Things Remembered, an omnichannel retailer that sells personalized gifts, has named Lisa Gavales as its new president and CEO. Gavales, who will begin at the company on Nov. 10, replaces Michael Anthony, who has been with the company for the past eight years. Anthony will remain with Things Remembered as the chairman of the board.

Gavales, who is a member of the Women in Retail Leadership Circle advisory board, most recently served as president, direct and chief marketing officer at Talbots. Prior to that, she was executive vice president and chief marketing officer for Express. Lisa’s career also includes a 14-year stint at Bloomingdale’s.

According to a Things Remembered press release, Gavales will further evolve the brand as a top omnichannel retailer, ensuring the right merchandise is available to the customer wherever and whenever she wants it. She will also be responsible for leading the company through its next growth phase. “We are very pleased to have someone with Lisa’s extensive retail and direct marketing experience leading our organization,” said Michael Anthony. “Lisa is an accomplished leader with proven expertise who will successfully pilot Things Remembered through today’s challenging retail environment.”

The Inner Circle asked Lisa some questions about her new gig via an email exchange today. Here’s a portion of that conversation:

The Inner Circle: What attracted you to Things Remembered, and what are you most excited about working on there?
Lisa Gavales: Things Remembered is a storied brand. Along with its history, it has a loyal and extremely satisfied customer base. It also has a sustainable competitive advantage with more than 600 stores across the U.S. In personalized gifting, no other company comes close.
The team is geared up and ready to grow the brand in this omnichannel world to its next level of transformation.  I couldn’t be more excited to help lead the team and the brand through the next years of successes.

TIC: What are some challenges you expect to have and how will you conquer them?
LG: There’s a lot of competition in personalization online. I think it’s due to the universal trend for customization and personalization that’s growing so rapidly. We have the advantage of a local presence in most markets, which allows each Things Remembered channel to amplify the other. None of our competition has that.

TIC: Do you have any professional advice you can give our readers around how to pick the right job for them?
LG: Be true to yourself. Know what makes you happy, and don’t settle for less. You likely spend 10 hours a day at work; that’s far too much time if you’re unhappy. Don’t take a job for money or fame. Take a job that you can thrive in and enjoy yourself every day.