Tech Powered Luxury
by Ashley McDonnell
Welcome to Season 7 of Tech Powered Luxury!Tech Powered Luxury is hosted by luxury and tech entrepreneur Ashley McDonnell. With 10 years of experience working at the crossroads of luxury and technology, Ashley carved out a career across Paris, Dublin and Geneva, working at LVMH, Dior, Google and luxury group PUIG. The podcast is also taught as a module at leading business and design schools around the world, with the goal to share insightful and actionable stories and experience from industry leaders.
Episodes
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Former Meta Luxury Chief Morin Oluwole on Why Leadership, Not AI, Will Define Luxury's Future
The organisations that outperform don’t react to disruption. They build cultures that anticipate it. Luxury’s digital transformation succeeded because it was a cultural transformation before it was a technological one. AI will increase the value of human judgement, creativity and trust rather…
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Live from Cannes Lions: Federica Labanca and Vicky Owens on How Luxury Lost 60 Million Customers 🎙️
Luxury has not only lost customers. It may have lost relationships. The industry’s problem is emotional, not only commercial. Consumers have not necessarily lost spending power, but they are becoming more cautious about where they invest emotionally. Creators are now part of the marketing engine....
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From Beyoncé Wearing Cult Naked on Tour to the Loneliness Pandemic Reshaping Luxury: What Happened When Tech Powered Luxury Brought Its Biggest Panel Yet to Dublin
For this episode Ashley hosts a live panel at Café en Seine in Dublin with Mary Furtas, founder of Cult Naked, Alana Murrin, founder of Saint Studios, Carlotta Rodben, founder of Beyond Luxury Group, Jonathan Siboni, serial entrepreneur and luxury data expert, and Lynn Kelly, content creator and...
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Live from FASHIONOLOGY in New York: Amira Linson on Scholarships, Sales and Building a Career in Fashion Tech
Amira’s journey starts far from the traditional fashion capitals. Originally from Kansas, she studied in Texas before moving to New York to build a career in fashion. Scholarships changed the direction of her life. Through the Fashion Scholarship Fund, Amira was awarded the Virgil Abloh…
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How Ilaria Resta Is Leading Audemars Piguet Into Its Next Century: Circular Leadership, Royal Pop and the Future of Watchmaking
For this episode, Ashley sits down with Ilaria Resta, CEO of Audemars Piguet, to discuss heritage, innovation, circular leadership, sustainability, and one of the most talked-about watch collaborations of the year. The mission is bigger than any one CEO. Ilaria sees herself as part of a 151-year...
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How Malinda Sanna Gets Luxury Brands Closer to the Women Who Actually Buy: Look Look, Crown Jewels and the New Rules of Desire
For this episode, Ashley sits down with Malinda Sanna to discuss luxury research, the psychology of high-spending women, the shift from status to agency, and why the next frontier of luxury might be less about advertising and more about listening. Luxury consumers are full of contradictions. A...
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Live from Cartier - How We Produced Live From Abu Dhabi: A Fashion Show Celebrating East Meets West
This week, we are back in Dublin at the Cartier Espace at Paul Sheeran Jewellers for something more candid than a recap. It’s a post game analysis of Live from Abu Dhabi, the largest showcase of Irish design in the Middle East to date, and a case study in what it actually takes to execute…
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How Marc Chaya Built Maison Francis Kurkdjian by Putting the Creator First: From Beirut to Paris and a Decade at EY
For this episode, Ashley sits down with Marc Chaya, CEO and co-founder of Maison Francis Kurkdjian, to unpack the philosophy, the partnership, and the fight behind one of luxury perfumery’s most distinctive houses. The career didn’t start in fragrance. It started in survival, then finance, then a...
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Forbes, Time and Sports Illustrated France Founder Dominique Busso on Building a Media Empire, Having Angelina Jolie as a Cover Star and What’s Next at the Cannes Film Festival
This week, Ashley sits down with Dominique Busso, the entrepreneur behind three of the most exciting media moves happening in France right now. He launched Time magazine in France for the first time in the publication's 100 year history. He built Oniriq from scratch, a luxury and lifestyle…
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Live From PFW: Discovered by CHANEL Through an Instagram Reel, From Hospital Paintings to Paris Fashion Debut, How Rachelle Cunningham Turned Art Into Wearable Fashion
This week, we’re coming to you live from PFW with Rachelle Cunningham, a fashion illustrator and painter whose work has moved from a hospital room to the front rows of couture, and now into fashion you can actually wear. Rachelle has worked with CHANEL, Vogue, Vivienne Westwood, Nina Ricci, and...
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London Fashion Week's Official Street Style Photograher: From Baby Photography in Uraguay and Zara Cashier in London to Global Runways, How Romina Introini Created Her Own Fashion Destiny
This week, Ashley is in Paris with Romina Introini (Romilux), one of the street style and fashion photographers shaping how Fashion Month is seen in real time. You have likely seen her work on official fashion week accounts, brand channels, and creator feeds. What you may not know is the path…
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Why Can't Consumer Brands Raise Investment? Creating a New Funding Ecosystem, with Females Top of Mind
Welcome back. Last week, Ashley McDonnell sat down Gordon Renouf, co founder of Good On You, to unpack what sustainability can actually be measured, what brands disclose versus what they claim, and why overconsumption keeps accelerating. If you missed it, listen here. For Episode 4, our host…
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Are Any Fashion Brands Truly Sustainable? In Conversation with Gordon Renouf, Founder of the World's Largest Sustainability Directory
Welcome back. Last week, Ashley McDonnell sat down Annabel Hay, founder and CEO of Clutch Glue, to unpack what happens after virality, from manufacturing and retail expansion to fundraising strategy and systems that scale. If you missed it, listen here. For Episode 3, our host Ashley McDonnell…
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Shark Tank Australia’s Most Viral Entrepreneur: From Construction Site to Cap Table with Clutch Glue’s Annabel Hay
This week, Ashley is in Sydney with Annabel Hay, founder and CEO of CLUTCH Glue and one of Shark Tank Australia’s most talked about contestants. Not yet 30 and already having pivoted from construction management to building a global consumer brand, Annabel breaks down what happens after virality,...
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“Every 30 seconds on this planet, IMAGE Skincare sells a vitamin C product” - Building a Global Brand with Janna Ronert
For our first Tech Powered Luxury podcast episode of 2026, our host Ashley McDonnell sits down with IMAGE Skincare founder Janna Ronert Problem first wins. IMAGE Skincare started with rosacea and built for outcomes, not aesthetics. Relief creates loyalty and group chat recommendations.…
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Building Future Heritage Brands: Fashion, Beauty, Jewellery and Spirits
After a whirlwind of live shows across Dublin, Paris and Abu Dhabi, the Tech Powered Luxury live podcast show finally made its way to Galway City, hosted at the vibrant Hyde Bar. This event celebrated Irish heritage brands and brought together a community of creatives and entrepreneurs under the...
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The Brow Queen: In Conversation with Brow Aid Founder Kim O'Sullivan
Welcome to Season 6 of Tech Powered Luxury, brought to you with Azure Communications! This week on Tech Powered Luxury, we sit down with the Queen of Brows herself, Kim O’Sullivan. With over 14 years at Giorgio Armani, training under industry legends like Pat McGrath, and now expanding her brand...
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Lia Cowan: A Fashion Brand Rooted in Romance and Ballet, as worn by Derry Girls' Nicola Coughlan
Welcome to Season 6 of Tech Powered Luxury, brought to you with Azure Communications! This week, we’re diving into the world of fashion, sculpture, and bespoke bridalwear with Irish designer Lia Cowan. Known for her statement-making designs, worn by none other than Bridgerton’s Nicola Coughlan,...
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Building the Future of Irish Luxury Handbags with Silvana Landa
Welcome to Season 6 of Tech Powered Luxury, brought to you with Azure Communications! This week, we’re diving into the world of brand building, luxury retail, and international expansion with Silvana Landa, the founder of LANDA and a powerhouse in the fashion industry. From Brown Thomas and…
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From Direct Provision to Miss Ireland: The Unstoppable Pamela Uba
Welcome to Season 6 of Tech Powered Luxury, brought to you with Azure Communications! For quite some time now, Azure has been our go-to provider for all things print and marketing. If you attended our Live from Paris Fashion Week show in September last year, you would have seen our event...
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Creating the Future of Fintech for Luxury Shopping Experiences with Prommt CEO Donal McGuinness
Welcome to Season 6 of Tech Powered Luxury, brought to you with Azure Communications! This week, we’re diving into the world of mobile payments, luxury retail, and user experience with Donal McGuiness, the CEO of Prommt. If you’ve ever wondered how tech is shaping the way we shop for high-ticket...
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From British Vogue to the BBC and Beyond: Fashion, Media and AI with Anne-Marie Tomchak
Welcome to Season 6 of Tech Powered Luxury, brought to you with Azure Communications! This week’s guest: Anne-Marie Tomchak, journalist, broadcaster, and expert on fashion, sustainability, and AI. Anne-Marie’s career spans British Vogue, documentary-making, and co-founding ShareJoy, a platform...
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Live from Abu Dhabi: How the Middle East Holds the Future for the Luxury Industry with Akash Mehta, Dr Vali, Jamie Ray & Magee
On February 13th Tech Powered Luxury brought together thought leaders and changemakets in Abu Dhabi to discuss the future of luxury fashion and beauty in Ireland and the Middle East. We gathered over 300 hundred people at the Ambassador’s Residence in Abu Dhabi for an inspiring evening focused on...
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Fashion OG Lorraine Keane on the Xposé Days to Fashion Relief and Speaking Up About Menopause
Welcome to Season 6 of Tech Powered Luxury, brought to you with Azure Communications! This week, we shine light on Lorraine Keane - broadcaster, entrepreneur and champion for sustainable fashion and social impact. From interviewing A-list celebrities on red carpets to creating impactful…
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Luxury Retail 2.0 - From AR Mirrors for D&G to NFC Beauty Stickers and AI Influencers with FFFACE.ME Founder Dmytro Kornilov
Welcome to Season 6 of Tech Powered Luxury, brought to you with Azure Communications! FFFACE.ME is leading the way in blending AR and retail by integrating AR mirrors, phygital clothes and virtual try-ons into offline and online shopping experience. Dmytro shares how his introduction to AR wasn’t...
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From Fashion Editor to Red Carpets and Live TV: Creating a Dream Career with Zeda the Architect 🎬
Welcome to the Season 6 Premiere of Tech Powered Luxury, brought to you with Azure Communications! For quite some time now, Azure has been our go-to provider for all things print and marketing. If you attended our Live from Paris Fashion Week show in September last year, you would have seen our...
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Live from Irish Design Week: The Art of Styling at Belvedere House
Created by Zeda the Architect, this event was all about celebrating the vital role that Irish stylists play in shaping, promoting, and advancing the fashion industry while connecting it to the broader design community - often seen as the glue that brings the industry together. The evening…
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From the Glory Days of Topshop to Building Every Woman's Capsule Wardrobe with Sinead Keary
In our Season 5 finale, Sinead Keary reveals how her experience in personal shopping and luxury retail helped her create a digital-first brand, bringing personalization to the online space. Sinead Keary brings together lessons learned from both Topshop and Brown Thomas to create a digital-first...
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Live from Paris Fashion Week: Decoding the Luxury Industry Ecosystem in Ireland
This week, we bring you the live podcast episode from our most important event to date: Live from Paris Fashion Week, where we gathered Aoife McNanamara, Una McGurk, Paul Sheeran, Bairbre Power and Shana Chu to discuss how each of them are elevating the Irish fashion ecosystem in all its…
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Optimizing for Success in China with Digital Luxury Group
The delicate powerplay of localized strategies to reach the Chinese consumer anywhere, at anytime. The pandemic drastically shifted how Chinese consumers interacted with luxury brands, and the impact of these changes is still being felt. While many brands thrived by focusing on local markets, the...
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Oceanus: From Swimwear to Eveningwear with Founder & Designer Hannah Attallah
Hannah Attalah’s journey with Oceanus began with her love for fashion and hand-embroidery. After studying at the London College of Fashion and working with big names like Donna Karan and Jenny Packham, Hannah realized her true passion lays in textiles and elaborate designs. Her work with the...
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Dr Vali: The Pioneer of Luxury Biohacking
Welcome to our Season 5 premier of Tech Powered Luxury! Get ready for our first episode to be recorded live from Selfridge's in London with the incredible Dr Vali. Dr. Vali is a leading figure in luxury wellness, known for her innovative approach that combines extensive medical expertise with...
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Content Creator Turned Tech Founder: Limitless Influencing with Lauren Arthurs
This week, we are thrilled to bring you an exclusive interview with Lauren Arthurs, the Irish influencer who has created her own app to solve what most influencers and content creators struggle with: the lack of a one-stop solution to edit and manage content. Lauren Arthurs is a fashion and...
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From Racing Teams to Chasing Dreams: Building A Lifestyle Food Brand with Nutbutter's Paddy Hogan
Paddy Hogan's transition from the adrenaline-fueled realm of Formula 1 to the dynamic, health-focused dining world of Nutbutter is an intriguing mix of entrepreneurship, innovation, and personal evolution. The core reason behind Nutbutter was creating a healthy lifestyle that combined efficient...
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Where Fashion Meets Innovation: The Fashion Innovation Agency with Matthew Drinkwater
This week we explore the role of education in the sweet spot of where technology meets fashion: how to foster experiential learning to educate the upcoming generation of fashion leaders. Matthew Drinkwater is at the forefront of the Fashion Innovation Agency (FIA) at the London College of Fashion...
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Why Rental is The Future of Fashion with Rachel Hennessy from Happy Days
This week, we are thrilled to bring you an exclusive interview with Rachel Hennessy, founder of fashion rental Happy Days. Are you new here? Welcome to our amazing community - keep reading to discover everything about Tech Powered Luxury, our Community Rewards and Substack. Rachel Hennessy...
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Cryo-Powered Beauty Start-Up to Scale-Up with Seoulista Beauty Founder Una McGurk
Join us for Episode 7 of Season 4 with Una McGurk, founder of Seoulista Beauty, a brand that focuses on bringing salon-standard skin experiences to your home with two concepts at the core: cooling temperatures and applying pressure, techniques that allow for changing and improving the texture of...
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Save Your Wardrobe - Save the Planet! with LVMH Innovation Award Winner Hasna Kourda
This week, we are thrilled to bring you an exclusive interview with Hasna Kourda, the award-winning Tunisian entrepreneur, founder of Save Your Wardrobe. Hasna is tackling some of the most complicated issues in the fashion industry: the creation of a circular business model, facilitating care and...
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Manifesting the Goop Cruise with Gwyneth Paltrow and Attending the Venice Film Festival with Giorgio Armani: A Career of Dreams with Triona McCarthy
Get ready for an episode packed with humour and celebrity encounters with none other than Irish media icon Triona McCarthy. From studying to be a beauty therapist to following her goal to work at the crossroads of fashion, beauty and media, Triona McCarthy takes us on a whirlwind journey through...
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How To Build A Blockbuster Brand Online, From Fashion To Beauty & Beyond with Strike Digital
This week, we are thrilled to bring you an exclusive interview with David De Patoul & Richard McSweeney, the co-founders of Strike Digital. We bring to you a masterclass on all things digital marketing: how to start, what to keep your focus on and how to succeed in a crowded market, leveraging...
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LVMH Innovation Award Winner Michel Tjoeng: Social to Commerce with ChatLabs
This week, we are thrilled to bring you an exclusive interview with Michel Tjoeng, the pragmatic technologist who founded ChatLabs. We explore his path and bring on the insights from beginning to end: starting as child with a passion for computers and UI, obsessed with customer experience (which...
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Building Ireland’s First BCorp Certified Fashion Brand & Climbing to New Heights in 2025 with Aoife McNamara
This week, we are thrilled to bring you an exclusive interview with Aoife McNamara, the visionary Irish fashion designer revolutionising the industry with her sustainable and ethical approach. We dive into her inspiring journey, her dedication to sustainability, and the exciting ventures she has...
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A Life of Fashion, Media & More with Brendan Courtney: From Off the Rails to Lennon Courtney
Season 4 of Tech Powered Luxury kicks off live from the newly opened Cartier espace in Dublin, Ireland, within Paul Sheeran Jewellers. Ashley McDonnell interviews none other than Irish media and fashion icon: Brendan Courtney. From creating his first award-winning documentary in his early 20s to...
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Live From Paris Fashion Week with Rachel Maguire: How Fashion Saved Her Life & Seeing Her Brand ‘Rashhiiid’ Being Worn By Doja Cat, Ariana Grande, Megan Fox, Rosalía and More
Rachel Maguire is an Irish fashion designer and founder of independent fashion brand Rashhiiid, whose designs have been worn by global stars including Doja Cat, Ariana Grande, Megan Fox, Rosalía and many more. Rachel is a digital-first designer who’s viral faux fur hats, coats and accessories…
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Smita Lasrado: Putting India on the Global Fashion Map & Modelling Around the World for IMG
Smita Lasrado is an Indian born and raised former international model and co-founder of creative and talent agency Feat Artists. With a roster of clients that include Dior, Chanel, Jimmy Choo and Vogue, Smita is putting India and Indians on the fashion map: from collaborating with Dior on their...
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LIVE from FuturePlus Paris: Fashion, Art & Culture on the Blockchain
During the FuturePlus event in Paris on February 22nd 2024 brought to you by MAD Global in parntership with Tech Powered Luxury, host Ashley McDonnell sits down with a panel of four founders within the intersection of fashion, art and culture on the blockchain for a discussion on how technology…
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The Changing Faces of Tech and Luxury Throughout 3 Seasons of Tech Powered Luxury
This season has seen us dive into all elements and topics that are important in the world of luxury and tech today, across many different product categories: hair care, fashion, beauty, interiors, henna, knitwear, and new technological developments that impact these categories; from AI that can...
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Celia B: Injecting Fun Into Fashion Through Colour & Character
Celia B is the ultimate fashion all-rounder. Growing up in a small town in Spain, she pursued a degree in communications, gained experience within agencies, and eventually became a jewelry designer and finally, a fashion designer, a creative director and a tastemaker. Celia B has managed to...
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Turning Data into Stories for the World's Leading Luxury Houses with Former Google Executive and NYU Adjunct Professor David Klingbeil
David Klingbeil is building the ultimate data platform for luxury houses around the globe with his latest venture Submarine.ai. His 5 years experience at Google turning data into stories for major brands, a streak of serial entrepreneurship, giving 1000s of hours of lectures over the last decade…
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Rylé Tuvierra: How She Went From 12-Hour Shifts at 7/11 to Conquering Fashion Weeks Around the World
Rylé Tuvierra is our first guest of 2024, and Tech Powered Luxury's first-ever guest to return for a second episode. Rylé's first conversation with Ashley McDonnell was the most shared episode of 2023, and we're back a year later to check in with the Arab and Asian businesswoman. This time, we…
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About this show
Welcome to Season 7 of Tech Powered Luxury!Tech Powered Luxury is hosted by luxury and tech entrepreneur Ashley McDonnell. With 10 years of experience working at the crossroads of luxury and technology, Ashley carved out a career across Paris, Dublin and Geneva, working at LVMH, Dior, Google and luxury group PUIG. The podcast is also taught as a module at leading business and design schools around the world, with the goal to share insightful and actionable stories and experience from industry leaders.
Hosted by
Ashley McDonnell
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