Ariela Shani

  As a high-end retail store, Neiman Marcus at Fashion Island has remained successful because it is continually evolving to stay on the cutting edge. Attesting to this is not only its incessant stream of new fashion items, but also its two-year renovation and 40,000-square-foot expansion. To top all this off, the store now has a new leader.
  Following in the distinguished footsteps of Kelly Cole (now the manager of Neiman Marcus in Beverly Hills) is a new manager with an accent as lovely as the designs she sells. However, in many ways, Ariela Shani represents the one thing at Neiman Marcus that has remained the same. It’s her philosophy—one of providing customers with the best items and service, knowing the importance of community involvement, and as a manager, the pleasure of guiding fellow employees to excellence.
  Not surprisingly, in the seven weeks since Shani returned to Neiman Marcus at Fashion Island after having been gone for 11 years managing the store in Troy, Mich., she has noticed many familiar faces—those of customers and colleagues. Yet, Shani could be the perfect example of those veteran employees that have enjoyed growing with the company. In her case, she has worked for Neiman Marcus longer than she has lived in any one particular location.
  Shani was born in Salisbury, Southern Rhodesia (today known as Harare, Zimbabwe), but was actually raised in Cape Town, South Africa. As one of five children born to Dr. John and Dina Brownstone, Shani left with her family at the age of 17 for Connecticut out of strong disapproval of the Apartheid system. She subsequently attended the University of Connecticut and then moved to Israel where she also attended the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. There she received a post-graduate teaching degree and taught English literature and jazz dancing. Seven years later and wanting to make a better living, she left Israel to attend the Harvard-affiliated University of Cape Town where she earned an MBA in finance. Then, with this business savvy, she took on retail fashion world.
  Shani’s first job was in Houston at a store called Foley’s. Through its management training program, she learned valuable analytical skills that ultimately qualified her to work for what would become her career company. With a husband and two children, Shani moved to Dallas where she began work as a financial analyst for Neiman Marcus. Since then, her chronological stay with the company has taken her to Newport Beach, back to Houston, up to Michigan, and then finally back to Newport. Even with all this traveling, the experience of working with a company committed to the highest standards has made everything worth the while. By this, Shani means not only Neiman Marcus’ support of charitable organizations such as the Troy store’s involvement with Child Help USA and the American Cancer Society, but also the store’s commitment to provide its clients with the best products and customer service. As she points out, if mistakes are made, which occasionally happens in even the best companies, Neiman Marcus employees pride themselves on correcting them to the full satisfaction of their clients.
  Shani tells the story of one client who came in to pick up a gown she had ordered for an event that evening.
  “The gown had been misshipped and there she was, four hours before the event with nothing to wear. A team of associates was pulled together including the store manager, assistant store manager, sales associate, alterations manager, department manager, and more. We found a beautiful gown but it didn’t fit. Two alterations associates got to work as we matched a handbag, shoes, and jewelry to the gown. We had one of our makeup artists come to the fitting room to do the client’s makeup while she sipped on champagne. Then, her husband called on her cell phone and they agreed to meet at the event at 6 p.m. Everything was not only corrected, but she walked out of our store looking beautiful and thrilled with how we took care of her.”
  Looking toward the future, Shani is more than excited about her current position. Beyond her job description, she’s just happy to be back in Newport Beach.“One of the reasons I like California so much is because it’s one of the only places that rivals Cape Town in its beauty.” Coming from a person who has lived all over the world, we’ll take her word for it.

—David Krissman