With 15 years of experience in media and luxury, Sabine Heller has served as ASMALLWORLD’s President and CEO since August 2011. Prior to that, she was the company’s President and COO having worked with the organization since 2006, when she was initially contracted to develop its content plan. Sabine is credited for effectively restructuring the company, and is responsible for establishing and implementing its future business strategy.
Previously, Sabine formed and headed a boutique strategy and marketing practice, specializing in small to mid-size companies in the luxury, fashion and media sectors. Her clients have included Harry Winston, Gucci, GILT Groupe, Erickson Beamon, Branded Media Corporation and Robert Burke Associates. She also founded The Villency Emerging Fashion Program, a design incubator collaborating with top American fashion houses like Proenza Schouler, Thakoon and Derek Lam. Prior to that, she was the VP of Marketing and Advertising at Maurice Villency/Roche Bobois USA, where she led an initiative to re-position the 80-year-old luxury company.
Sabine is also an editor-at-large at Purple Fashion Magazine and Vogue Italia, and over the years, has interviewed and collaborated with leading artists and cultural figures including Philip-Lorca diCorcia, Lisa Yuskavage, Tracey Emin, Terry Richardson, Mark Borthwick, Mark Ronson, James Franco, and former President Clinton.
What sets your organisation apart from other online travel and social networks?
Being a member of our network is the best way to get the inside track in any city! What sets us apart is the sense of belonging we offer our members, who can feel at home anywhere in the world. The ease of international travel has made the world smaller. Exploring a city with guide-book in hand is outdated; we are replacing fold-out maps with friendly faces. From Tokyo to Beirut, ASW highlights hotels, shops and restaurants that recognize members and offers them insider rates. Tapping into local communities, attending parties and linking up with fellow travelers is easy.
As part of our reinvention, we aim to become the definitive travel and social resource for people truly international in sensibility and lifestyle. By way of an evolving website and recommendation platform, members will ever more become mavens of what they love, sharing with the our community their personal city and travel favorites. Membership will also grant access to an expanded events program and exclusive global privileges, with steep discounts at hundreds of brand partners like the Mandarin Oriental and Taj Hotels & Resorts. Members will also carry a membership card designed by Waris Ahluwalia, and partake of a verified, global community which we plan to cap at 250,000.
Another core value that distinguishes us is trust, having a fully verified user base which will ensure the integrity of the community in a way that no social network has ever done before.
Tell us about the challenges of the virtual world and what were your strategies?
We started in 2004. ASW was founded by a Swedish Count named Erik Wachtmeister, and in certain niche ways had a first mover advantage in social media. For most adults it was their first experience with social media – and for the initial members it was pretty intoxicating to discover a totally different form of communication. That level of excitement was added to by the fact that you had to be invited, and invitations were scarce.
When in 2005, Harvey Weinstein became the majority shareholder, he made an assumption that seemed logical at that time. The assumption was predicated on the notion that ad buys are decided on a global level. However, this proved false. Media buyers buy advertising locally not globally. Since we had limited penetration in most markets, the company had to bend over backwards to create complicated customer integrations for each partner. This led to an inefficient non-consumer facing business environment, as all resources were focused on maximizing revenue.
Additionally, the company functioned in a pre-crash mentality. Big-name investors and board members were eager to pump up revenue and capital, and flip the company. Before 2008, the strategy could have worked, but after the market crash of 2008 it became clear there had to be a shift approach. We had to now build a long-term, long-lasting business strategy – one that was consumer-facing. Ultimately, we had to be committed to driving member value at all costs, in the form of experiences, upgrades and perks, which led to our reinvention as the definitive travel and lifestyle club in the spring of 2013, remaking one of the world’s oldest social networks as a subscription service.
What are your future plans?
Our exciting plans for the near future include the launch of the ASW Foundation. Last December in Gstaad, we raised 90,000 CHF in 20 minutes to benefit the Alzheimer’s Society. Imagine the possibilities if you bring several hundred thousand of the world’s most influential people into a joint endeavour. Members will be able to make a real difference in the world by volunteering together as a community. Basically, it’s a great way to harness our collective influence. Our first real post-launch foundation initiative relates to India! We just pledged a $20,000 donation to and are working with New Light, a school in Calcutta for the children of prostitutes.
We also plan to grow significantly in numbers in key markets like India, where we used to have 10,000 members before the re-launch. Indians represent ideal members for us, as we are English speaking, international, sophisticated and avid travelers. Part Indian myself, having spent part of my childhood in Mumbai and New Delhi, I’m personally very excited to have more and more Indian fashion designers, retailers and hotels as part of our future.
Please give us a brief background about yourself, specifically your Indian roots, and early professional life…
II’m a bit like a banyan tree. I am one part creative, one part business; one side defiantly Indian, the other distinctly American. In this post-modern mix lies a core value: femininity. I was raised in a matriarchy, and come from a line of trailblazers. The stories I can share from my Indian heritage range from an ancestor who started a buying cooperative for women, to a great-aunt, Marayam Sobani, who left her husband, smoked, drank, and became a politically active 1920s society figure. The women in my family have all charted their own paths, and we share a gene that prevents us from being conventional. There’s nothing about my upbringing or life that could be deemed conventional. Raised within two worlds, my youth was divided between New York and India, where I was brought up, in part, by my grandmother, the late Fatema Ismail, and in part, by many other extraordinary and prominent Indian women.
My grandmother, an MP in the Rajya Sabha, was a leader within the nationalist movement with Nehru (and a close friend of his), and started several Mumbai-based institutions like The Fellowship for the Physically Handicapped. She wasn’t elected but was appointed MP in recognition of her service to India. We shared a deep love. By contrast, my mother Usha Ismail is more creative, having worked as an art dealer and model (she is a great beauty!) before moving to New York. I am the product of these two women’s influence – my drive inherited from my grandmother, and artistic sensibilities from my mother.
How do you deal with obstacles or any crisis that come on your way?
I think the most important trait in life is being agile and nimble. I deal with obstacles that come my way by being flexible and resourceful. I always try to find the silver lining in every situation. Lao Tzu once said: “Every problem is a blessing in disguise.” I de-stress by walking somewhere beautiful and just looking around, or by going to the gym. I have many close friendships and actively nurture them; I also spend a lot of time at my house in the country.
What is the recipe for a successful business?
Build a great product; never lose sight of your consumer.
What is the best business advice you have received as a CEO?
Play to your own and other people’s strengths.
The best travel tip that you have ever received and the one you would like to pass on to the other jet-setters?
Always see cultures through the eyes of people. It’s human interaction that makes an experience rich.
Your favorite place to holiday in India?
I spent part of my childhood in Mumbai, so the city’s still very close to my heart. That said, my favorite place to holiday would be in Maheshwar, staying at Ahilya Fort. It’s my grandfather’s family’s place and I went there a lot as a child. My godfather has done a tremendous job converting it into a hotel without losing its character. It’s well off the beaten path—you experience India not as a tourist at all, because the interior feels like a palace and he still functions as a prince. When you’re staying there, it’s not like you’re going and visiting temples. You get to read in temples, to spend the whole day in spaces that people briefly visit.
Tips on how one can make the most out of a holiday. What are the ‘to-do’ things that always top your holiday agenda?
Explore. Make friends. Meet locals. Go off the beaten path. Do physical activities if you can, like biking, trekking, hiking, walking, swimming. Spend time reading, writing and drawing in places that are otherwise regarded as tourist sites.
What’s your holiday style? The ‘must-pack’ you suggest?
My travel essentials include a House of Waris tote bag, Bungalow 8 scarf, Malia Mills bathing suit, Roberta Roller Rabbit beach wrap, and Jamini Ahluwalia
necklace.
