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54 | GRAVITAS MAGAZINE GravitasMag.com Do you have a favorite designer? I love Etro. I think the prints are just so unique and special. I love some pieces from A rmani. Such as this k nit fur coat that I won't wear in Sarasota, at all, but it's a great piece that I think I' ll have in my closet for a long time, and hopefully, pass down to my daughter one day. How important is the tactile experience for shoppers when choosing fashions? I touch and feel ever y thing that comes into the store. If the fabric doesn't feel good, I won't even consider it. What made you leave the Midwest and move to Sarasota? My childhood vacation spot was Longboat Key and my family would come down here four or five times a year. I always loved Florida, but really had no desire to move here. A er my college graduation, I moved to Columbus where I had a lot of friends. Columbus was a large city to me compared to where I grew up in the countr y. en, my parents had sold their house in Michigan and moved to Longboat Key. At one point, I was visiting several times a year to see my family, so I decided to move here in 1993. How did you meet your husband, Geoffrey? I met him on my first day of work. I was work ing for the men who owned the business that was formally located where e Met now stands. He was a menswear buyer and I was the assistant to the owner, placing me in charge of all of the advertising and marketing. We started dating and were married in 1996. Why did you decide to open your own store, especially in the fickle fashion industry? My husband, Geoffrey, had the passion for the retail business and I always k new that I wanted to open my own business. e name 'e Met' comes from the Metropolitan. We shortened it to the Met because we thought the word Metropolitan was a mouthful. We were look ing at a few buildings downtown when we realized that we could use this ex isting building. at was 15 years ago and we've never looked back. What's the yin and yang to working with your spouse? Geoffrey is more creative and I think he's definitely beer with people. I'm more of a numbers girl. I never forget a number. Our accountants are always laughing at me because I have such a good memor y. When I worked for my dad 's company, I was in the accounting department, so I was exposed to finances and numbers. ough, it's a bit different when you have your own money versus work ing for somebody. What do you consider to be the biggest challenge of running a business and working in fashion? You k now, it's trusting your gut. If I think about bringing in a new collection or going a new direction with our inventor y, it means that I ultimately have to let go of something else. We work si x months in advance, so you have to plan thoroughly, and then, you have to have enough space to execute it properly. Of course, I've made mistakes. I always pay aention to our sales because that's my report card. If an item didn't sell at full price, I' ll ask, "What happened?" Perhaps, the biggest challenge is mak ing sure that I have a balanced mi x of premier designers with a " bridge," or medium-range collection. My job is to be the leading creative force at e Met. I buy things that I would like to see on my friends or my mom. I like to keep my clients in mind when I see something special. For us, I like to represent the lifestyle of a designer brand that changes with each season. ABOVE: Brenda and her husband, Geoffrey enjoying a dinner party with friends; RIGHT: Brenda with Geoffrey and their two children. BELOW: Brenda with her daugher on vacation.

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