able to really learn and grow a lot in the, you know, understanding of the larger brand, but also then a family of brands and what we could do.

And I had, you know, ability to work with some amazing retailers as well, so.

- Gosh.

You've been doing so much in a short amount of time.

But then you're with now.

- So now I am with Chico's FAS.

I was recruited from Carter's to actually start with Soma, which is intimates.

They're intimates and lingerie brand.

Amazing, amazing brand for women.

Again, I feel that everything in my life has kind of been the right place at the right time.

And I felt like where I was and my belief on women and standing up for them, it was a great opportunity to come into a brand and celebrate women and the diversity of women and all women's body types.

And, you know, age is just a number.

So all of those great things.

So I went to Soma.

I worked on the Soma brand.

They had just gone through kind of a start of a rebrand, and I brought that to fruition and continued to help them develop their look and feel and who they wanted to be and how they wanted to show up.

I did that for about a year and a half.

And then they have also White House Black Market and Chico's, which is their largest brand.

Both amazing brands.

And they said, "We'd love for you to run creative over all three."

And I- - You said, "Why not?

As long as I'm here, right?"

(laughs) - Yeah.

I mean, I love it.

I love what I do.

I think it's a challenge, and I love a challenge.

And I think it's been fun, such a growth opportunity for me, to learn about the brands, to learn about the customers.

Entirely new appreciation for customer loyalty.

I mean, Chico's, I've never seen a more loyal customer- - I bet.

- and it's amazing.

- So how do you research that?

You sent out some surveys or something?

- Yeah, we have an entire amazing marketing team and a division dedicated to nothing but customer research and data so that we really understand our demographic and who they are and how we can, you know, keep them top of mind and focus on what they're looking for.

- What's the most challenging part of your job?

You've got children.

And so being away from them because you travel a lot.

- Sure, sure.

Work-life balance is a huge challenge.

I think it's a challenge for anyone.

I think it's especially a challenge for women, if you have children.

It's definitely tough.

Outside of that, I think the biggest challenge in the environment of what I do is constantly making sure you still are relevant, you still have your chops.

You know, it's a fast-paced industry.

Fashion is a changing, evolving thing.

- Everyday.

Right.

- So I think, you know, consciously making the effort and wanting to stay relevant and in tune.

And I find my, honestly, my inspiration from that, really a lot of it, it sounds like a interesting answer.

My husband's a creative.

He's a photographer.

And he loves to shoot youth or like, up and coming, what's trending with youth.

And I've found that to be one of the most powerful, inspirational ways to know what's going on in fashion and what's trending.

And what are kids into?

And where is that going in the world?

And that's been, I think, really impactful and helped me kind of my chops and be interested in what's current.

- What's the strangest thing that you've seen so far or something that maybe didn't work as fashion grows?

I mean, right now, there's not a whole lot of tailored clothing, at least that I've been able to see.

It's all kind of prairie style.

- Yeah, yeah.

I mean, trends change, you know?

I think you have to be really careful as a brand.

You have to know who you are.

And I think that's one of the things we talk about a lot.

Like, you know, Chico's is very different than White House, right?

White House Black Market is more tailored and a little bit flatter, figure fitting.

I think Chico's has a more diverse woman who might sometimes want something a little more classic to something more modern, to something more Bohemian, to something more trendy.

And I think you have to really, for my role, be very close and tight with the design team and the merchant team.

Really understand their vision for that product and- - And you do work with them on that?

- Always.

I mean, my role is to understand that vision and bring it to life, to make sure what we then translate that to customer facing is what the intent of that was.

Oftentimes they may be inspired by Morocco or, you know, somewhere in Milan.

And while we love that, and we understand the design inspiration, we have to make that attainable and accessible and approachable for our customer.

- What are the color trends for this year, let's just say, right now?

- This year, so we just came out of, for spring, was hot pink.

Barbie pink, if you will.

The fuchsia.

Very, very trendy.

And that was all over everything.

And so that is a huge part.

We make sure when we go to shoot, and we protect those trends, and we place them in the right media and the right channels to be engaged with.

So yeah, you're gonna see a lot of beautiful, fall, rich colors.

Dark greens, some deep purples.

Fall's gonna be gorgeous this year.

And holidays, we have some surprising things coming too.

- Oh.

Listen to this.

But you can't share them yet.

So somewhere along the line, I read that you were one of the top 100 women in branding.

- Oh.

Oh.

- Is that right?

Or you were at least mentioned as an up-and-comer or something.

- Oh.

- Did you know that?

I didn't know that.

I didn't.

- You missed that one.

- Well, you're gonna have to look it up.

- Yeah, I will.

Oh.

- Yeah, brand marketing.

- Oh.

- And that's what you do.

- Yeah, it is.

So what do you wanna do when you grow up?

(Christine and Amy laugh) - When I grow up.

You know, I wanna keep growing.

I wanna keep learning.

I don't think I've finished.

I love fashion.

But who knows?

Who knows what's next?

I think I love what I do, and I think that's one important thing that I talk to my kids about.

You know, it doesn't feel like work if you love what you're doing, and it's really important.

And I would say I'd love to make sure I give back.

I think a huge part of my career has been about people.

I was in the right place at the right time, but people seeing something in me and developing me or giving me a chance.

And it's really important for me that I can do that for someone.

- To help bring somebody along.

Have you found any up-and-comers that you really wanna work with?

- I have.

I have.

I've recruited quite a few, but I also make sure I make a point too, because I have the ability to build teams and bring teams together on a freelance basis.

So when I see up-and-coming talent, you know, I'd love to bring them in and give them some exposure to something they haven't had the opportunity to do.

So I do try to do that.

- Okay.

And you get back to Central Illinois often 'cause your parents are still here.

- I do.

My parents and my younger sister live here.

And we love coming back.

I think I love, the older I get, I love my roots more and more.

I love coming home.

And it's really grounding for me.

It's great to be with family.

I think, more and more, striking that balance with career and work and travel is also rooting in home and family and keeping that balance, so.

- And how often do you get back?

Well, I know that you just got a place down in Canton.

- We do.

Yeah.

We did to be closer to my parents.

And we come back, you know, over the course of the last few years, honestly, we try to make an effort, probably four to five times a year.

But this year, after getting the place, we've based here for the summer.

So I've been privileged enough to work remote in this current job.

And so I can work from anywhere, and my husband can as well, as long as he can travel.

So we- - Find an airport, get on a plane, right?

- Yes, exactly.

So we have found a spot that I can work remote, and we kind of based here for the summer, which has been amazing.

Really, really refreshing and, I think, good for our kids and good to be with family.

- Family is everything.

It really is.

- It is.

- All right, so when do you think you're gonna retire?

Are you just gonna keep going on because you're happy and you're making things happen?

- You know, I actually had about 10 years ago made some plans on, you know, when I wanna retire.

And I had said, I guess, 50.

I don't know.

That sounded like the number.

And now the closer I get to that number, I'm like, "I don't think I'm ready for that."

- I'm not done yet.

- So I don't know.

I think in my grownup, total dream, after I do a little bit more in corporate, after I grow a little bit more, I think I'd love to have my own little side business, or maybe come back to Canton and have a little design company, maybe a little market.

Like, do something.

You know, I don't know that I'll ever stop wanting to be creative or stop wanting to do something, but maybe a change of pace that's a little less fast.

- Perfect.

Perfect.

Well, thanks so much for coming here.

- Thank you so much.

- And it's good to see you again.

- Good to see you.

- And I hope you enjoyed learning all about everything that she's doing and what she's done.

And Amy Deering, we'll just keep our eye out on all those ads and everything that we see coming our way.

- All right.

Thank you so much.

- Thanks for joining us.

Stay safe and healthy.

(upbeat music)