Success in non-profit thrift stores lies in embracing an entrepreneurial spirit and trusting your creativity to create an experience people will love. Every store has a community of people with different skills and talents that when tapped in to, can elevate your shop and the mission it supports. April Lykos and Karina Patman of The Guild Shop discuss what it means to use everything you’ve got and go the extra mile to excite your customers and keep them coming back for more.

About the Speakers

April Lykos is the Executive Director of The Guild Shop, Houston’s iconic resale shop and a ministry of The Church of St. John the Divine. Previously, she founded ShoptheSymphony.com, a service that developed and managed e-commerce retail platforms for performing arts organizations. During that time, she also created and managed the Houston Symphony Store for the Houston Symphony and was charged with developing and maximizing a revenue generating business. She is a product of the Merchant Development Program at Neiman Marcus and spent ten years in the Buying, Strategic Planning and Store Divisions. She was also a buyer at Tootsies, a luxury retailer with store in Texas and Georgia. She is a former Wall Street-trained bankruptcy and turnaround attorney and enjoys combining her passion for retail with solid business practices. April has a BBA – Finance from The University of Texas and a law degree from St. Mary’s University.

Karina Patman has travelled to over fifty countries both for pleasure as well as work. Starting at an early age, Karina travelled to see her grandmothers in Europe; as a high school, studied in the USSR; and then her first pay-job was in Bujumbura, Burundi consulting on rule-of-law projects and the coffee industry. Following those adventures, she went graduate school at Northwestern University with a degree in Integrated Marketing Communications. She set out to use her skills in direct marketing, audience segmentation & creative briefs for Targetbase Marketing (clients included Nestle, & Southwest Airlines), Dell Computer (alliances with Microsoft & SAP) & Continental Airlines (marketing new routes to Asian destinations). She moved with her husband and became an expatriate in Singapore and Bangkok for 12 years, focused on being a docent at the Asian Civilization Museum and President of the American Women’s Association, as well as a Board member at New Independent School of Thailand (NIST). When the family moved back to Houston, Karina started her own company of her clothing designs, called B. Mori Boutique, inspired by global fashion. Now at the Guild Shop, Karina takes the lead on social media, is a member of The Guild Shop Board, and Chairs the philanthropic giving, creating partnerships with local organizations that share The Guild Shop mission of helping the elderly in need.