CEO of Aritzia
In 1984, a fashion boutique called Aritzia opened its doors in Oakridge Shopping Centre in Vancouver. It was the coolest store in the mall. Jennifer Wong and her sister were customers from the start. Three years later, she applied for a part-time job there and got it. Thirty-eight years later, she is the CEO.
In this episode of What Fuels You, host Shawna Suerland sits down with Jen Wong for a wide-ranging conversation about growing up as fourth-generation Chinese-Canadian in Vancouver, starting at the bottom of a company and learning every part of it, making the call to bring Aritzia into the US without changing a single thing about the brand, and what it felt like to look around a room of publicly traded company CEOs and realize she was the only woman there. The throughline: a founder-inspired culture, a bias toward figuring it out, and a belief that people are the only real fuel.
📋 Episode Chapters
| 00:00 | Rapid fire: best Vancouver restaurants, Oura Ring, sweat fleece, and loving to win |
| 08:00 | Fourth-generation Chinese-Canadian, a banker father, merchants on her mother's side, and corduroy pants at age 6 |
| 16:00 | From muffin shop to Aritzia: how she got her first job at the coolest store in the mall |
| 22:00 | The first footwear buyer, Doc Martens, a floppy disk, and the moment that kicked off her career |
| 28:00 | VP of Operations, the Canadian expansion, and how Aritzia got its name |
| 34:00 | Entering the US in 2007 with nothing changed: proof of concept, Bellevue, and the two rolling racks |
| 40:00 | Implementing SAP at $80M in revenue, infrastructure ahead of the curve, and a private equity that asked the hard questions |
| 45:00 | E-commerce in 2012, the first responsive fashion website, and what goes viral vs. what lasts |
| 49:00 | Being a female CEO of a public company, the 6% stat that shocked her, and Aritzia's platform for empowering women |
| 51:00 | What fuels Jen: people, connection, and still feeling like one of the style advisors on the floor |
Retail in the Blood, Fashion in the Bones
Jennifer Wong did not choose Aritzia so much as grow up alongside it. Her family has been in Vancouver for four generations. Her father was a banker. Her mother's side were merchants who ran Chinese herbal stores. She has been passionate about what she wears since she insisted on pulling on the same baby blue corduroy pants every single day in grade one.
When Aritzia opened in her neighborhood shopping centre in 1984, she and her sister were customers immediately. A few years later, after a brief and unenthusiastic stint at a muffin shop, she applied for a part-time job at the coolest store in the mall. That was 1987. She has been there ever since.
"I hadn't really even thought about how all of these things have actually come together in terms of who I am. My dad was in finance, my mom's side were merchants, I always had a passion for fashion. And maybe that's why it just felt so natural."
— Jennifer Wong
Her parents were proud and humble in equal measure, stoic, and never complained. Her mother's saying was "it is what it is." Figure out a way. Get through it. That philosophy, Wong says, is something she carries with her in every situation. It also describes, almost exactly, how she approaches every operational challenge Aritzia has faced in 38 years.
A Floppy Disk, Doc Martens, and the Moment That Started Everything
In 1991, the week after Wong finished her final university exams, Aritzia founder Brian Hill called her. He was writing a purchase order for Doc Martens and needed her in the store. Aritzia was one of only four accounts in all of Canada buying Doc Martens direct from the factory. She drove over.
When it came time to send the order, there was no way to print it. Wong did not hesitate. She took a floppy disk, drove home, printed the order on her own printer, drove back, and faxed it. Hill offered her a full-time job on the spot.
"It was just resourcefulness. Just get it done, figure a way, do whatever it takes. It put him in a position where he could go, 'Oh good, there's somebody next to me who's got it.' So that's what happened, and that was the start."
— Jennifer Wong
She became Aritzia's first footwear buyer, then VP of Operations, then COO and President. At each stage, with a small leadership team of three or four people all reporting to the founder, the title mattered less than the willingness to pitch in on whatever needed to happen. "That's what I mean by founding member of management. We all just pitched in for whatever needed to happen, in spite of our titles."
Taking Aritzia to the US: Change Nothing, Prove Everything
When Aritzia entered the United States in 2007, they had a private equity partner asking hard questions. Canadian retailers had tried the US before and retreated. Were they going to adapt their sizing? Change their assortment? Do anything differently for the American customer?
Wong's answer was no. She held the line on keeping everything exactly as it was in Canada. Her reasoning was precise: if they changed something and it did not work, they would not know whether the brand itself had failed or the changes had. They needed one variable.
"We want to see if we've got proof of concept with our brand, with Aritzia. And if we change something and it doesn't work, we won't know if it did. Was it because we changed something, or was it because fundamentally our value proposition didn't fly?"
— Jennifer Wong
They opened two stores within three weeks of each other: one in Bellevue, Washington, one just outside San Francisco. A few months in, the product team rolled two racks into the boardroom, one showing the top sellers in Canada and one showing the top sellers in the US. The top 25 styles were nearly identical. The proof of concept was real.
Infrastructure Ahead of the Curve
Wong is candid that one of her most important contributions at Aritzia was not glamorous: she built the infrastructure before the growth demanded it. At around $80 million in revenue, she made the call to implement SAP, an enterprise resource planning system built for billion-dollar companies. The private equity board pushed back hard. Half of SAP implementations fail, they said. She had never done one before.
"Many companies back into infrastructure and do it as an afterthought. We always made sure our infrastructure, whether it was our people, our processes, or our technology, grew in lock step. And I in some cases liked to grow slightly ahead of the curve just so that we could be ready. We truly believe that our infrastructure enables our growth."
— Jennifer Wong
The go-live was successful. The private equity firm, for all the hard questions it asked, was the kind of partner that supported the decision once she had made the case. "They asked good questions, hard questions to get us to reflect and make sure we were making the right choices. And then once we ensured we had explored that, they were very supportive."
On Virality, Timelessness, and Why the Super Puff Is Still Here
When TikTok sends an Aritzia product viral, the company does not try to manufacture that moment or chase the next one. The Super Puff is approaching its tenth anniversary. The sweat fleece has been around for decades. Wong points to both as evidence of something intentional: Aritzia is not a fast fashion brand and does not want to be.
"We're not trying to be trendy. There is a timelessness to the style. I know so many people that buy something one season and they're wearing it for several seasons going forward. That really speaks to what we're trying to do with everyday luxury. You can trust us that when you buy something, you're going to get good value and lasting quality as well as lasting relevance."
— Jennifer Wong
The same logic applies to e-commerce. Aritzia was not first to launch an online store, arriving in 2012 well after competitors had established digital businesses. Wong sees that as an advantage rather than a liability. By waiting, they were able to study what others had built, identify what worked and what did not, and launch Aritzia's own version with a clear point of view. They built the first responsive fashion website, designed to adapt to any device, and layered in an editorial element that set the experience apart from the start.
The Room Full of CEOs and the 6 Percent Stat
When Jennifer Wong was appointed CEO of Aritzia in May 2022, many people reached out to congratulate her on becoming a female CEO of a public company. She was puzzled by the emphasis. Aritzia is 85% female. Most of its leaders are women. A third of its board is female. It had simply never occurred to her that this was unusual in the broader world.
"I found out the first year I was CEO that around 6% of the CEOs in Canada are female. I was shocked. And so I have become more aware myself firsthand as I go to whatever conferences and it's a room full of CEOs and I'm literally the only woman there. Now that just makes me feel even more responsible to speak up."
— Jennifer Wong
She connects that responsibility directly to Aritzia's long-standing platform around empowering women. It is not a pivot or a PR position. It is baked into the brand's founding DNA, and Wong's experience of being the only woman in the room at CEO events has simply given it sharper personal meaning.
When she visits stores, she says she still feels like one of the style advisors on the floor. She stands outside before entering and observes. She watches who goes in, what catches their attention, what they walk past. She calls it staying connected to the customer and to the team. "I like to connect with people, whether they're our people or our clients. I feel like I'm part of those communities anyway."
5 Key Takeaways
CEO of Aritzia
In 1984, a fashion boutique called Aritzia opened its doors in Oakridge Shopping Centre in Vancouver. It was the coolest store in the mall. Jennifer Wong and her sister were customers from the start. Three years later, she applied for a part-time job there and got it. Thirty-eight years later, she is the CEO.
In this episode of What Fuels You, host Shawna Suerland sits down with Jen Wong for a wide-ranging conversation about growing up as fourth-generation Chinese-Canadian in Vancouver, starting at the bottom of a company and learning every part of it, making the call to bring Aritzia into the US without changing a single thing about the brand, and what it felt like to look around a room of publicly traded company CEOs and realize she was the only woman there. The throughline: a founder-inspired culture, a bias toward figuring it out, and a belief that people are the only real fuel.
📋 Episode Chapters
| 00:00 | Rapid fire: best Vancouver restaurants, Oura Ring, sweat fleece, and loving to win |
| 08:00 | Fourth-generation Chinese-Canadian, a banker father, merchants on her mother's side, and corduroy pants at age 6 |
| 16:00 | From muffin shop to Aritzia: how she got her first job at the coolest store in the mall |
| 22:00 | The first footwear buyer, Doc Martens, a floppy disk, and the moment that kicked off her career |
| 28:00 | VP of Operations, the Canadian expansion, and how Aritzia got its name |
| 34:00 | Entering the US in 2007 with nothing changed: proof of concept, Bellevue, and the two rolling racks |
| 40:00 | Implementing SAP at $80M in revenue, infrastructure ahead of the curve, and a private equity that asked the hard questions |
| 45:00 | E-commerce in 2012, the first responsive fashion website, and what goes viral vs. what lasts |
| 49:00 | Being a female CEO of a public company, the 6% stat that shocked her, and Aritzia's platform for empowering women |
| 51:00 | What fuels Jen: people, connection, and still feeling like one of the style advisors on the floor |
Retail in the Blood, Fashion in the Bones
Jennifer Wong did not choose Aritzia so much as grow up alongside it. Her family has been in Vancouver for four generations. Her father was a banker. Her mother's side were merchants who ran Chinese herbal stores. She has been passionate about what she wears since she insisted on pulling on the same baby blue corduroy pants every single day in grade one.
When Aritzia opened in her neighborhood shopping centre in 1984, she and her sister were customers immediately. A few years later, after a brief and unenthusiastic stint at a muffin shop, she applied for a part-time job at the coolest store in the mall. That was 1987. She has been there ever since.
"I hadn't really even thought about how all of these things have actually come together in terms of who I am. My dad was in finance, my mom's side were merchants, I always had a passion for fashion. And maybe that's why it just felt so natural."
— Jennifer Wong
Her parents were proud and humble in equal measure, stoic, and never complained. Her mother's saying was "it is what it is." Figure out a way. Get through it. That philosophy, Wong says, is something she carries with her in every situation. It also describes, almost exactly, how she approaches every operational challenge Aritzia has faced in 38 years.
A Floppy Disk, Doc Martens, and the Moment That Started Everything
In 1991, the week after Wong finished her final university exams, Aritzia founder Brian Hill called her. He was writing a purchase order for Doc Martens and needed her in the store. Aritzia was one of only four accounts in all of Canada buying Doc Martens direct from the factory. She drove over.
When it came time to send the order, there was no way to print it. Wong did not hesitate. She took a floppy disk, drove home, printed the order on her own printer, drove back, and faxed it. Hill offered her a full-time job on the spot.
"It was just resourcefulness. Just get it done, figure a way, do whatever it takes. It put him in a position where he could go, 'Oh good, there's somebody next to me who's got it.' So that's what happened, and that was the start."
— Jennifer Wong
She became Aritzia's first footwear buyer, then VP of Operations, then COO and President. At each stage, with a small leadership team of three or four people all reporting to the founder, the title mattered less than the willingness to pitch in on whatever needed to happen. "That's what I mean by founding member of management. We all just pitched in for whatever needed to happen, in spite of our titles."
Taking Aritzia to the US: Change Nothing, Prove Everything
When Aritzia entered the United States in 2007, they had a private equity partner asking hard questions. Canadian retailers had tried the US before and retreated. Were they going to adapt their sizing? Change their assortment? Do anything differently for the American customer?
Wong's answer was no. She held the line on keeping everything exactly as it was in Canada. Her reasoning was precise: if they changed something and it did not work, they would not know whether the brand itself had failed or the changes had. They needed one variable.
"We want to see if we've got proof of concept with our brand, with Aritzia. And if we change something and it doesn't work, we won't know if it did. Was it because we changed something, or was it because fundamentally our value proposition didn't fly?"
— Jennifer Wong
They opened two stores within three weeks of each other: one in Bellevue, Washington, one just outside San Francisco. A few months in, the product team rolled two racks into the boardroom, one showing the top sellers in Canada and one showing the top sellers in the US. The top 25 styles were nearly identical. The proof of concept was real.
Infrastructure Ahead of the Curve
Wong is candid that one of her most important contributions at Aritzia was not glamorous: she built the infrastructure before the growth demanded it. At around $80 million in revenue, she made the call to implement SAP, an enterprise resource planning system built for billion-dollar companies. The private equity board pushed back hard. Half of SAP implementations fail, they said. She had never done one before.
"Many companies back into infrastructure and do it as an afterthought. We always made sure our infrastructure, whether it was our people, our processes, or our technology, grew in lock step. And I in some cases liked to grow slightly ahead of the curve just so that we could be ready. We truly believe that our infrastructure enables our growth."
— Jennifer Wong
The go-live was successful. The private equity firm, for all the hard questions it asked, was the kind of partner that supported the decision once she had made the case. "They asked good questions, hard questions to get us to reflect and make sure we were making the right choices. And then once we ensured we had explored that, they were very supportive."
On Virality, Timelessness, and Why the Super Puff Is Still Here
When TikTok sends an Aritzia product viral, the company does not try to manufacture that moment or chase the next one. The Super Puff is approaching its tenth anniversary. The sweat fleece has been around for decades. Wong points to both as evidence of something intentional: Aritzia is not a fast fashion brand and does not want to be.
"We're not trying to be trendy. There is a timelessness to the style. I know so many people that buy something one season and they're wearing it for several seasons going forward. That really speaks to what we're trying to do with everyday luxury. You can trust us that when you buy something, you're going to get good value and lasting quality as well as lasting relevance."
— Jennifer Wong
The same logic applies to e-commerce. Aritzia was not first to launch an online store, arriving in 2012 well after competitors had established digital businesses. Wong sees that as an advantage rather than a liability. By waiting, they were able to study what others had built, identify what worked and what did not, and launch Aritzia's own version with a clear point of view. They built the first responsive fashion website, designed to adapt to any device, and layered in an editorial element that set the experience apart from the start.
The Room Full of CEOs and the 6 Percent Stat
When Jennifer Wong was appointed CEO of Aritzia in May 2022, many people reached out to congratulate her on becoming a female CEO of a public company. She was puzzled by the emphasis. Aritzia is 85% female. Most of its leaders are women. A third of its board is female. It had simply never occurred to her that this was unusual in the broader world.
"I found out the first year I was CEO that around 6% of the CEOs in Canada are female. I was shocked. And so I have become more aware myself firsthand as I go to whatever conferences and it's a room full of CEOs and I'm literally the only woman there. Now that just makes me feel even more responsible to speak up."
— Jennifer Wong
She connects that responsibility directly to Aritzia's long-standing platform around empowering women. It is not a pivot or a PR position. It is baked into the brand's founding DNA, and Wong's experience of being the only woman in the room at CEO events has simply given it sharper personal meaning.
When she visits stores, she says she still feels like one of the style advisors on the floor. She stands outside before entering and observes. She watches who goes in, what catches their attention, what they walk past. She calls it staying connected to the customer and to the team. "I like to connect with people, whether they're our people or our clients. I feel like I'm part of those communities anyway."
