Thomaï Serdari

Luxury retail expert| Professor of Marketing| Founder BRAND(x)LUX| Podcast Host @Populuxepod| Author, Cultural critic

New York, New York, United States

About

I am committed to futureproofing companies across luxury industries with frameworks I have developed based on design, the humanities, and business methodologies. As advisor, speaker, and author, I help clients launch, grow, and successfully manage luxury brands. I leverage my training in business, design, and art/cultural criticism as well as my field work to provide clients with cultural insights that help build brands and future value. I have worked with international clients in the following industries: Fine jewelry, luxury fashion, luxury automotive, fashion brands, men's accessories, travel/leisure/hospitality, wines & spirits. I am the editor-in-chief of the journal Luxury: History Culture Consumption (Taylor & Francis) and have a long record in teaching (2004- ) and mentoring young business professionals and young creatives.

Experience

  • NYU Stern School of Business (15 yrs 2 mos)
    • Clinical Associate Professor of Marketing
      May 2022 - Present · 4 yrs 3 mos

    • Founding Director, ART+QUANTS
      Sep 2024 - Present · 1 yr 11 mos

      Architect of a transformational project at NYU Stern that aims to enrich the school’s quantitative curriculum by increasing the emphasis on critical thinking through exposure to the arts. In this role I work with the Vice Dean of MBA Programs and other internal stakeholders as well as artists, galleries, museums and other creatives to dare an enduring transformation in business education. CHANGE. DARE IT. OWN IT.

    • Director of Luxury & Retail MBA
      Sep 2019 - Present · 6 yrs 11 mos

  • Curator at projectFAME
    Jan 2016 - Present · 10 yrs 7 mos

    project FAME provides creative strategy and represents artists & designers who work in various design inflections, such as fashion, art, media, and education. It establishes specific strategic directions in which their work can grow productively in contemporary culture, manages their creative practice, and presents independently-curated exhibitions of contemporary works, which stem from studio visits with emerging, mid-career, and established practitioners. Visit our gallery on Artsy: https://www.artsy.net/project-fame

  • Founder at BRAND(x)LUX
    Sep 2014 - Present · 11 yrs 11 mos

    BRAND(x)LUX is a brand strategy ideation firm and brand strategy partner to businesses that aspire to be culture leaders through product and content. BRAND(x)LUX helps brands interpret culture, the questions that define it and the trends that will impact the future of premium and luxury markets. BRAND(x)LUX created the Cultural Utility Index that completely revolutionizes the traditional approach to brand assessment. It is a tool for defining business strategy successfully for firms that are destined to lead in the premium and luxury markets from a position of creative innovation. Visit our website at: https://brandxlux.com/

  • Founder and Executive Director of the Board at Work Out Work Up Inc.
    May 2010 - Present · 16 yrs 3 mos

    Work Out Work Up Inc. is a NYC-based not-for-profit dedicated to building confidence in teens of underprivileged backgrounds by subsidizing their gym memberships.

  • Adjunct Professor, Art & Design, History & Theory & School of Constructed Environments at Parsons The New School
    Aug 2014 - Aug 2023 · 9 yrs 1 mo

    Upper level electives taught to product, fashion designers, architects & interior designers: "Interior Design" "The Art, Design, and Fashion Press: History and Practice" "Advanced Research Seminar Fashion" "Cultures of Excess: Product and Fashion Design Through Modernity" "Architecture, Theory, Practice, Criticism" "Green Luxury: NYC Parks and Gardens"