Sam founded UsTrendy and came up with initial concept. The concept developed after hearing of his friends' career struggles as aspiring fashion designers. Even as talented artists and designers with excellent portfolios, finding viable opportunities for career development in the fashion industry were hard to come by.

This awareness was coupled with the discontent that he shared with many others regarding the traditional practices within the fashion industry, where primarily the fashion elite and media decide the trends and clothing styles for the masses to wear every season.

When he developed UsTrendy, his intention was twofold:

First, to provide aspiring fashion designers the opportunity and platform to have their clothing designs seen, produced, and distributed.

Second, to allow the people’s voice to be heard in the fashion industry, where for too long, they've been told from inside the industry what they should be buying.

Sam is the driving inspiration behind the creative direction of UsTrendy. His business savvy and creative skill set draws from his experience in marketing and business development for Citigroup Investment Bank, Fidelity Investments, Mellon Financial, and Congressman Edward Markey.

He was first introduced to entrepreneurship while attending Brandeis University where he received an MA in Economics and Finance.

Nissa brings 10 years of retail merchandising experience to the UsTrendy team, where she manages retail business development. Tired of buying product the same way for so many years and seeing retailers offer consumers disappointing product season after season, Nissa and the UsTrendy team are innovating the retail industry by letting consumers have a say in what they want to see sold in stores.
Her retail experience spans across the south, and both the east and west coasts, first working as Assistant Buyer for a sporting goods company in Austin, and later moving into the teen e-commerce segment for Alloy.com in New York City, working in merchandising and inventory analytics. In the greater Portland, Oregon area at Nike she worked on various statistical projects to improve product forecasting.
Prior to joining UsTrendy, Nissa more recently bought ladies apparel for over 1,700 TJ Maxx and Marshalls stores.
Nissa received an undergraduate degree in Retail Merchandising from the University of Texas and obtained her MBA from Brandeis University in 2007

Philip has spent the last 10 years as CFO for 4 venture-backed startups, following a career with public technology companies. He has raised over $80m venture funding and taken two startups from scratch to filing IPO’s. He brings a strong finance, business development, strategy, manufacturing, operations, HR, IT, tax and legal background to UsTrendy. He has significant international experience including establishment and management of operations in Prague, London, Singapore, China, Japan and Hong Kong. He is a CPA, Chartered Accountant (U.K.), BS in Physics from Imperial College, London. He handles the investor relations and funding development for UsTrendy.

Joyce establishes and maintains operations procedures, oversees project management, and administers knowledge management processes. She has a Bachelors of Science in Business from Rivier College. She is an exceptional Project Manager with in-depth experience in managing multiple comprehensive projects and her extraordinary commitment to crafting productivity improvement tools and streamlining processes contributes to the success of every project.

Stacy assists with marketing strategy, social networking, and other grassroots campaigns at UsTrendy. With a Degree in both Marketing and Fashion- Stacy began her career doing Product Design and Merchandising for PUMA. Now, Stacy brings her passion and enthusiasm for Design and Fashion to UsTrendy! She has a BS in Fashion Merchandising and Marketing.

Theresa focuses on the fashion, promotion, and marketing aspects behind UsTrendy. Her previous work in fashion startups, along with her experience in merchandising, event planning, and online marketing make for a unique combination of skills essential to UsTrendy. She has a degree in Fashion Merchandising and most recently was a Visual Merchandiser for Nordstrom. Her passion for fashion can be seen in her hopeless fashion addition to shop for new apparel on a daily basis. When it comes to shopping, she loves finding those hidden gems, and being able to express herself through her personal style and personality.

Previously an intern for UsTrendy, Kalee now serves as Marketing Associate focusing on public relations, marketing campaigns, and designer relations. She has a Bachelor of Science in Textile Marketing.

Chrissy is the resident fashion editor and mastermind for the Behind the Seams and Fashion Addiction columns. She has written for various media and is an avid fashion addict. Chrissy has a B.A. in Journalism and Masters in Communications.