Episode 49 - Friend-Raising: The Human Side of Building a Luxury Brand

What happens when you build a luxury brand by putting relationships before transactions?

On this episode of PowerHouse Cool Collabs, Wendy Cohen sits down with Donille Perrone, Senior Brand Manager for SKS, whose unconventional career journey took her from therapeutic footwear to toilets, light bulbs, and solar before leading her to the opportunity that would bring together her talents, personality and passion: helping build SKS from the ground up.

Donille shares how SKS entered the competitive luxury appliance world by listening first,  working directly with design professionals to understand their challenges and create products designed around real industry needs.

But the heart of this conversation goes far beyond appliances.

Donille shares one of the most important lessons she learned from mentor Zach Elkin: “friend-raising.” Build the relationship first. Be accessible. Answer the phone. Earn trust. Create genuine connections, and let everything else grow from there.

Wendy and Donille also talk about mentorship, developing the next generation of leaders, why human-to-human communication matters more than ever in an AI-driven world, trusting an unconventional career path, taking risks, and what it means to live a life with no regrets.

An inspiring conversation about luxury, leadership, relationships and remembering that the most powerful business strategy may simply be being human.