ABOUT GRETCHEN JONES
A designer by trade, Gretchen combines keen aesthetic insight and expression skills with polished business acumen. An award-winning fashion director with an MBA from the University of the Arts London and winner of Project Runway S8, she is now a business strategist and advising partner to founders and creative leaders around the world.
Weird Specialty—Gretchen's advisory practice, studio, and salon—works exclusively with contemporary, values-driven creative entrepreneurs ranging from interior design to designers and florists to film directors and health & wellness practitioners and beyond. She uses her skills to guide and inspire thinking differently—extinguishing bias, squashing subjectivity, and illuminating intention for the creative class that makes our world a beautiful, rewarding place to live.
Approach
Gretchen's unique methodology bridges the gap between creative expression and strategic business development. By integrating design thinking with practical business strategies, she helps creative professionals transform their passion into sustainable, profitable ventures that maintain integrity and purpose.
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19th & Park, Amelia Wedre Davis, At Land, Bassil.co, Begin with the End, Birch Copywriting, Bliss & Mischief, Brand Assembly, Charlotte Stone, Claire Zinneker Design, Closet Core Patterns, Clover B, Coclico, Converse, Core Fabrics, Create & Cultivate, Curam Collective, East Olivia, Flower Scout, Freaks, Full Circle Gardiner, Gayle Gardens, Hysteria Jewelry, Jess Rona, Jenny Pennywood, Kelli Scarr, Little Sister Creative, Little Tienda, Meet Over Lunch, Mia Farrington, Milena Silvano, Malka Dina, Misha & Puff, Mociun, Modernist Financial, Moon & Bloom Integrative Wellness, Nobi Works, Pendleton Woolen Mills, REI, Studio 5, Swivel Beauty, Tended Wealth, The Fold Mag, The Life Currency, The Shift Creative, The Southern Influence, Tina Wells, Town Clothes, Val Shaff Photography, Wabi Sabi Beauty.
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Cornell University ‘Psychology of Leadership’ certified
International Association of NLP (IANLP) trained practitioner
MBA: University of Arts London, London College of Fashion
GenArt “Fresh Faces in Fashion” Inductee
Project Runway Season 8 winner
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Gretchen is a keynote speaker and ambassador for sustainability, most notably presenting her work regularly at SxSW. In her previous life, she was a design director and GenArt inductee. Her work has been featured in The Business of Fashion, WWD, The New York Times, Style.com, Refinery29, Elle, and Glamour.
PHILOSOPHY
Weird Specialty—Gretchen’s transformational advising services, Studio, and Salon—focuses on contemporary, values-driven creative businesses that don’t tick the typical boxes.
Working with clients in a myriad of industries, her services help creative entrepreneurs fuse values and business strategy. From rolling Transformational Advising sessions to Off-site Intensives to Critical Conversations, she aligns, realigns, and transforms solopreneurs and organizations to become more profitable, more sustainable, and more satisfying. Maximizing creativity allows for engaging at the highest level of personal, community and global responsibility.