Life and Work with Bryce McGillivray

Today we’d like to introduce you to Bryce McGillivray.

Bryce, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
I graduated from the University of Rhode Island with a Fashion degree in 2010. After graduation, I followed my dreams and moved to New York City in hopes to one day be a fashion editor for Hearst. I started my career in Public Relations as an intern at Bismark Philips Communications and Media. I was an unpaid intern for about 6 months before I found myself interviewing with PR Mogul, Kelly Cutrone. I was hired and began the next phase of my career as her Executive Assistant and Showroom Manager. I am extremely grateful for the opportunities that presented themselves in the big city. I learned more than I ever thought I could have, and took away with me connections that I’ll have for a lifetime.

I ended up leaving the city a year later after realizing the atmosphere was not what I had hoped it would be. I moved back home to Rhode Island and continued my career in the marketing industry. I was hired by Complete Sourcing Solutions, a locally based company that has far more of an impact on the industry than many locals realize. Complete Sourcing Solutions specializes in tech accessories and is best known as the Ted Baker London tech accessory licensee. The company has worked with major fashion brands like Jean Paul Gaultier, Kenzo, Christian Lacroix, Juicy Couture, Barbour and more. With Ted Baker being the fastest growing fashion brand at Nordstrom, my hands were full as the CSS Marketing Director.

After about a year in that position, my EVP, Mark Mesrobian and I had a few ideas of starting an in-house brand on our own. We dabbled in many different ideas but landed on Fifth & Ninth in August of 2016. Fifth & Ninth is named after the two avenues that border the fashion district in NYC, where trends are born. We leverage our tech accessory partnerships in China as well as in the U.S to create and sell high quality, on-trend accessories. I stand as the Creative Director and Lead Designer of the brand and currently, work with over 15 major celebrities and online influencers to bring fashion-lovers all over the world cases that reflect their style and encourage self-expression. Our brand has added additional product categories such as sunglasses, bags, and a fusion of beauty and tech accessories, but our main focus is still on iPhone cases.

We sell to major retailers such as Dillard’s, Lord & Taylor and Best Buy, but hope to primarily be an e-commerce store in the future. What started as an idea 2 years ago between myself and my EVP, has turned into a business that employs over 20 people and houses an internship program with The University of Rhode Island.

Has it been a smooth road?
Oh my gosh, what is smooth? If your path to success was smooth, I’d love to meet you and hear your secrets, haha!

For me, the obstacles have been figuring out what truly makes me happy and what excites me to get out of bed in the morning. I thought I wanted this crazy, fast-paced life in the city that I dreamt of as a child, but as soon as I had it in my hands I immediately realized I wanted the opposite. Finding myself, figuring out my core values, developing achievable goals, those were the bumps in the road for me. Also, for me a lot of the struggles I had stemmed from doubt. I was faced with a lot of questionable times where I didn’t think I was capable or worthy of certain positions. Ultimately, that inhibited a lot of my true talent and of course confidence – in turn, tarnishing my image and self-representation.

Going through the motions and pushing yourself into uncomfortable situations is how you grow and develop a true sense of independence and understanding of your worth. My advice to any young adult entering the workforce or entrepreneurship is to work hard, take the low paying jobs with the largest amount of experience, live far below your means, be willing to embrace any task given to you even if it is outside of your “major” and never give up on yourself. Life is messy, often times very difficult, but you are in control of your destiny and that’s what makes it oh so beautiful.

So, as you know, we’re impressed with Fifth & Ninth – tell our readers more, for example, what you’re most proud of as a company and what sets you apart from others.
The best part of my job is that every single day it’s different. Some days, I am trend forecasting for next season’s collections, other days I’m talking to our celebrity partners and designing the product that screams “THEM”. My days are busy, but they’re fun.

We specialize in tech accessories as previously mentioned, but we are looking to build our brand into more of a “Lifestyle” brand in the future.

What I’m most proud of as a brand is that we’ve come so far in a short two years and have accomplished so much with such a small team. We get our hands dirty, we all work toward the same goal, and no one on our team says, “that’s not my job .” Our brand is built on hard work, endless possibility and lots of taken risks. I’m also extremely proud to say as a small Rhode Island company, we work with some of the largest brands, agencies, retailers, and celebrities. Lastly, I’m extremely proud that we are able to give back to our Alma Mater and for the first time ever provide fashion students the opportunity to gain industry experience in their backyard.

What sets us apart from others is that our designs are not “me-too”. We never come out with a product that has already been produced. You cannot find our products being mass-produced, and we make exclusive products with your favorite celebrities to give you even more of an exclusive experience.

We have officially been picked up by Nordstrom for 2019! Our products will be sold on Nordstrom.com – a HUGE accomplishment for the brand.

Who have you been inspired by?
My mother has been my biggest inspiration since I was a child. I know that sounds so cliché, but she had a very tough upbringing. My mother has had to overcome far more obstacles than I’ve fortunately ever had to. I remember her telling me at a very young age, no crappy circumstance is reasoning to be a bad person or to be anything less than amazing in this world. My mom pushed me to be the best version of myself and held me to an extremely high standard. At times, that was hard for me to understand, but as I got older and became a woman, I realized it was because she knew I could achieve those standards.

In college, my grandmother also became one of the biggest inspirations in my life. My healthy, active, grandmother caught on fire while cooking one hot day in June during my Freshman year of college. As an older woman with prior health conditions, the odds were not in her favor. My grandmother fought for 180 days in the ICU to stay alive so she could be present in her children and grandchildren’s lives. The resilience she showed during that time will remain in my mind forever. When things get hard, it is her that reminds me I can keep going.

Contact Info:

• Address: 1004 Boston Neck Rd
  Suite 5
  Narragansett, RI 02882
• Website: www.fifthandninth.com
• Phone: 401-789-2500 x 500
• Email: bryce.mcgillivray@fifthandninth.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bryceelizabeth_/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/fifthandninth/?ref=br_rs
• Other: https://www.instagram.com/fifthandninth

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