Leena Gurevich, the NYC Showroom Director of the Carlisle Collection, joined her colleague last September for her first 85 Broads Power Breakfast. The featured speaker was Ann Tisch, founder and president of the Young Women’s Leadership Network, a non-profit organization that sponsors four all-girls’ public high schools in New York City and Philadelphia. After hearing Ann speak passionately about her decision to dedicate the same type of resources that affluent students receive to an underserved population and possibly change the course of their lives, Leena found herself doing something she had never done before. Once the speech ended, she patiently waited in line, approached Ann and said, “I want to help.” They exchanged business cards and scheduled a face-to-face meeting.

“I wasn’t sure if I had a concrete plan in mind when I approached Ann, but I knew I wanted to do something.” Leena said, as she showed me around the Carlisle Collection’s penthouse showroom in East Midtown. The diverse collection of women’s clothing ranges from colorful and feminine Mad Men-style dresses to sharp power suits that, while reminiscent of the 80s, are decidedly modern. All of the clothes are designed in-house by Charles Rennick with local professional patternmakers and made with Italian fabrics.

After careful thought, Leena proposed giving a suit from the Collection to each YWLN graduate. She confessed to me, “I hadn’t even brought up the idea with corporate, but I knew they would support me.” Leena instinctively felt that this initiative would fit in with the Carlisle Collection’s ongoing philanthropic efforts. For instance, Carlisle designs and sells a limited edition scarf each year and directs 100% of the proceeds—$1.4 million and counting—to the Susan G. Komen Foundation.

With the corporate headquarters’ enthusiastic support, Leena and the Carlisle Collection held an event entitled, “Carlisle Collection Gives Back.” Recent YWLN graduates and professional women from around New York City gathered at the showroom to recognize the girls’ achievements. After a brief introduction from Leena and Ann, Leena’s friend and networking guru Andrea Nierenberg offered a few tips to the girls on how to break the ice and cultivate relationships, and encouraged the girls to speak with all of the accomplished women in the room. The girls took her advice to heart immediately, and unabashedly introduced themselves to those present, in between bites of hors d’oeuvres and laughter.

In fitting the girls with their new suits, Leena wanted to give them a jolt of confidence when they walked into their first job interview or business meeting. To become better acquainted with her mentees, she will be hosting lunches for four girls at a time throughout the next several months. In addition, all of the girls will be invited to the Carlisle Collection’s free workshops on fashion, where they will learn how to present the best version of themselves with the clothing they already own.

She connected this effort to how she cultivates clients in her professional life. The Carlisle Collection is centered on the idea of customized, personal attention. The first meeting between a new client and a showroom director lasts between 1.5 to 2 hours. She is encouraged to bring pieces from her own closet, and the director will help her incorporate new items into her wardrobe to create a series of different outfits. Through this meeting, the client will learn to enhance what she already has and to present herself at her best. Thereafter, all clients are invited to attend the free workshops, which center around subjects such as, “Closet Full of Clothes and Nothing to Wear” and “What to Pack on a Business Trip.” At each seminar, approximately thirty-five to forty professional women gather, listen to a 45-minute presentation, sip wine and network.

Leena’s ability to combine business savvy with charitable aims is evident in another Carlisle initiative: Carlisle will give entrepreneurial opportunities to motivated women who can drive and generate sales, and donate a percentage of the sales proceeds to YWLN.

While the experience of mentoring young women is new to Leena, she likened this to how she has mentored people throughout her career in fashion. After graduating from the Fashion Institute of Technology, she started at the Gucci Group. In her most recent position at Hugo Boss, almost twenty-five General Managers reported to her on a regular basis. When she started a year ago at the Carlisle Collection, she realized that her new staff were reluctant to approach her and feared potential layoffs. Over the course of the next few months, she earned their trust by taking a collaborative approach. She assured her staff that they will work together as a team and emphasized that she had a lot to learn from them. Leena even moved her office from the staid corporate headquarters two floors below the showroom to the stockroom, where she now happily sits on a picnic table and directly interacts with her team on a daily basis.

When honing her managerial style, Leena thought often of those who had a positive influence on her, like Laura Lendrum of Yves Saint Laurent, who was always poised, professional and kind. Leena fondly recalled Laura’s ability to not merely manage but lead, and consistently acknowledge the team’s contributions.

During our meeting Leena said to me, “Appearances do matter. Confidence shows in the way you carry yourself.” Leena has translated this passion into both her personal and professional worlds.