About the speakers
Claudine Joseph
With over three decades of experience in entertainment, music, and fashion, Claudine Joseph stands as one of the most respected professionals in the industry. As the Chief Operating Officer of LL COOL J Inc., she has guided the diversification of the LL COOL J brand for over 20 years, expanding it from musical and acting roots to literature, entrepreneurship, and philanthropy, ultimately becoming one of the most successful and beloved brands in entertainment. Joseph played an important role in the development of Paramount Network’s Emmy-nominated television series "Lip Sync Battle" where she served as producer alongside LL COOL J. She also worked side-by-side with LL on his five-year tenure as GRAMMYs host, as well as executive producing the CBS television special “A Grammy Salute to 50 Years of Hip Hop”, which was nominated for a NAACP Image Award. Joseph was also instrumental in launching LL COOL J’s Rock The Bells Radio on SiriusXM and contributing to its branding into a global platform. She also played a key role in the publication of multiple New York Times best selling LL COOL J books, including the recent Rizzoli book "LL COOL J Presents The Streets Win: 50 Years of Hip-Hop Greatness” dedicated to the history of Hip-Hop.
Before her tenure at LL COOL J Inc., Joseph honed her skills at Violator Management/Records, where she rose through the ranks to Vice President while managing the day-to-day careers of iconic artists such as Missy Elliott, LL COOL J, and 50 Cent, among others. Beyond her corporate achievements, Joseph is deeply committed to empowering women through her work with Femme It Forward, a women-led entertainment company dedicated to mentoring future female leaders in the fields of entertainment and media. As an alum of the Fashion Institute of Technology and Harvard Business School (BEMS), Joseph also serves as a Fashion Advisory Board Member for the Black in Fashion Council, further underscoring her commitment to diversity and inclusion within the fashion industry.
Marielle Bobo
Marielle Bobo is an award-winning creative executive, publishing veteran, and trailblazer in fashion, beauty, and lifestyle media, with 25 years of experience shaping iconic brands and platforms. As vice president of content at Shoptalk, a leading retail innovation conference, she curates dynamic programming for more than 10,000 top executives and visionaries in fashion, beauty, tech, and more at global events in the U.S. and Europe. Bobo is also contributing her expertise to the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s 2025 Costume Institute exhibition, Superfine: Tailoring Black Style—the first to explore the Black dandy and fashion's role in shaping Black identities across the Atlantic diaspora.
Through her consultancy, BoboHaus, she crafts innovative creative strategies and narratives for a range of clients. Previously, as Editor-in-Chief and Senior Vice President of Programming at EBONY, she led a groundbreaking digital transformation, launching a redesigned website and cutting-edge digital covers combining original photography with AI, AR, and video. She revitalized key events like EBONY Power 100, infusing them with fresh energy while fostering partnerships with industry giants like Google and Netflix. Her visionary leadership reestablished EBONY as a premier cultural platform, connecting with a new generation of readers while preserving its storied legacy.
Bobo has played a pivotal role in launching and shaping influential brands. At Sweet July, Ayesha Curry’s lifestyle venture, she oversaw the editorial vision, launched the quarterly magazine, and developed its product and e-commerce strategy. As Fashion Director at Essence, she expanded the brand’s global fashion footprint, spearheading the Fashion House experiential series in cities such as New York, New Orleans, and Lagos, spotlighting Black creatives worldwide.
Her extensive career includes editorial roles at Allure, Cosmopolitan, and WWD, and her styling and creative direction have graced over 100 magazine covers. Bobo began her journey in fashion at Wilhelmina Models before transitioning to journalism, where her unique vision has influenced the industry for over two decades.
Marielle has brought her fashion and beauty expertise to numerous television outlets and documentaries. She is featured in the Vogue x YouTube Originals docuseries Supreme Models: Iconic Black Women Who Revolutionized Fashion now playing on Netflix, OWN’s Time of Essence—a five-part documentary celebrating the 50th anniversary of Essence magazine, and The Sound She Saw, a film spotlighting groundbreaking contemporary Black women photographers.
A passionate advocate for diverse storytelling within underrepresented communities, Bobo is currently developing an anthology celebrating the talents of Haitian-born creatives and their vibrant diaspora, a project inspired by her own Caribbean heritage. Through her work with organizations like the Fashion Institute of Technology Alumni Advisory Board, RAISEfashion, and Harlem’s Fashion Row, she champions representation and inclusivity across the industry. With her visionary leadership and unwavering commitment to elevating diverse voices, Bobo remains a transformative force in fashion, media, and culture.
Tonya Blazio-Licorish
Tonya Blazio-Licorish is an author, visual culture historian, archives editor and educator. Her passion for visual storytelling has a connective strand to more than fifteen years in the creative industries.
Through an interdisciplinary lens she explores fashion, culture and society to recover and reconnect archives with curated storytelling that sustains brand equity. Her contributions to the evolving field of fashion includes authored and curated content for WWD, Sourcing Journal and Rivet.
Her first authored title “Black In Fashion, 100 Years of Style, Influence and Culture” written with WWD and Tara Donaldson, released in September 2024 captures Women’s Wear Daily’s (WWD) lens on the contributions of Black creatives as a fluid conversation to the evolution of fashion.
Tonya has lectured locally and internationally. She contributes to fashion education teaching courses in Fashion, Costume and Cultural History, Global and Local Leadership and Fashion Merchandising at FIT, Parsons School of Design and Montclair University. She is also the curator of the Fairchild Fashion Museum which debuted in September 2022.
Tonya resides in Brooklyn, New York with her family, but her roots are in New Orleans, Louisiana.
Lara Eurdolian King
Lara Eurdolian King @prettyconnected, is a beauty + style expert, on-air personality, journalist, event host and founder of accessories line, Pretty Connected. She’s also a guest editor, and brain trust member for NewBeauty magazine and contributes to several other publications and networks; is on the FIT Alumni Advisory Council; and runs the beauty donation non-profit Share Your Beauty, which she co-founded. To date, she has helped get 400,000 unused beauty and hygiene products sustainably donated to shelters in the NYC tri-state area.
After years of honing her expertise in the beauty and fashion industry working for such brands as NARS, Kiehl’s, and Jurlique, Lara Eurdolian began privately consulting for brands including Avon, Creed, Skyn Iceland in PR, marketing and social media, and events while simultaneously launching Pretty Connected.
As a much sought after industry expert, Lara has partnered with brands such as SUNGLASS HUT, Swim USA, COVERGIRL, Olay, Essie, Aveeno, PANDORA, American Express, Skype (and more!) in various formats from print advertisements, on-air spokesperson, and ambassadorships.
A well-known figure in New York City, Lara has been featured on Today, Good Morning America, Extra, Vanity Fair, WWD, InStyle, CNN, Page Six, Bustle, DailyMail, POPSUGAR, Shape, Well+Good, Refinery29, New York Magazine, StyleCaster, and NewBeauty.
Lara Eurdolian also wrote the popular children’s book, Charlie at the Pom Springs Hotel, based on her senior rescue dog’s sweet adoption story.
Karin Tracy
As head of industry, retail/fashion/luxury, Karin Tracy oversees Meta’s retail, fashion and luxury practices, which she built over the past 10 years to help brands drive real business results through their work on Facebook, Instagram, Messenger and What’sApp.
Since joining Facebook in 2015, Karin has developed go-to market strategies tailored for retail, fashion, beauty and luxury marketers and built a best-in-class team that has forged senior-level partnerships within the industry. Karin has pioneered initiatives such as Cosmetic Executive Women’s Digital Learning Series, Facebook’s first-ever Beauty and Luxury Summits and has been an AI Thought Leader on stages including Shoptalk and The Lead Summit.
Previous to Meta, Karin Tracy was Publisher of InStyle from 2012-2014, following four highly successful years in senior leadership within Time Inc.’s Style and Entertainment Group as Publisher of Entertainment Weekly and People StyleWatch. At InStyle, she oversaw the magazine’s marketing, advertising sales and brand strategy for the monthly and annual special issues. In addition, she oversaw marketing and sales strategy for InStyle.com and its social platforms, including product innovation, branded content, audience development and ad solutions.
Before joining Time Inc., Tracy was Associate Publisher of Lucky where she launched the first ever shopping app, Lucky At Your Service. Prior to that, she held sales positions at Marie Claire, Harper’s Bazaar and Interview, and was the Advertising Director at Teen Vogue. She began her advertising career at Giorgio Armani and spent a year in Saks Fifth Avenue’s Marketing Department.
Tracy is a lifelong New Yorker, is a board member of Cosmetic Executive Women and was vice president of partnerships on the NY Women in Communications executive board in 2023 and 2024. She graduated from the Fashion Institute of Technology with a B.S. degree in marketing, is a member of the FIT Alumni Advisory Council and was the recipient of FIT’s 2022 President’s Award. In 2022 Karin was listed as one of BCG/WWD's 25 Most Inspirational Women. She resides in downtown Manhattan with her husband and their three children.