Kathy Ireland Visits Orlando!
Universal Orlando hosted supermodel, actress and entrepreneur Kathy Ireland yesterday as she vacationed in Orlando with family and friends. During her visit, she took a spin on the Caro-Seuss-El and experienced other whimsical attractions in Seuss Landing – an area of Universal’s Islands of Adventure where the beloved books of Dr. Seuss spring to life.
It’s good to see Kathy take a break in the “City Beautiful” as everyone deserves some downtime every now and again. The former model and actress has turned entrepreneur and is the CEO of her brand product marketing company, Kathy Ireland Worldwide. The history of how the company was formed is interesting as it all started back in 1993, when she put her name on a line of socks. After they proved a best-seller for Kmart, the retailer then gave her her own clothing line.
Kathy Ireland & Nigel Worrall
She then founded “Kathy Ireland Worldwide,” a brand product marketing company in which she holds a majority stake and by 2004, she was marketing products from 16 manufacturers, including those of Standard Furniture. Her long-term exclusive contract with K-mart Corporation lasted until 2003, after which the company contracted with thousands of independent mid-tier retail stores for distribution and by 2005, KIWW products were sold at over 50,000 locations in 15 countries, generating an estimated $1.4 billion in retail sales. Kathy’s annual take is thought to be around $10 million, which has prompted Forbes to name her the “prototype for model-turned-mogul,” in an article about the trend of modelpreneurs.
Kathy wasn’t just in town for pleasure though, as she was able to mix a little business and charity together with a lot of fun as she was at the Heart of Florida United Way Women’s Leadership Luncheon to spread her message of how to balance a home life and still find time for work with more than 800 of Central Florida’s most prominent and influential women.
Kathy’s one smart cookie and she’s gone from the cover of Sports Illustrated and Forbes to the best vacation destination in the world in Orlando. We’re pleased to welcome her and her family and we hope they all have a great time. And… we hope they return again real soon!
