Last Wednesday I asked who you need to meet. Evan Amadio replied inside the hour, and he did not write press or retail. He wrote a beauty editor putting together holiday gift guides at somewhere like The Cut or Byrdie, and a curator running multi-brand pop-ups in SoHo or Georgetown.
I could send him names that same afternoon, so I did. One of them was Dee Rivera, who produced and ran press for Times Square Fashion Week. They are on a call this Wednesday.
FOUR THINGS, THREE MINUTES
Why Evan’s ask got answered inside an hour. The one change that makes people forward your ask instead of nodding at it.
1 · A gift guide editor and a pop-up curator. New York or DC. One tap, costs you nothing.
2 · A Times Square runway in 2027, 25% off. The deposit has to land Monday 5 October.
3 · Magazine features from $500. Her full rate card is in here, and a week on a Times Square screen.
4 · A manufacturer who runs from ten pieces. Plus a founder looking for sponsors.
If you only do one thing, do number 1. It is free, it takes one tap, and it is the reason this edition exists.
THE PART YOU CAN USE
Name the outlet and the street
Most asks I get say press, or investors, or distribution. Nobody can act on those, including me. Evan’s could be forwarded exactly as he wrote it, because anyone reading it could picture one real person.
Next time you ask anybody for help, name the publication, the neighborhood or the job title. It is the difference between an ask people nod at and one they pass along.
Next, the ask itself. Read it and you will see the difference.
1 OF 4 · EVAN IS STILL LOOKING · FREE, AND THE ONE I AM HOPING FOR
Eukomos waterless lipid serums, $80 retail.
A gift guide editor and a pop-up curator, New York or DC
Evan Amadio, founder, Eukomos
If you know a beauty writer, a market editor, or someone who books brands into concept stores or hotel retail in SoHo, the LES, Georgetown or Downtown DC, this one is yours.
What you would be introducing. Waterless lipid hair and scalp serums, $80 retail, fresh off NYFW showroom showcases and Hamptons activations. He wants holiday gift guides, indie beauty edits and VIP gifting.
What it takes. One tap just below. I write to you myself before anything goes to Evan, and nothing about your contact moves without your yes.
2 OF 4 · DEE’S 2027 RUNWAY · CLOSES MONDAY 5 OCTOBER
The VIP runway for the price of the package below it
15 September, Duffy Square. A 2027 spot buys you a segment of this.
If you are a designer who wants a runway in Times Square next year, this is the number to act on. Dee’s VIP Designer Experience is $10,000. Put a $2,500 deposit down by Monday 5 October and it is 25% off: $7,500, the same price as her Signature package, with everything VIP carries.
What VIP carries. Your own runway segment with 20 to 25 looks and professional agency models. A billboard feature. A shoppable runway, so guests can buy the collection while they watch. Getty Images of your show, eight articles on the event, and a place in every press release and in the video coverage with your own snippets. Dee puts the event’s reach at 8,000 people.
How you pay. The $2,500 deposit holds your spot for February or September 2027. Dee offers a payment plan across 2027 for the rest.
The other two levels. Signature is $7,500 for up to 15 looks, Getty Images and three articles. Emerging is $5,000 for up to 12 looks, Getty Images and two articles. The 25% applies to VIP only.
To be straight. This is paid placement. No journalist is choosing you. You are buying a stage, the photographs and the coverage, which is worth owning when you need the assets. I will not dress it up as more.
What it takes. Reply DEE and one line on your collection. I put you in front of her directly.
Not ready for a runway? The next one starts at $500.
3 OF 4 · GET FEATURED, OR GET ON A BILLBOARD · PAID PLACEMENT
Magazine features from $500
If you are a founder, author, designer or brand heading into the holidays, Dee places stories in business, lifestyle, entertainment and fashion titles, matched on editorial fit.
The eight titles she places into.
What each tier costs. Her rate card, exactly as she sends it:
$500 for one article, up to $5,000 for ten with covers and two press releases.
What one actually looks like. She already ran one through for me, so you can judge it yourself instead of taking my word. Times Square Fashion Week gives creatives a global stage, in Influencer Daily, which is the Influencer title in the image above. Propel is named in it. Read it before you decide whether it is worth $500 to you.
To be straight. Paid placement, same as the runway. These are contributor-network titles, not newsstand magazines, and no editor is choosing you on merit. You are buying assets you can point at. Worth owning when you need them, not a substitute for earned press.
Or a week on a Times Square screen
41st Street and 7th Avenue. Louis Vuitton has the screen in this frame.
What you get. Seven days on one of the largest digital screens in Times Square. A 10-second spot four to six times an hour, twenty hours a day, which is about 96 plays a day. $500 a day, $3,500 for the week.
Deadlines. Holiday billboards close 1 November. Holiday magazine slots close 15 November. Dee books whoever confirms first.
What it takes. Reply DEE and say which one.
Propel earns a share of anything booked through Dee, agreed with her in writing.
Two more open in fashion, then you are done.
4 OF 4 · ALSO OPEN IN FASHION · FREE
A sample in weeks, a production run from 10 pieces. My Manufacturing Lab on the Propel marketplace takes a sketch to a tech pack and a sample in two to four weeks, then runs production from 10 units per style in 21 days, duties paid to your door.
A fashion founder looking for sponsors. Catherine Schuller builds collections around comic books, in New York and Nigeria, and is open to sponsors, investors and people who want to help.
Both of these run through the same reply. Name either one and I make the introduction.
One reply is all this needs. If a person came to mind for Evan, say EVAN. If Dee’s runway or her features are for you, say DEE. If it was the manufacturer or Catherine, just name them. I answer every one myself.
Best,
Stephen
Stephen Michael, Chief Executive Officer, Propel Earth
516 307 6380
P.S. If you read one line of this, read this one. Evan needs one name, and by now you either thought of someone or you did not. If you did, reply EVAN. It costs you nothing, it takes ten seconds, and it is the entire reason this list exists.
IF YOU MISSED THE LAST FEW
101 people told me who they are. 11 told me what they need. Why saying what you need is ten times harder than saying who you are.
Nobody advertised it. It went from 20 to 130. How a room for event hosts grew with no promotion, and how to get into the next cohort.
She told me where to stand. What a pageant titleholder taught me about running a room at fashion week.
ONE TAP, DIFFERENT EVERY EDITION
Every edition ends with one question. This one is for the fashion side of the network, and your tap tells me who to put you in front of next.
KNOW SOMEONE WHO SHOULD BE IN HERE
Forward this to them, or send them the front door, where the card, the map and the Private Network all sit one click apart.