KZ_K Studio comes together with Go Red For Women

Go Red for Women, the American Heart Association’s signature women’s initiative, kicked off an event with New York-based luxury brand KZ_K Studio on Wednesday, August 4. It marked KZ_K Studio’s first charitable event in collaboration with Go Red for Women at the brand’s recently christened Great Jones Street studio in New York’s NoHo neighborhood. Since opening the new studio, KZ_K Studio’s founder Karolina Zmarlak has not only wanted to help expand her brand, but has hoped that she could use the studio as a community-building space for connecting women as well.

The event featured a speaking panel including Zmarlak; Hillary Harper Neal, CEO of wardrobe styling app Hung and a personal stylist; Dr. Rachel-Maria Brown Talaska, director of inpatient cardiac services at Northwell Health Lenox Hill Hospital, and Kim Seymour, chief people officer at Etsy. Suzanne McAndrew, head of employee experience business at WTW, moderated the panel.

The goal of the event was to boost memberships for Circle of Red, Go Red for Women’s social philanthropic arm, offering women exclusive social experiences and recognition as supports of Go Red for Women. Since launching her new studio earlier this year, KZ_K founder and creative director Karolina Zmarlak wanted to create a space not only for people to shop her sustainable luxury collections, but also to act as a space for women’s empowerment and community. This panel focused on how to empower women in the workplace and shrink the gender wealth gap.

“Women are at a disadvantage regarding wealth accumulation throughout their working lives,” said McAndrew during the start of the panel. “When you start to put real data around the gender pay gaps, career progression, and financial literacy, the overall gender wealth gap is 11 percent. We’re not closing that gap, and that’s a problem.”

This event marked Zmarlak’s first charitable event in partnership with her brand at her studio. “At first, I did not know a lot about heart disease and how it affected women,” Zmarlak said to FashionUnited. “It was extremely shocking to me what a big problem it is for women because women’s heart health isn’t talked about enough. I’ve wanted to partner with charities, so our studio wasn’t just a space to come in and see clothes. I want an environment where people can come together collaboratively. KZ_K Studio is about community building and partnering with Go Red for Women is helping our mission of doing that one woman at a time.”

Although KZ_K Studio does plan on keeping its events more intimate to accommodate its studio space, Zmarlak hopes to continue to find ways to help bring more nonprofit organizations into the space to build community. Zmarlak told FashionUnited that fashion has the power to bring awareness to important causes, like Go Red for Women, because “Fashion might not be the most obvious connection to charitable work, but historically designers have always aligned themselves with certain causes. Fashion is a creative and open-minded industry, and there’s room for non-profits and fashion to come together. The more we can all build around these community aspects, the more we can spread awareness about important issues, like women’s heart health.”