The 2000 AWIB Entrepreneurial Achievement Award Winner - Cecilia Pagkalinawan
Founder and CEO
Boutique Y3K
Boutique Y3K, a New York based company, is an e-commerce solutions provider and e-tailing consultant for the fashion and luxury retail industry. With an experienced management and top retail clients, the company is a recognized leader in e-commerce consulting, design, architecture, branding, marketing, data mining and digital photography. Their clients include Nine West, Animal Fair, Babygear.com, Bolt.com, Furla, Jones Apparel Group, Nerve, LifeBeat, and Rob Peck McCooey.
Cecilia founded Boutique Y3K in March, 1998 almost by accident. She was President of Abilon's new U.S. operations for six months when she was told the company was going to close. Rather than take the $60,000 guaranteed in her severance package, she offered Abilon $1 to take over its New York office and clientele and they agreed. She secured Angel investment of $150,000 and she was off and running. For the next 18 months, Cecilia struggled, putting in the long hours typical of a new media startup. She borrowed money, got new business and aggressively went after investors. Her tenacity resulted in substantial Angel investment and finally, in January, 2000, the company secured $15 million in venture capital. The company expects to close on $12 million in second round financing within the next few months.
Life wasn't always hi-tech for Cecilia who came to America with her four siblings and parents from the Philippines when she was 8 years old. Her parent's middle class salary only stretched so far with such a large family and Cecilia learned to maximize her assets at an early age. After graduating from Hofstra University, she took a variety of media and marketing jobs. She began her career as a media specialist at Young & Rubicam, working with clients such as Fruitopia, Guinness Beer, Sprint and Radio Shack. She left Y& R to joining K2 Design where as the VP of Client Services, Cecilia helped K2 grow from a 6 person firm to a publicly traded Internet company with over 65 employees. Cecilia went on to be the Executive Producer and Creative Director for the Interactive unit of Messner Vetere Berger McNamee Schmetterer/Euro RSCG where she worked with clients such as Evian, MCI and Volvo.
Despite her busy work schedule, Cecilia has volunteered her time for a variety of good causes. She is a co-founder of MOUSE, a Silicon Alley-based non-profit organization focuses on providing technology support, connectivity and guidance to NYC public schools. She is a frequent speaker on topics of entrepreneurship, e-commerce and e-marketing at conferences and Universities and always has time to mentor other young women in new media and technology businesses.
In 1999, Cecilia was featured among Silicon Alley Reporter's "Top 100 Internet Executives in New York" and as one of A Magazine's "10 Hottest Asian American Entrepreneurs under 30". She has appeared in news articles in the Industry Standard, Vogue Magazine, Internet World and Asiaweek. She has appeared as a guest on CNNfn's "Entrepreneurs Only" to discuss trends in e-commerce. Cecilia was recently selected a fellow in the prestigious Rockefeller Foundation's Next Generation Leadership Program where she will spend part of the next 2 years working with a diverse network of leaders to build a stronger, more sustainable global democracy for the 21st Century. In addition, Procter and Gamble featured Cecilia and other leading women achievers in their 2000 global ad campaign.