Before Leisa Holland-Nelson moved into a museum district high-rise in 2017, she had some 3,000 scarves.
She’s down to about 800 now, but has no plans to purge more.
“They bring me joy,” said Holland-Nelson, who serves as vice president and chief marketing officer of Astoundz, a search-engine optimization firm. “I probably wear about 15 now. I rotate them every season. A lot of them are in bins and trunks, but I’m not going below the number I have now. I can’t let go. There’s a story to every single one.”
Holland-Nelson’s style is a reflection of her own life story that’s evolved from a love of nostalgia, her modern sensibilities and years of working in the fashion business. She wears a brooch from her late mother nearly every day. She has the grace of a model even while wearing funky platform stilettos, which she has plenty of.
And she’s rarely in flats, unless she’s headed to a cycling class at Define Body & Mind. On this day, she’s wearing a tailored black dress by Houston-based designer Hunter Bell and stilettos.
More Information
Home: Museum District
Favorite designer: Donna Karan
Beauty product: Perricone MD Cold Plasma Sub-D Firming Neck Treatment
Wardrobe staples: a great jacket, white shirt, turtleneck
Will never give up: shoulder pads and platform shoes
Collectibles: I have about 800 scarves.
Food you crave: rare tuna or kale
Cocktail: Prosecco
Bucket list trip: Africa, Egypt, India
Thing you want to do one day: build a house
Would like to have dinner with: Michelle Obama
Theme song: “Girl On Fire” by Alicia Keys
“I have learned a little black dress will take you anywhere. I think great clothes are important, but not nearly as much as great shoes,” she said.
The fifth-generation Houstonian and University of Texas graduate got her start as a jewelry buyer in a boutique in Washington D.C., where she lived with her then husband. She became a top buyer with a keen ability to forecast the trend long before anyone could see it coming.
“My secret sauce is I’m a sociologist in a way,” she said. “I’m a trend forecaster. I understand when you’ll wear something and when you’ll never put it on again.”
She returned to Houston after a few years and became a buyer at Neiman Marcus, launching the first Bottega Veneta in-store boutique in the nation. The late Neiman Marcus owner Stanley Marcus took Holland-Nelson under his wing and showed her the buying ropes in Asia and Europe. His mantra “your customer is your business, not an interruption” became hers.
She went on to work at Neiman’s in Dallas and became men’s fashion director in New York. She later teamed with Federated, which owned Foley’s, and traveled the world buying men’s and women’s accessories. There were other fashion gigs, including working with a top sweater company, where she sold $1 million in periwinkle-blue sweaters one season and made enough money to buy a tony New York City apartment.
By early 2000s, Holland-Nelson saw a shift in retail as more businesses started to look for opportunities online. She moved into the technology industry, helping companies grow their internet business. That evolved into the work she does today. “Now, I only do one thing and I get customers what they want. I’m a good listener. I have nine smart employees and what we do is pay attention,” she said.
Her downtime is filled with fitness, charity work and family. She loved fitness so much she became a certified fitness trainer in 2002, and not a day goes by that she doesn’t do at least 30 push ups, calling it “the perfect exercise.”
And her latest philanthropic project is working on health-care initiatives, including leading March of Dimes’ birth equity initiative to reduce the numbers of premature births, and prenatal and maternal deaths for women of color in Houston.
But likely the most fun she has is with her granddaughters, Selma, 2, and Violet, who was born Feb. 19. “Looking at Selma, it’s unconditional love, and I see a total delight in her face. She even looks like me,” said Holland-Nelson with a smile.