A Blueprint for Transformation and DEI: The Ashley Stewart Story

The remarkable transformation of Ashley Stewart, one of the country’s largest brands serving Black women, is a story about how trusting relationships make us all better. Under the leadership of then chairman and CEO, James Rhee, Ashley Stewart overcame impossible odds to bring the company out of facing liquidation through individual and enterprise-wide innovation and multi-stakeholder engagement.  Hear James Rhee, a son of Korean immigrants and the self-described “least qualified CEO”, share the story of an unlikely friendship between himself and a predominantly Black female employee group who placed their mutual trust in each other, learned from one another, and then proceeded to quietly shock the world.