Background
Mona was born in Williamsville, New York, the daughter of Dinesh and Rashmi Parekh, who are both small business owners.
Mona was born in Williamsville, New York, the daughter of Dinesh and Rashmi Parekh, who are both small business owners.
She attended Williamsville North High School before attending the University of Pennsylvania where she studied human biology. She then went on to earn her Master of Business Administration from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.
After graduating from Wharton, Mona held a variety of different roles in the fashion industry, including corporate strategy roles at Elie Tahari and Chanel. Between 2007-2009 she was a Senior Buyer at Ann Taylor, an experience which inspired her to found to address perceived pain-points in the wholesale process. Foreign its first year, was self-financed, before conducting Series A and Series B funding rounds in 2011 and 2013 to fund expansion overseas.
The platform allows brands to display their collections in an online marketplace where retailers can purchase products wholesale, a process that before usually required using pen and paper.
After quadrupling revenue between 2012 and 2013, Mona was named one of Crain"s New York 40 Under 40 in 2014 and was named an Incorporated. "Company to Watch." That year, was also named one of the 10 most innovative companies in fashion by the staff of Fast Company.
As the company grew, Mona also became known for her innovative "temp-to-perm" hiring process that lowered employee attrition from 60% to below 10%. "s clients include Diane Von Furstenberg, Phillip Lim, Alexander McQueen, Rag & Bone, and Thakoon on the fashion side, and the retailers Bergdorf Goodman and Harrods.
At present, has offices in New York, Paris, Milan, Los Angeles, and Sydney, and processed close to $3 billion in transactions for the fashion industry in 2014, generating $10 million in revenue.
In 2015, Mona was asked to join the advisory committee for Saban Brands, a major fashion and entertainment conglomerate.
She is the founder and Chief Executive Officer of (named after herself), the digital marketplace developed to service wholesale apparel, a largely offline industry where orders are still frequently placed using fax. Foreign her accomplishments, Mona was named Fashinvest"s entrepreneur of the year in 2014, and one of the Wharton Business School"s 40 Under 40.
