Our Team
Shalonne Foster, Founder/CEO/Creative Director
Shalonne Foster is a native Seattleite fashionista who believes image is everything. After putting her business degree to work for 8 years at a large Fortune 500 company, she was bitten by the entrepreneurial bug and started two businesses: Posh Productions, an event planning company; and Foster Design Group, an Interior Design business, before turning her hand to the fashion industry with Fashion Network-Seattle. After traveling in 2008 to LA, Las Vegas, New York, the Hamptons and Europe, and attending the Paris and New York Fashion Weeks, she realized what was missing from her life was that strong connection to the fashion scene. She returned home and started to build that connection with Fashion Network-Seattle, which she founded in the 2009.
Shalonne is the face of Fashion Network-Seattle. She oversees the creative direction of all editorial and video content and serves as editor for our coverage. Through her love of people and fashion, she has built an amazing network of connections to the professionals in the fashion industry in Seattle over the past year.
She describes her personal style as a blend of trendy and edgy. She likes to have fun with clothes and tries different things, especially putting together pieces that people ordinarily wouldn’t consider pairing. Her favorite designers are, the late Alexander McQueen, Dior, Hermès, Bruno Pieters and Ann Dumeulemeester.
Shalonne has a BA in Marketing from University of Washington, and a Residential Interior Design degree from the Art Institute of Seattle.
Email her at Shalonne@fashionnetworkseattle.com
*Profile Photo by Diana J. Lee
Cynarah Ellawala, COO/CMO
Cynarah Ellawala is a marketing veteran with over 12 years of experience working on brands such as Lancôme, Matrix Hair Products, Murad, PetsMart, The Clorox family of products and Microsoft. Cynarah’s love of fashion started at an early age, when she began modeling in her teens. She considered becoming a fashion designer before deciding to focus on something more “serious” and earned a college degree in Enviromental Studies and Public Policy instead. But things just have a funny way of coming back full circle, and a renewal in her interest in fashion and couture has lead to a desire to make a difference in the fashion industry.
Cynarah spent most of 2009 working with a local designer and recent winner of the Seamless in Seattle competition to help her launch her fashion line and debut collection, and met amazing people along the way, including Shalonne. When given the opportunity to become a partner in Fashion Network-Seattle, she recognized it as the perfect opportunity to get more involved in the fashion business and make a difference. Cynarah is very passionate about Fashion Network-Seattle’s mission to expose and celebrate a local fashion industry that provides jobs to professionals and students in the industry. She works along side Shalonne to drive the creative vision of the company.
She defines her style as classic, elegant, and feminine. Her favorite Haute Couture designers are Oscar de La Renta, Chanel, and Carolina Herrera for their classic, timeless appeal. She is starting to explore and like Nanette Lepore and Roberto Cavalli because their designs tend to be sexy but still classic. She is currently trying to push the boundaries of her personal style by letting the Fashion Network-Seattle stylists add a little more edge to her wardrobe to keep her look young and fresh. She is also wearing more fashion by local designers to support their businesses.
Cynarah graduated from Middlebury College in Vermont in 1998. She was born in the Dominican Republic but was raised in New York City, where her love of fashion began. She has created award-winning web and video projects for Microsoft and worked for top advertising firms in NY, San Francisco and Seattle.
Email her at Cynarah@fashionnetworkseattle.com
*Profile Photo by Diana J. Lee
Tiffany Nash, Health and Beauty Director
Tiffany is a hardcore Sounders FC fan. She’s a season ticket holder and wouldn’t have it any other way. She’s also a wife, mother, successful business owner, esthetician, Beauty Director for Fashion Network–Seattle and a killer make-up artist. Nicknamed “The Calm in the Chaos” by one of her colleagues, Tiffany draws on nearly 10 years of make-up and skin care experience to carefully guide her clients through the process of creating just the right look or skin care program for themselves.
Tiffany takes time to educate her clients about their choices by focusing on what is important to them. Her philosophy is very simple–make-up should be used to enhance your best features, not to cover them up! She explains how precision and professional application can enhance anyone’s look and always tells clients, “It’s not about how much you put on, but how you apply it.” It is her goal to not only make the women she touches look absolutely stunning, but feel that way too.
Her attention to detail and consideration for others’ comfort level makes Tiffany an expert in her field and highly sought after. She has worked with several local designers for fashion parties, runway shows, and editorials. It is this familiarity with the industry, combined with several years of experience, that makes Tiffany the valuable and reliable authority on beauty for Fashion Network–Seattle.
Email her at Tiffanynash.net or facebook
Watch instructional make-up and beauty videos of Tiffany.
Brian Wong, Marketing Assistant
Brian has spent most of his career in the fashion retail industry and joined Fashion Network- Seattle as Marketing Assistant in November of 2009. One of his primary skills is promoting Seattle fashion. He works closely with Cynarah and Shalonne on marketing projects that help promote Fashion Network-Seattle to a wider audience. He is also responsible for fostering and maintaining Fashion Network-Seattle relationship with professionals in the Seattle fashion industry.
Brian views his work at Fashion Network-Seattle as an ideal opportunity to introduce Seattle to the world as fashion center, and prove that Seattle is not stuck in an early 90’s era of “Nirvana grunge, plaid-wearing, greasy-haired” people with no fashion sense.
His personal style always mirrors the current trends. He likes to play with and mix different styles to achieve an individualized look that makes his own statement. One of his favorites is mixing the “skater” look with hip hop.
Brian is attending the Art Institute of Seattle majoring in Fashion Marketing. He has a one-year-old son, Braiden, who is the next generation of Fashion Network- Seattle employees and Seattlelite fashionista!
Email him at Brian@fashionnetworkseattle.com
*Profile Photo by Samath Amorasin
Lauren Sauser, Social Media Community Manager
Lauren Sauser graduated from Western Washington University in 2008 with a degree in Journalism and Public Relations. Lauren has experience in event planning with the Special Olympics Seattle and interned at the Institute of National Security Studies in Tel Aviv, Israel during her studies abroad her junior year. She has assisted in planning large events including governmental functions and other press events.
Lauren is providing Fashion Network-Seattle her expertise in writing and producing fashion forward content for readers to enjoy. She is also focused on bringing our event and runway productions to life. Lauren loves working for Fashion Network -Seattle because of the wonderful staff and the amazing opportunities Fashion Network-Seattle provides, like covering fashion shows, the Seattle fashion scene and much more.
Her personal style is simple and straight forward. Simple patterns mixed with style basics such as a great white t-shirt or dark wash jeans. Her favorite designers include Alexander McQueen, Zac Posen and Chanel. Email her at lauren@fashionnetworkseattle.com
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Caitlin Collins, Managing Editor
Caitlin graduated from the University of Washington in 2010 with a Bachelor of Arts in English and a minor in Interdisciplinary Visual Art. As Managing Editor, she is the head of the content team at FNS, and is in charge of coordinating content for the website. Caitlin also produces her own content, ranging from feature articles to Seattle event coverage.
Caitlin first entered the Seattle fashion scene as a part-time model and has done photo and runway shows for local designers and boutiques, including Heilyke and Sustalux. After witnessing firsthand the promise and talent of Seattle’s fashion industry professionals, she was eager to join FNS for the chance to expose and support them.
Caitlin’s style is characterized by classic femininity and vintage influence. She is very interested in fashion history and how the current trends connect with/point to past style movements. Her closet simply cannot contain too many pairs of vintage heels, alligator clutches, fur stoles, or polka dots. Her favorite designers/labels are Marc Jacobs, Chanel, Lanvin, Chloe, and Bottega Veneta.
Email her at caitlin@fashionnetworkseattle.com
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If you are in the industry and would like your profile to appear on our Industry Profile section, please request a questionnaire at featureme@fashionnetworkseattle.com.
Contacts:
For press inquiries, please contact Amalia Martino at our PR Firm, Blue Shoes Media. Amalia@blueshoesmedia.com
For advertising inquiries, email us at advertise@fashionnetworkseattle.com
For service inquiries, email us at services@fashionnetworkseattle.com
For general inquiries, email us at info@fashionnetworkseattle.com
