ANDREA A. ABRAMS | CO-FOUNDER

Andrea Abrams is a fashion and retail industry veteran and global executive. She is a retail technology and blockchain investor, participating in pre-seed rounds of notable startups for physical and digital commerce. Andrea is the founder, CEO and Chief Metaverse Officer of PHYGICODE, a consortium of industry leaders creating a phygital approach to Web3 adoption. Andrea is also Chief of Strategy at Faith Tribe, a Web2 to Web3 platform providing physical and digital tools for fashion creators.

Andrea is a lead pre-seed investor in wearable NFT marketplace The Dematerialised and in sustainability platform Pool Berlin, among others. She is a Board Advisor at 3D engine Threedium, Lukso Blockchain, and web3 investment firm Scytale Ventures. Andrea is featured in the Women of The Future inaugural book, she is the Davos Blockchain Hub (WEF) 2022 and 2023 Keynote speaker on web3 for fashion, a Vogue Greece Game Changers 2022 and is a Threedium Top 50 XR Award recipient.

Andrea is a Mentor at Farfetch Dream Assembly Base Camp, a Brytehall’s Bryte Fashion Forces Top 100 (finishing No 1), a Metaverse Fashion Week 2023 curator and a Member of the Board of Trustees of Women of The Future Latin America.

Andrea previously founded Abrams Global, an international advisory services firm focused on cross border and omni chanel strategies for retailers, fashion groups and retail property owners, advising prominent clients such as Saint Laurent, The White Company, Sears, Ivanhoe Cambridge, Cap3000, American Dream, among others

Andrea spent a large part of her career in senior positions with US retail REIT NYSE: GGP - now part of Brookfield Properties (the second largest shopping center owner at the time), where she was involved in launching GGP Ventures/GGP International, with transactions in Turkey, Brazil and Central America. Having lived and worked in multiple countries in Latin America and Europe, Andrea is fluent in English, Spanish and Italian. Andrea is based in New York and has been a member of ICSC, BCSC and ULI.

Rigo Lora has over 20 years of business experience.  He is a 14-year fashion and lifestyle industry veteran with extensive experience in brand expansion and global partnerships. He is the founder of Rigo A Lora LLC  and the co-founder of Interconnected LLC.  

Rigo began his career at Pfizer Pharmaceuticals, gaining experience in numerous departments such as IT, Marketing, Sales, Legal and Quality Assurance. Having a lifelong desire to work in the fashion industry and after 10 years in the Pharmaceutical business, he received a once in a lifetime opportunity to launch the fashion brand Dsquared2 in the US.  At the time, Dsquared2 was a start-up with minimal US presence, minimal global distribution and no global retail presence. 

Rigo joined Dsquared2 Inc. (the US Division) in 2006, as the brand’s first US employee and was responsible for managing and developing the US wholesale business, which grew from a few accounts to 50+ wholesale accounts during his tenure.  Rigo established a successful distribution network with prestigious retail clients, and opened points of sales at Saks Fifth Avenue, Bergdorf Goodman, Neiman Marcus, Nordstrom, Jeffrey New York, The Webster, Fred Segal, and Holt Renfrew, among others.

After 10 years at Dsquared2 establishing the brand in the US market, Rigo founded Rigo A Lora LLC in 2016 in New York to explore new partnerships and opportunities.  Since launching, Rigo has focused on consulting for prominent charities, hospitality and fashion luxury brands and prominent companies such as Zappos Luxury, American Dream (Triple Five Group), Guesst Software, Scytale Ventures, Lukso Fashion Blockchain, NOA (No Ordinary Agency), The Standard Hotels, The Edition Hotels, Gitano Tulum, Sound Tulum Music Festival, Jeffrey Fashion Cares, Vienna’s Life Ball, BMF Media, Balmain, and Faith Connexion. Rigo's services  to clients included strategic introductions, brand strategy implementation, sponsorships, marketing, curation, activations, retail opportunities and recruiting. 

Rigo is a graduate of Bernard M. Baruch College, where he majored in Business Administration and minored in Human Resource Management.  Rigo has lived and worked in Italy, Mexico and Austria and is fluent in Spanish.  He currently lives in New York City and has traveled extensively globally.