the notonthehighstreet.com Bake Off!

Last week we celebrated National Cupcake Week with a Bake Off at notonthehighstreet.com HQ. Everyone was invited to bring along their finest culinary treats, and Holly and Sophie acted as our judging panel. There was a huge range of wonderful creations that were judged on both taste and appearance, including Hungry Caterpillar cupcakes, ice cream cupcakes baked in ice cream cones, crab cakes, hamburger cupcakes and hot chocolate cupcakes sitting in teacups made of icing.

After much deliberation, the winning cake was named. Our lovely merchandiser, Emma, took home the coveted prize (a home made wooden spoon trophy) for her giant, milkshake-flavoured cupcake, whilst the ceramic notepad cake (which was created in honour of one of the most-loved gifts from the site) and the international-themed cupcakes were both highly commended. Those of us who weren’t able to bake their own cakes were on hand to assist with the extremely thorough taste testing. We like to do things properly…

Posted by jenniferbaldwin on 19 September 2011

new additions to the notonthehighstreet.com team

We are pleased to announce that we’ve recently appointed three new additions to our senior management team: Jason Weston as Chief Operating Officer, Mark Hodson as Chief Marketing Officer and Maya Moufarek as Director of International Development. Jason joins notonthehighstreet.com after ten years at Amazon.com where he was Director of UK Softlines, Mark joins after five years as Marketing Director at PayPal and Maya, who joined the company late spring, was previously at Google for six years where she most recently managed Regional Strategic Partnerships. All three appointees report jointly to our co-founders Holly Tucker, Executive Chairman and Sophie Cornish, Managing Director.

We’re all thrilled at the new additions to our team, Holly says “These new appointments come at a significant time for notonthehighstreet.com and bring great leadership and business acumen as we work towards our vision of turning notonthehighstreet.com into a very well-known brand in the UK and abroad. Jason, Mark and Maya’s combined expertise will be invaluable in helping us build and scale the business as we develop new and existing revenue streams and plan international expansion for the future.”

Jason Weston: Chief Operating Officer

Jason Weston joins notonthehighstreet.com on 12th September after ten years at Amazon in a range of senior positions. For the last four years he has been Director of UK Softlines. In this role he had full commercial responsibility for launching and scaling both the business and the teams for the clothing, accessories and sporting goods categories for Amazon. Jason previously worked for Future Publishing where he was responsible for editorial direction as well as profitability. As notonthehighstreet.com’s first Chief Operating Officer, Jason will head up the day to day operations for notonthehighstreet.com in the UK. Jason Weston comments: “Notonthehighstreet.com is a unique entrepreneurial business and an unbelievable success story. I am excited to be working with such an innovative and enthusiastic team to drive the business to become a major online marketplace whose standards of operation are exceptional.”

Mark Hodson: Chief Marketing Officer

Mark Hodson, who joins notonthehighstreet.com on 6th October, has spent the past five years as Marketing Director at PayPal UK. In this role Mark built a marketing team from scratch, created pioneering online and offline initiatives and acquired almost 30 million UK customers, developing PayPal into the UK’s most popular online payment brand. Prior to this, his career included senior marketing roles at Vodafone, InterContinental Hotels and British Airways. As Chief Marketing Officer, Mark will oversee all brand, marketing, user experience and PR initiatives for notonthehighstreet.com. Mark Hodson comments: “Notonthehighstreet.com is a dynamic business at the forefront of e-commerce technology. With the opportunity to build our brand globally, engage more with existing customers as well as introducing notonthehighstreet.com to new customers, it’s an exciting time to be joining the team.”

Maya Moufarek: Director of International Development

Before joining notonthehighstreet.com in March 2011, Maya Moufarek spent six years at Google where she was a founding member of the EMEA Emerging Markets team ensuring countries such as Israel, Turkey, Poland and Egypt had high visibility within the organisation. She also worked in Russia as a founding member of the Moscow-based marketing team and San Francisco where she led the international launch of the acclaimed Google Chrome browser. Prior to Google, Maya worked at Cisco and LG Electronics. In her new role as Director of International Development Maya is responsible for defining and implementing notonthehighstreet.com’s international strategy. Maya Moufarek comments: “Notonthehighstreet.com is one of the greatest success stories of the British tech and e-commerce scene. I’m thrilled to be taking this story internationally and helping small creative businesses from different countries grow whilst meeting the customer demand for original, charming and unique products.”

Posted by jenniferbaldwin on 12 September 2011

Sophie's first Stylist event

Last Wednesday evening, a very excited Sophie Cornish spoke at her first Stylist Network Event in her capacity as their Business Ambassador. Titled ‘Invent Your Way to a New Career’ and held in the grand surroundings of the British Library, the event was attended by a crowd of budding entrepreneurs and inventors looking to make their ideas happen.

Sitting on the panel alongside Sophie were award-winning inventors Mandy Haberman and Lisa Irlam as well as Suzy Schmitz, expert Intellectual Property lawyer. The event was a great success and Sophie was thrilled to meet so many aspiring and determined people. ‘What a fantastic night, and what a lot of clever people under one roof. It was so refreshing to hear the brilliant and unique ideas that people were sharing, and I left feeling incredibly inspired by the dedication and drive of the audience. Can’t wait for the next event!’

Details of Sophie’s next event as Business Ambassador will be announced here on our blog and on Twitter (@SophieVCornish and @nothsdotcom) in due course. In the mean time, keep an eye out on the Stylist website for news of other upcoming Stylist Network events and masterclasses.

Posted by jenniferbaldwin on 01 September 2011