Lululemon Senior Director Aria Stewart on Navigating Career Change and Building Teams

Career Path & Key Motivations

• 💡 Aria Stewart has built an 18-year career in film, TV, and photo production at companies like Disney and Hasbro before joining Lululemon.
• 🎯 Her core motivation is facilitating creative art by removing roadblocks and finding innovative solutions within time and budget constraints, rather than being the artist herself.
• 🚀 She made significant cross-country and international moves for career opportunities, transitioning from Los Angeles to Rhode Island, then to Vancouver for Lululemon, and eventually back to Los Angeles.

Role at Lululemon

• 📌 As Senior Director of Global Brand Studio and Sample Operations at Lululemon, Aria leads the production of high-volume photo and video content for global marketing channels.
• 📊 Her team also manages the product sample flow, ensuring seamless cross-functional collaboration to meet creative and commercial objectives.
• ✨ The role has evolved significantly, feeling like a different job every year due to the company's high growth and constant change, which she embraces.

Navigating Change & Personal Growth

• 🧠 Aria thrives in an environment of constant change, noting that those who don't like change often leave Lululemon quickly.
• ✅ She practices healthy detachment from work, using physical activities like yoga and spin to create boundaries and recharge, recognizing the importance of not letting work consume her life.
• 📈 A key skill developed is the ability to seamlessly shift between day-to-day operational details and long-term strategic planning, utilizing different parts of her brain.

Leadership & Team Philosophy

• 🤝 Aria emphasizes putting the right people in place and fostering a