I’m having an interesting conversation with Julie Roehm, the Chief Experience Officer at Party City. We are having a casual chat over coffee and I am excited to learn more about her current challenges.

Julie, what’s your main challenge at this point in time?

“People often ask me, “how’s the new job going” and “what’s it like to work at Party City?” My answer, and it’s true, is that every second I am overwhelmed, I am frustrated and I am exhilarated – all at the same time! 

“It’s frustrating because I can see exactly what needs to happen, it’s not difficult, the solution seems so obvious that it makes me crazy that we just can’t make these changes over night. And it’s overwhelming because there’s so much that we actually need to do in stores, online, with our associates, our merchandising, our customer experience and our Omni-channel integration.
But it’s also exhilarating because we have proven practices, technology and data at our fingertips. We know how to solve it – and these changes will create immediate results.  To me, there’s no better feeling, nothing more satisfying, than seeing this change take hold and watching our associates and customers respond.

“It’s exciting because once we do it, it’s going to be huge. We are going to change the way people think about celebration in general. Not just a ‘party’, but any kind of celebration or moment that you want to remember! 

“My wish is that one day we will be looking up and down the streets of Manhattan and people will be walking with our latest innovative balloons; and people will look and smile. We have the coolest balloons, air walkers, piñata balloons; balloons for any occasion. I can get really excited about that part of our offering. But yeah, that’s the goal. People will see balloons on the street and it will bring a smile to their faces. Smiling is contagious. Joy is contagious. We need more joy in our lives.”

Thank you for sharing with me Julie, we’ll definitely follow you moving forward.

Julie Roehm – Chief Experience Officer at Party City
Julie Roehm – Chief Experience Officer at Party City

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