About Karla
Karla Wallace
Karla currently serves on the executive boards for The New Haven Club Inc. of NANBPWC Inc., as Corresponding Secretary and within the Northeast District of NANBPWC as Recording Secretary. Having chaired the first virtual edition of their Founder’s Day Celebration, and started her club’s Technology Committee in 2020. Karla also serves wherever she is called including on the Scholarship, Denim & Pearls Veterans Appreciation, and President’s Retreat committees.
In addition to her work with B&P, Karla has garnered affiliations with countless other worthy organizations, including Girl Scouts, the National Action Network, NYC Homeless Veterans Outreach Services, The Salvation Army Angel Tree Program, Act Blue, Planned Parenthood, and The Ovarian Cancer Research Fund (ORCF), serving with her time and financial contributions.
With nearly 20 years of experience in the fashion and tech industries, Karla is currently consulting as Ecommerce Project Manager for one of the largest global beauty brands in existence today. She is a seasoned professional with an extensive background in managing and directing physical and technical operations for domestic and international firms of all sizes.
Her start in the e-commerce industry began at the powerhouse fashion firm, Jones Apparel Group, where Karla created merchandising and operational excellence. Here, she was able to promote a foundational skillset spanning from customer service, talent scouting, visual merchandising, and cross-functional retail development. In 2009, she received an award for divisional excellence in this area.
Soon after, Karla partnered with jewelry start-up Chloe + Isabel in an entrepreneurial partnership. She then spent a substantial number of years as Director of Retail and E-commerce Operations for American fashion icon, Nicole Miller, and several other highly sought after luxury fashion brands. Her expertise has taken her across Europe and North America, leading fashion and beauty ecommerce teams in Stockholm, Sweden and Vancouver, Canada. These experiences have allowed her to establish intimate knowledge of the various facets within small, large, e-commerce, and brick and mortar businesses, and deeply diverse personal and professional networks.
Her hands-on experience in helping online businesses achieve success led her in 2017 to create twelve27 digital, a boutique, comprehensive, e-commerce maintenance agency offering marketing, fulfillment operations, merchandising, vendor management, and more to micro businesses in the tri-state area.
Karla — who majored in and started her career in Early Childhood Education — holds professional & technical certifications from The Fashion Institute of Technology, The College of Westchester, and Google, and is currently studying to become a certified Scrum Master.
Above all, her most prized accomplishment is that of mother to her daughter, Aniyah. She credits her success to ambition and a dedication to being the foremost example of excellence and perseverance for her daughter to model.
Karla’s expertise and life experience has afforded her opportunities to speak to students at LIM Fashion College and the High School for Fashion Studies, both in NYC. She also took pride in speaking to students at Hamden High School annual career fairs. After a move to West Haven during the pandemic, Karla is now a proud Westie, with her daughter and her grandkitten, Aurora.