Through the Red Door with industry veteran Gerry Munday – an Elizabeth Arden column

Born in 1881, Elizabeth Arden was a woman way ahead of her time. Fascinated by skincare from a young age, she went on to pioneer the international beauty industry with many firsts including travel-sized products and the cult Eight Hour Cream.

An ardent suffragette, legendary innovator and tireless entrepreneur, Elizabeth Arden was an early example of the ability of women to achieve success against the odds.

In a male-dominated era, she created a global empire with her famous Red Door Salons. Her entrepreneurial spirit and commitment to innovation, quality and excellence remain the soul of the company today.

In the spirit of Elizabeth Arden, this column sets out to recognise the women in our industry whose personal and professional stories make them deserving of industry recognition.

Travel retail veteran, Women in Travel Retail+ Vice Chair, former TFWA Board Member and Furla Global Travel Retail Director Gerry Munday

Introduction: Regarded as one of the travel retail industry’s most experienced and respected executives in the fashion and accessories sector, former Furla Global Travel Retail Director and TFWA Board Member Gerry Munday is now semi-retired. That doesn’t mean this multi-lingual powerhouse is slowing down.

The Moodie Davitt Report’s Associate Editor Colleen Morgan meets with Munday to discover her Continental side, how her mischievousness led to a love of Latin American dancing and the importance of loyalty and teamwork. 

Tell us something about your childhood and how those early years influenced your life.

I was born in Norwich, UK, in 1952. My father was English and in the Armed Forces and my mother, Hermine Stadler, was Austrian/Italian, part of a strong family which had played an important role in the resistance movement in World War Two.

We moved to Klagenfurt in Austria when I was six months old and lived there until I was five. Then, along with my sister Trudy, who is 15 years older than me, we returned to Norwich.

I was fortunate to travel from a very early age, with great summer holidays on a farm in Northern Italy, trips to the then Yugoslavia to shop, and a little later to Germany when Trudy moved to Düsseldorf.

Mum was a geography fan, and I poured over the atlas with her, rattling off the flags of the world when I was very young. She also spoke four languages fluently, so my love of languages was inbred along with a love of travel as I grew up with different cuisines, different languages, different cultures. I see myself as English, but I’ve always felt Continental because of those early years.

I was a bit of a latchkey child as my mother worked all her life. That certainly didn’t do me any harm and taught me independence. A former governess to a Jewish family in Graz, Austria, Mum was a hospital orderly when she first came to England before moving into the catering world, working her way up to the position of General Manager at the Flixton Rooms in Norwich. I used to go with her to work and my Saturday job – for pocket money – was to clean the silver and melt candle wax down the side of wine bottles.

I loved school from an early age, and school reports were good but always included comments like “perhaps could be a little less mischievous”. I went to a co-ed secondary modern catholic school, where from the second year I was a Prefect and later Head Girl. Dear me, did we get up to some antics against the teachers; all harmless fun and I am amazed to this day we never got caught.

When I was five, I started ballet school but that lasted only a year. I was asked to leave apparently because I didn’t concentrate enough (my mischievous side again). I went to ballroom dancing lessons instead and a love of dancing developed, with Latin American always my favourite. I was lucky enough to be picked as part of the England Under 16 team and dance at the Lyceum in London. That’s no longer there of course but my passion to dance remains.

I also enjoyed netball, playing at both junior and senior school levels. Again in the Under 16s, I was part of a great team to represent England and we managed to claim all the major trophies. I didn’t realise it until much later but I think this marked the start of my strong team ethics and I carried on playing netball into my early 30s for various local teams.

Though I got great grades in GCEs, I didn’t have the passion or the will to go to university so I studied at night school to get an A Level in German (A+).

With travel almost a part of your DNA, it is no surprise that your first job was in a travel agency. Tell us about the early days of your career. Did you consider yourself career-minded?

In a way yes. I had always wanted to become a paediatric nurse. But, between finals and leaving school, I did voluntary work at the Jenny Lind children’s hospital and very soon realised that I was not cut out for that line of work. I got way too involved, and it was too distressing.

At 16, I started work as a junior in a local travel agency. I was quite a confident teenager and not fazed by much. My mother had instilled in me from an early age that nothing comes to you if you don’t work for it. And, most importantly, always show respect and loyalty to others.

Perfect admin was a ‘law’ at the agency, and I wasn’t allowed anywhere near a customer for 12 months. That eventually led to another travel agency/airline based at Norwich Airport, and later a significant step in my career, as a flight attendant with KLM. Almost ten years of long-haul flying as First Class Purser (as it was known in those days) and living in Amsterdam followed.

Great years, with lots of travel and many memories. One still makes me smile. I can ‘see’ myself standing in the galley, watching one of the hostesses carrying a tray of drinks. Something was hanging from her charm bracelet, and it wasn’t until she was nearly with me that I realised it was someone’s toupee. As you can imagine, we all doubled up with laughter and she then had to go back along the aisle and check who it belonged to. Fortunately, the gentleman was still asleep, so she laid it very gently back on his head.

When I was 29, I moved back to England to work with the Lunn Poly travel agency and tour operator until I was approached by an employment agency and took on the role of Customer Service Supervisor at Bally.

An unplanned leap into the fashion industry?

Yes. Bally had a shoe-manufacturing facility in Norwich, so I went from travel to shoes, moving up the ranks to become Export Manager and then into sales.

I won a Bally Business Award based on my idea for airline shoes. Within six months we had British Airways, Virgin Atlantic, British Caledonian and Cathay Pacific as clients, specialising in bespoke designs, including ‘Meet and Greet’ and working shoes for flight attendants. In the early 90s we also worked with the Dubai and Abu Dhabi police force. I was inevitably the only woman in the room and, at 5ft 2in, most of the men towered over me but that was OK. I had a voice, and they were kind, respectful and supportive.

I learnt to be patient, learnt a lot about dealing with different nationalities and realised my strengths. I was working with top designers, entrepreneurs, loving the challenge until the Bally UK operation was closed.

A cloud with a silver lining?

Not immediately. I was one of only two employees retained in the UK but working for Bally Switzerland and had to prove my worth. I did that through targeting inflight business, handling everything from admin to sales. It became my baby, with DFS my first client as the idea expanded into duty free and I became Global Duty Free & In-Flight Manager.

I left Bally in 2006 after 20 years with the company, consulted for a few months and then had a call from the then The Moodie Report Founder Martin Moodie, who I had gotten to know through trade exhibitions and conferences. He told me MCM was looking for a Global Travel Retail Director. I held that position for five years and loved it, building the business and working with the inspirational Sung-Joo Kim.

By then I was based in Spain, enjoying life with my husband Mike on a 5,000sq m plot of land we had purchased above Nerja in Andalucia. I was, of course, still travelling a lot.

A call from Furla found me at an interview in Bologna for the position of Global Travel Retail Director. I was drawn to the company like a magnet; a European brand, and a new challenge which ultimately, without a doubt, became my greatest achievement career wise.

A two-women band with Giulia Agnoli, we worked 24/7 to take Furla from just eight stores in travel retail in 2011 to 350 by the time I retired in 2018 (with of course a larger team, ‘Gerry and her girls’ as we were known). I was fortunate to have such a great team; we all worked extremely hard, some tears but mainly fun and many laughs. My team members were like family; I treasured them then and always will.

I reported to an amazing Furla board, with three people really standing out: President Signora Furlanetto, CEO Eraldo Poletto and CCO Alberto Camerlengo. Without their total trust, support and free hand we couldn’t have achieved what we did. We really ran rather than walked.

I was cheeky, full of confidence and knew my clients and my customers and I loved the brand. Furla was all about loyalty, as a boss backing your team 100%, working for and sharing all successes and any lower moments.

What is the Gerry Munday motto for success?

Loyalty and team work. It’s all about respect. If you respect people, they will respect you back. You are not a one-man band, care for those around you.

People say I am tough in business. I may be, but I’m always fair and will go to the ends of the Earth to find a solution to any problem, to find the right ‘fit’ for a brand, to ensure that the team is the right one.

I am someone who has always learnt from my mistakes and a firm believer that if you make a mistake you own up to it and move on. Sometimes I’m a bit impulsive but that gut feeling generally proves to be the right one.

How important is networking in travel retail?

Networking and mentoring are key to success in any industry, especially for newcomers.

Along with other ‘forces’ in travel retail, including my good friend Sarah Branquinho, we grew the Women in Travel Retail (WiTR+) group to offer the opportunity to network, to get to know each other on not just a business level but a social level where there is no hierarchy, no titles, no boundaries. Just support for one another. The group has gone from strength to strength, from a few women getting together in the early days to a membership of nearly 600 today.

I’ve also had the privilege to serve on the TFWA Management Committee and Board that does so much for the industry and is another association/group which totally encourages networking.

Someone once said to me that the travel industry gets into your blood and once in, it’s very difficult to leave. Without doubt that is true. I am so glad I entered this industry and met so many people over the 34 years who remain good friends.

The biggest influence in your life? 

My mum doted on me and I on her. She was my soulmate, my best friend and without doubt the biggest influence in my life. She was sharp – I never saw her use a calculator – and worked extremely hard to retire at 72.

It’s her work ethics I have inherited; her insistence on good manners and her motto of treating people the way you wish to be treated. Over the years her guidance made me what I am.

In a sector still underrepresented by women at the highest level what is your advice for those keen on making a mark in travel retail?

Know your product, know your market, work hard, be honest, be respectful, be strong.

Don’t be intimidated. Remember they are only people, and please, remember to have fun along the way.

Does (semi) retirement mean that Gerry Munday has slowed down?

Yes and no. I am still doing some consultancy work related to travel retail and remain heavily involved with WiTR+, its webinars, its charity work and its ongoing mission to recruit new members.

When I was nearing 60, the thought of retirement terrified me and it was John Sutcliffe, the then CEO of ARI Middle East, who said to me, ‘don’t worry about it; you will know when the time is right’. When I reached 67, I knew I was ready, so I retired in December 2018. Since the pandemic I have become a volunteer and was involved setting up a local food bank; it’s busy but incredibly rewarding.

I’ve developed an interest in gardening and go to keep-fit classes twice a week. We also do a lot of walking and are now season ticket holders at Norwich City Football Club, something I never had time to do when I was working and travelling all the time.

Mike and I celebrated our 41st anniversary earlier this year. He is the yin to my yang if you like; I’m the ‘let’s go for it’ one and he is the one to steady the ship.

We’ve just invested in another house, which needs a total renovation, so together we are stripping wallpaper, taking off tiles, ripping out the kitchen, ripping up carpets in readiness for the builder to start. We plan to move within the next nine months so a little bit of a stressful time ahead.

Life’s very good.

*This article first appeared in The Moodie Davitt eZine. Click here for that version. ✈

Elizabeth Arden will supply each of the remarkable women who takes part in our Through the Red Door series with a special gift box which will include: