I discovered my passion for consumer retail at Wharton. Looking back, my time in business school was an inflection point that set me on the path to starting my footwear company, KAMI.
Before Wharton, my career had been shaped by client-facing, deal-driven work. I began that career advising on complex transactions as a corporate lawyer at Latham & Watkins and later worked in business development at the European Investment Fund. While I loved the discipline and collaboration those roles demanded, they made me realize that I wanted more ownership in my work. I was often close to the action but never fully responsible for the outcome.
At Wharton, I was able to explore that instinct. Consumer businesses stood out to me for the way they demand analytical rigor and creativity. Execution matters, and feedback from customers is immediate. Through case-based classes, the MBA retail club, and my involvement in organizing the annual Wharton Graduate Retail Conference in New York, I was exposed to operators who were deeply in the work. Watching ideas move from concept to reality made leading a business feel tangible and helped clarify the kinds of problems I wanted to focus my time on.
After graduating, I spent several years at Rent the Runway, working on both scaling systems and building new offerings from scratch. It was there that I first stepped into a true operating role and learned how much process, measurement, and follow-through compound over time. Just as importantly, this role reinforced the importance of customer obsession. In consumer businesses, if you stop solving a real problem for the customer, you lose the plot.
The idea for KAMI didn’t begin as a grand plan. It started quietly, as I pulled together experiences that already felt connected. I knew the consumer sector, and I had access to craftsmanship in my hometown of Alicante, Spain, through a personal network I’d known my entire life — people I could call directly, from design to production. At the same time, I kept coming back to a gap I had seen repeatedly in footwear: Options were either trend-driven and disposable or beautifully made but priced out of reach. KAMI grew from a desire to offer something in between — a premium product designed to last and priced to reflect real value rather than hype.
What ultimately encouraged me to move forward was community. Like-minded friends from Wharton had seen me grow over the years and supported my vision. They reminded me that most challenges are solvable and that what sets people apart is the willingness to invest time, curiosity, and grit into what they want to achieve.
Published as “Finding My Footing” in the Spring/Summer 2026 issue of Wharton Magazine.
