Curating the Conversation

Shauna Mei
CEO and founder
AHAlife.com
New York City

Shauna Mei heads AHAlife.com, an online purveyor of products with a sense of discovery. The idea was to create a network of influential curators in search of the best, most innovative and hard-to-find products from fashion, tech, food and design — items notable for their inherent education, inspiration and enjoyment that add up to an “a-ha” moment.

Mei previously founded Mobius Strip LLC, a company dedicated to creating responsible, inspiring and profitable businesses at the intersection of fashion/design and life’s experiences. Prior to Mobius Strip, Mei was CEO of Casall International, a Swedish wellness lifestyle company. Mei also co-founded Aronsson Group, a luxury fashion investment and advisory firm, with Jeffry Aronsson.

What inspired you to create AHAlife.com?
The very beginning of the idea started with realizing the power that females have and realizing that, especially in America, we control 80 percent of the consumption power. But there was also an emotional component. As a woman I found there was an across-the-board void in companies that spoke to me as well as other intelligent and globally minded females.

Having worked in the luxury market for five years prior to starting AHAlife, I realized I was bombarded with so many new “hip” brands, especially in fashion, that tried really hard and invested millions and millions of dollars to speak to me. It was like every single woman was supposed to be running around like Carrie Bradshaw and all we were supposed to care about were shoes and handbags.

It’s not as if the world really needs another fashion brand. So I thought about the areas of my life where I felt there wasn’t a conversation and started making a list of what I care about: wellness and fitness, design and travel. I also like learning about different causes and different people. I started seeking out contacts proactively, but there wasn’t anyone to have that conversation with me, so we built a team to do that.

What’s the story behind the team?
We have a group of curators that help us source products. So by starting with experts vs. going out and finding a product, we don’t have to build a large buying team and then say, “Okay, we’re going to start buying flatware for the site.” Instead, we go to that expert who knows the space better than anyone else.

We have a sense of what people really want because these experts have seen so much over their years in the field.

Why a flash site?
The traditional off-line space has become so clunky and expensive and very, very difficult to navigate, so it made perfect sense to do something like this online. We didn’t hammer the fact that the items are always available; it’s just that we refresh our pages after 24 hours, much like a department store changes its displays or windows.

AHAlife didn’t strictly come from the idea that, “Oh, there are so many incredible products all over the world and there’s no distribution, so let me figure out a way to create a platform that allows these products and amazing designers to be distributed,” but part of that is true.

Is there one item on your own site that you covet?
I covet a lot of things, but we just did an iPad cover with Solid Line featuring an artist exclusive to us, and it’s one of our best sellers. I love making technology fashionable. Most technology is so clunky and ugly and made with men in mind.

Your education and background is a blend of engineering, computer science, finance and a splash of fashion and design — did you ever see yourself in this place or space?
No, I actually thought I might get into something like politics, which I may do one day. I love solving problems and I think the reason I ended up going into luxury and fashion is because as consumers we are more affected by the products and brands we surround ourselves with and how we shop than any other thing in our lives. Especially in the United States and China, where I grew up, we live in these two cultures where consumption really does consume our lives.

What interests and fascinates me about the luxury industry and fashion and lifestyle in general is communicating with customers on a daily basis and understanding the psychology behind how we interact and how we learn.

Through AHAlife, we’re hopefully applying that to great causes. You can look on our site and find products created by underprivileged people and communities around the world. We have rugs made by Afghani widows and scarves hand-dyed by women in Congo. We create items tied to causes, because we think that through these products we can educate people to what’s going on in the world. So I think of luxury and fashion as a communication tool.

Your bio indicates you’re an expert in social media; how do you use it?
I was a senior at MIT when Facebook started and I joined it early on, so social networks really became second nature. A lot of people in my generation in general end up being really good with social media — whatever that means — and how we think about social media.
For business, social media is an amazing tool that allows us to expand the word-of-mouth element of AHAlife.

What’s next?
I wish more offline brands and stores were more open to collaborating and cross-branding. I’ve been wanting to find a great offline partner to collaborate with because we have so many products we’ve vetted online that have done really well. We don’t have the capital to invest in an offline store, but if there was an off-line store that really understood our creative mix of merchandise and who wanted to [partner in creating] an offline extension of AHAlife, then I’d be very open to having that discussion.

As a start-up, we’re all about collaboration, so I’d really like to see more entrepreneurial thinking. The market is so much bigger than it was just a few years ago and there are so many creative ways to reach audiences that it just makes sense.