A career in brief

For most financial analysts, words like briefs and bottom line don’t raise an eyebrow.

For Natalie Wong Guillet ’87BBA-’01EvMBA, those terms take on a different, more “intimate” meaning. And as senior financial analyst for one of VF Corporation’s coalitions, Vanity Fair Intimates, seeing women’s underwear in the office is not uncommon.

“Vanity Fair Intimates is in the business of women’s lingerie, so it’s not unusual to see bras and panties on desks or photographs of models wearing lingerie,” she says. “At VFI, it’s business as usual.”

Unlike many of her company’s products, Guillet’s responsibilities are not skimpy. She prepares and monitors the financial budgets and long-term planning of the business units and ensures that each brand team’s short and long-term strategies are financially sound.

Working with the brand teams is one aspect she enjoys most because she interacts with virtually everyone involved in running the business. It comes as no surprise then that one of her favorite classes as a graduate student was brand management. And as an EvMBA student, she had the added satisfaction of immediately relating what she learned to her job.

“Having a job and going to school gives you a valuable point of reference. It not only helped the theories make sense, but also made the job more interesting—understanding the big picture.”

Seeing the overall picture and playing a central role in it are important to Guillet. That becomes clear when she explains why she chose accounting as her undergraduate major. “Accounting is at the heart of a company. Anything you do—strategy, management, anything that affects [profit and loss]—runs through accounting or the financial center of the company.”

After holding previous positions with Siemens Energy & Automation, Inc., Heller Financial, Inc., and then-Price Waterhouse, she has found some unique challenges in retail. “The retail environment is a dog-eat-dog world. Consumers push the retailers for great deals, and retailers push their suppliers for these same deals.”

On the fashion side, Guillet says it’s daunting to forecast where fashion will be heading a year from now. “What’s the next big color? Will mini-skirts make a comeback? Translating these trends into lingerie, then communicating to the consumer that she needs or wants these items is another thing. I become involved in the final stages of product development when we are defining the financial impact of the garment.”

It is questioning and curiosity that brought Guillet back to school and what is at the heart of her advice to current students and fellow professionals. “Never lose your curiosity. Don’t think that your education is done once you graduate.”

She adds one other insight that she has gained from her current job. “When I started with VFI, I was amazed at how this industry is dominated by men. It’s true what a woman once said about men being the ones who created bras and pantyhose!”—Denise Noble