Retail executives met in Midtown Manhattan to discuss AI in commerce, agentic systems, and the renewed value of in-person industry conversations.
Retail Leaders Gather for the Nexus NYC Cocktail Mixer
On March 10, we hosted The Nexus NYC Cocktail Mixer at Albert’s Bar in Midtown Manhattan. About 25 retail leaders joined us, including executives from Estée Lauder, Cartier, LG, SteinMart, Charlotte Russe, Jomashop and more. It was an intimate setting that made it easy to connect, share ideas, and spark meaningful conversations. “You learn a lot,” said Harry Masaun, speaking on In-Person events. “You get to talk to all these extremely successful people with extremely successful backgrounds and just learn how they’re leveraging different strategies in their business and figuring out how there’s ways maybe we can even collaborate with these different successful people.” Several others expressed similar viewpoints to Masaun, including David Pollinchock.
“Here’s the reality about in-person events: we’ve built them around a familiar structure—morning keynotes, breakout sessions, and afternoon programming. But the truth is, most of those keynote speakers are people I’ll never actually meet. They come on stage, deliver their talk, and leave,” he said. “That experience isn’t so different from watching online—it delivers the same core value. What hasn’t been replaced, and won’t be anytime soon, is the human connection—the simple act of talking to another person.”
AI and Human Creativity in Retail
A major topic of the evening was the role of AI in fashion and retail. Guests shared how technology is helping analyze data, improve planning, and accelerate decision-making. “What makes people successful is the ability to think. AI can do the busy work but it can’t replace people being creative and thinking,” said Joshua Rockoff. “So the reality is that as long as you provide the logical thought, AI can complete it and provide the data, but it still requires us to refine and tweak the result to get it to where we need it to be” At the same time, everyone agreed that human creativity and intuition remain at the heart of great retail experiences. AI is a tool, not a replacement—supporting teams rather than taking over. “Here’s the reality with AI right now: there are a lot of tools out there, and each one does something a little differently. The most important thing is to experiment—to try them, push them, and see what they can do,” Masaun said. “It’s still such a new space that there isn’t a single ‘right’ use case yet.”
Agentic Systems and Future Trends
We also talked about agentic AI and how autonomous systems may influence customer journeys and operational workflows. “Find a company that’s been doing AI from the start,” said Giresh Joshi. “At some point the technology itself has to carry you forward.” While the technology itself is exciting, leaders emphasized the importance of balance: automation should enhance human decision-making, not replace it. “What AI does incredibly well is help you think—generate ideas, uncover things you didn’t know, and speed up work that used to be manual,” Masaun added. “What really matters is getting hands-on. Be creative, test different approaches, and don’t be afraid to throw things at these systems. That’s how you learn. Because right now, all of us are still figuring it out as we go.”
Thank You to Deda Stealth
This event was made possible by Deda Stealth, a company helping fashion and luxury brands optimize the entire retail lifecycle. Their AI-driven solutions empower teams to make faster, data-informed decisions while still keeping human insight central to strategy.
Even with all the conversations about technology, one thing stood out: there’s no substitute for in-person connection. After years of virtual meetings, executives are craving real-time, face-to-face discussions that spark ideas and build relationships.
We are so grateful to everyone who joined us and helped make the evening a success.
