The Secret World of Luxury: What She Learned Leading Hermès, Godiva, and Burberry | Ep 242 with Virginie Costa

Summary

Founder’s Story: The Secret World of Luxury – What She Learned Leading Hermès, Godiva, and Burberry | Ep 242 with Virginie Costa

Released on July 21, 2025 by IBH Media

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Introduction

In Episode 242 of "Founder’s Story," IBH Media’s host, Don, engages in an enlightening conversation with Virginie Costa, a seasoned executive who has spearheaded finance operations at iconic luxury brands such as Hermès, Godiva, and Burberry. Virginie shares her profound insights into the luxury market, leadership in high-stakes environments, and the evolving role of finance in fostering business transformation.

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The Mystique of Luxury Brands

Virginie delves into what sustains the allure of legendary luxury items, using the Birkin bag as a quintessential example. She recounts the origin story of the Birkin bag, emphasizing the importance of brand purpose and storytelling.

Virginie Costa [02:04]: "The mystique of any luxury brands reside into the brand purpose... Hermes has carried on with that legacy... they are maniacally obsessed about the quality, about the integrity."

Virginie highlights that the essence of enduring luxury lies in exceptional quality, unique brand equity, and a compelling brand narrative. She credits the sustained success of Hermès to its unwavering commitment to these principles, ensuring that each product not only meets but exceeds customer expectations.

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Impact of Fast Fashion on the Luxury Market

The discussion shifts to the rise of fast fashion and its dual impact on the luxury sector. Virginie acknowledges that while fast fashion democratizes access to stylish items, it also poses challenges such as increased counterfeiting.

Virginie Costa [04:34]: "It's a combination of both... It helps gain a larger audience... but on the other way, of course, they do fight all the time. Counterfeiting."

She explains that fast fashion can inadvertently amplify the desirability of luxury items by making high-quality products more recognizable. However, it also necessitates robust measures against counterfeit goods to preserve brand integrity. Virginie underscores that genuine luxury items, like the Birkin bag, are seen as lifelong investments, further cementing their value and appeal.

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The Future of Malls and Retail

Don raises concerns about the sustainability of brick-and-mortar malls in an increasingly digital world, noting the stark contrast in foot traffic between luxury and non-luxury stores.

Virginie Costa [07:05]: "I don't believe retail is dead... For luxury, you want to feel it. You want to know that this is real. I'm getting the Birkin."

Virginie counters the notion that retail is declining by highlighting the unique consumer experience that luxury stores offer. She believes that the tactile and experiential aspects of luxury retail cannot be replicated online, ensuring continued relevance. Additionally, she envisions a seamless integration of online and offline experiences, where consumers can interact with brands across multiple platforms.

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Career Insights: Climbing the Executive Ladder

Virginie shares her personal journey and offers advice for aspiring executives aiming for leadership roles within prestigious companies.

Virginie Costa [09:12]: "Master the fundamentals, know your numbers, but then build trust... Leadership is all about people and purpose."

She emphasizes the importance of mastering financial fundamentals, building trust, and fostering a leadership style centered on empathy and purpose. Virginie encourages professionals to be proactive, take accountability, and continuously seek opportunities to add value within their organizations.

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Leadership Challenges and Lessons

Reflecting on her early career, Virginie discusses the challenges she faced as a young woman in a predominantly male environment and the strategies she employed to overcome them.

Virginie Costa [10:42]: "When I started my first CFO post... I had to trust my own voice, lead with confidence... one of my mentors told me, let them make mistakes."

She highlights the significance of leading with empathy, understanding diverse perspectives, and enabling team members to learn through their experiences. These principles have been pivotal in her approach to leadership, enabling her to navigate and thrive in high-pressure roles.

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Common Traits of Successful CEOs

When discussing the commonalities among top-tier CEOs and C-suite executives, Virginie points to their unwavering focus on human capital.

Virginie Costa [12:10]: "The biggest assets are the people. If they are happy, they will stay with you, they will want to grow with you."

She asserts that prioritizing employee satisfaction and development is a hallmark of successful leadership. By valuing and nurturing talent, CEOs can foster a loyal and motivated workforce that drives sustained business success.

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Evolving Role of the CFO

Virginie elaborates on how the role of the Chief Financial Officer has transformed over the past two decades, now encompassing broader strategic responsibilities beyond traditional financial oversight.

Virginie Costa [13:18]: "Finance is about transformation... The CFO will be key storytellers and translating complexity into clarity."

She describes the modern CFO as a pivotal figure in driving business transformation, leveraging financial strategy to align with corporate purpose and sustainability goals. Virginie envisions finance leaders playing critical roles in adopting AI, redefining value metrics, and embedding sustainability into every business decision.

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Embracing AI in Finance

Addressing the growing influence of artificial intelligence, Virginie shares her perspective on how AI is reshaping the finance landscape.

Virginie Costa [19:11]: "AI will help us continue our journey on automating routine tasks... The future of finance is human-centered, AI-powered, and purpose-led."

She reassures finance professionals that AI is not a threat to their roles but a tool to enhance efficiency by automating mundane tasks. This allows finance teams to focus on strategic initiatives that add greater value, such as business transformation and value chain optimization.

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Conclusion

Virginie Costa’s insights offer a compelling glimpse into the intricate dynamics of the luxury market and the transformative potential of finance leadership. Her emphasis on quality, people-centric leadership, and strategic adaptation underscores the essence of enduring success in both luxury brands and executive roles. Aspiring leaders can draw invaluable lessons from her journey, particularly the importance of mastering fundamentals, fostering trust, and embracing technological advancements to drive meaningful change.

For those inspired by Virginie’s story and seeking to connect further, she encourages reaching out via LinkedIn or her personal website, virginicosta.com.

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Notable Quotes:

• Virginie Costa [02:04]: "The mystique of any luxury brands reside into the brand purpose... Hermes has carried on with that legacy... they are maniacally obsessed about the quality, about the integrity."

• Virginie Costa [09:12]: "Master the fundamentals, know your numbers, but then build trust... Leadership is all about people and purpose."

• Virginie Costa [19:11]: "AI will help us continue our journey on automating routine tasks... The future of finance is human-centered, AI-powered, and purpose-led."

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This episode of "Founder’s Story" offers rich, actionable insights for entrepreneurs, aspiring executives, and anyone interested in the confluence of luxury branding and strategic financial leadership. Virginie Costa's narrative exemplifies how purposeful leadership and a commitment to excellence can steer legendary brands toward sustained success.

Transcript

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[Don]

So Virginie, if you ask anyone what's the number one luxury item that they would want to buy besides a yacht, but when it comes to know clothing or accessories, I'm sure almost every woman would say a Birkin. Like if you bought a woman a Birkin, that is probably the number one thing that you could buy any woman when it comes to the luxury items. What has kept her mace and have and this mystique around, you know, this bag going for so long?

[Virginie Costa]

That's a very good question. So thank you for having me. The the mystique is, is exactly what I'm passionate about. It's the brand purpose and the brand. And the Birkin bag in itself has an amazing story. I don't know if you heard it, but the bag actually was born after an exchange between the CEO of Hermes then and the famous actress Jane Birkin. And what happened is that she had a huge tote bag that was all messed up in a lot of ways. And she unfortunately some of the items she was carrying with it went on the floor. So the CEO next to her was asking her, so I just noticed your bag. I think you need a bigger and more practical bag. And so he used a frame that's called the Sac aux acorrois, which is maybe a little more rectangle bag and he made it a little more narrower as he square but expanded it on the side and that became the Birkin bag. So first, the first thing is it starts with a iconic product, a unique brand equity and brand purpose. And what I've been very lucky to have met him, the CEO, when, back when, and I remember what he said to me, he said, you know, at the end of the day, the product is what is the most important thing. The quality has to be unique. And when the product will be that fantastic, it will find its own customer. And so Hermes has carried on with that legacy and that thinking and is maniacally obsessed about the quality, about the integrity. And as a company, they have very strong values and culture. So at the end of the day, I want to say for me, it's the mystique of any luxury brands reside into the brand purpose and I thrive really bringing brands like this, this on a continuation story in the sustainable growth path.

[Don]

So when you, when you see the rise of fast fashion, access to really inexpensive versions that are very similar to different things, do you think this is hurting the luxury market or helping the luxury market?

[Virginie Costa]

It's an interesting one. I think it's a combination of both because in some ways, you know that you're, you're, you're with a fake bag when comes the time that you want to repair it, because like anything else, you know it, you need some repairs and some maintenance. What the luxury brands do also is that they accompany the product till the end. So as an example, if you have a Hermes bag and not necessarily the Birkin whatever bags, and you, you have, you know, at the end it starts to look a little older, you can bring it back to the store and they will inspect it for you, will tell you right away if it's fake. And if it's not a fake, then you have the opportunity to get it fixed and repaired. So I think it helps in some ways to gain a larger audience that would not go to those stores or to those malls, but on the other way, of course, they do fight all the time. Counterfeiting. Everyone knows that counterfeiting is not the best way to produce, but that's why I guess it's a combination of both. And when you think about it like a Birkin bag as an example, it's an investment for life, the real one, you know, you will be able to carry it through to the next generation. Actually it will be that great quality that you can actually pass it on to your kids or send it to Sotheby's for an auction. So that's pretty much what, what my, my view would be.

[Don]

So it's been amazing. If I go to a mall that has luxury stores, like for example in Orange county, where I live, the mall is very busy. If I go to a store that has like general stores that are not luxury, the mall is almost essentially dead. There's like nobody there. And I find it very fascinating how luxury stores are continuing to possibly thrive. I don't know all the numbers, but I'm guessing thrive more, you know, than stores that are non luxury. What we're using and doesn't have to just be Hermes, but I know you've worked with many luxury stores, but when you look at, you know, because I think this is a big thing, will malls die? Will they survive? Like, this is always the talk every year is, you know, how are in store opportunities? Does it still exist for brands?

[Virginie Costa]

It's what, what's happening right now is like, I think we're in a transition mode, you know, after things are getting normalized a little bit again. So traffic in stores is always a question. It's not just the general stores. Luxury brands also look at those traffic numbers and I don't know that it's only because you have luxury stores that you're going to get more traffic. And the reality is you want to touch the product in luxury, that's for sure. You want to why you're paying, the price tag you're paying. So the physical contact, the client experience inside the stores as well, all of this does bring a specific interest. But yeah, the general question about is retail dead? I don't believe it. Personally, I think that now we're closing full loop. The 360 experience, from I phone to my iPad to my visit in the physical space, and then I order online. So I think that retail traffic is an overarching, very valid point. But in the case of luxury, like I said, you want to feel it. You want to know that this is real. I'm getting the Birkin.

[Don]

So I'm sure a lot of people are working in these stores, working for these companies, are hoping that, you know, I want to move up one day. You know, I want to be like Virginie and I want to be an executive for one of these companies. So what do you think helped you along the path? Was there, was there something that you said, okay, I've worked for these companies, I know what they're looking for. I know what expectations are. Is there anything you can give there or even just any advice to someone who's, you know, starting off now in the beginning and they're like, I want to be an executive one day.

[Virginie Costa]

Sure. Listen. I chose finance because I really wanted to understand how businesses bring value and grow value. And also because I saw finance as a tool that can provide a great storytelling and can really enable the company to continue and grow. Early on, I realized numbers are not just enough, it's also about people, also about culture and purpose. So in terms of advice I would give to someone wanted to follow a similar path is master the fundamentals, know your numbers, but then build trust. And don't forget that leadership is all about people and purpose. So you want to make sure that exactly you are someone that can bring value and be curious, be bold, don't wait, don't ask for permission to sit at the table, step in, take accountability, and bring people along with you on the journey. The future belongs to finance leaders who can see the big picture and bring people with them.

[Don]

I'm sure when you grab your seat at the table or you make a seat at the table, there's snags along the way. I'm sure there was challenges. Anything that you remember that stands out, that gave you a good lesson.

[Virginie Costa]

Sure. Actually, two things. When I started my first CFO post, so that was 20 years ago, I was a young woman, the environment was different obviously over there, and I had to trust my own voice, lead with confidence. And the way I approached it was really leading, also by empathy. You need to understand people, you need to understand the different points of view. And the best finance leaders are enablers and connectors, which is something that I've always been passionate about, which is, you know, connecting the dots. So, yeah, that's the first thing. The other thing I will remember, one of my mentor at the beginning of my career told me, let them make mistakes. That's how they will learn. And that was a bold statement. But it was very, very useful and helpful for the rest of my career.

[Don]

Growing talent, being able to be in the same room as some of these executives, like you said, CEO of Hermes and these other organizations that you've been a part of, was there any commonalities among, you know, CEOs or C suite at the highest level at these companies?

[Virginie Costa]

No. They are all very different. They're all very unique. But the successful CEOs I've been lucky to partner with always, as I said before, always come from the place of the people first. Now we even call it human capital. This is the new denomination. But it's true, the people are your biggest assets. And if they are happy, they will stay with you, they will want to grow with you. And that's what matters. It's really driving people and making sure that everyone has a path. So I would say that if there is one commonality, that would be that the focus and the prioritization of people and talent.

[Don]

So when you look at success now, where you're at in your life, because I'm sure like you said 20 some odd years ago, when you started success looked a certain way, you achieved some of the successes or all that you're hoping for. But what does success look for, look like for you now?

[Virginie Costa]

So it's true, the role of a CFO has evolved tremendously over these past 20 years. I have also had a couple of opportunities where I hold both the CFO and the CE roles, the Chief Operation officer. And that was very helpful to me for the evolution exactly of finance. I see finance to me becoming a force on transformation. I led a few transformation offices actually and it's really the new phase and transformation has always been a world that we use a lot around us. But since COVID there has been a lot of transformation. A lot of companies had to adapt to the new normal. So to me, finance is about transformation. We will lead on AI adoption. We will redefine how we value people and intangibles and embed sustainability now into every decision. So the CFO will be key storytellers and translating complexity into clarity and helping businesses grow with purpose and integrity. So now the CFO can handle.

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[Virginie Costa]

So a lot of other topics because of this unique viewpoint that enabled the companies to really see, like I said before, the connecting the dots, like if I move this, what that's going to look like here. So, so for me and, and I'm very passionate about business transformation. It's, it brings challenges but it's also where you have the biggest opportunities and, and that's how usually you can grow faster.

[Don]

I imagine it could be challenging and exciting being the cfo. Just because you have to sometimes give the bad news, you also have to sometimes give the good news. And maybe you have a CEO that wants to go one direction, but if they're publicly traded, right, they. There's certain scrutiny that they have to follow and you might have to give them the bad news. But when you're. When you go into an organization and you're looking at transformation, I'm guessing they bring you in for some sort of change, normally hoping like positive change or whatever the change might be. What are some of the first few things that you do when you start at an organization at that level?

[Virginie Costa]

The first thing I always do, and that would be also an advice for future generations, is you need to learn the business. You really need to learn the business to be a good cfo. Nowadays you're not just reporting the numbers. You are driving the business. You need to have a financial strategy aligned with the purpose and the integrity of the brand. So the first thing I always do is I spend as much time as I can to visit the locations where the company is established, getting to meet as many people I can, always asking the same question. I go in listening tour, actually, if you will, which is tell me what are the things we are doing right and tell me the things that you think we're doing wrong. These are my first questions always. And the next one is even some, sometimes more telling, which is what wakes you up at night. And that's how you get to really learn the business from the ground up. And the reason why I do that is going back to Hermes as an example, I've been so inspired by their onboarding. Whatever function you're in in the company, you need to spend your first week in a store. And depending on your area, you will be a seller. You will mirror a sale associate or you will mirror the cash register, whatever function brings you in. But you'll spend a week in the store looking at the product, looking at the relationship between the clients and the sales associates and the product products. And for Mondelez, which was my most recent post, I spent a lot of time visiting factories, visiting the different locations that were part of the region, in Canada, Mexico, and just getting to meet as many people as possible here and be really open to. Exactly. Like I said, tell me with the most honesty you can, what's working, what's not, and what keeps you up at night.

[Don]

I like what you're saying there, where basically there's no ego that you know you have to go in a store. If you're a C suite, you have to go work in a store. I think that'd be very interesting. They should film that. It'd be interesting to see how a new C suite or vice president or president has to work into a store and the sales, I think that's amazing. AI is obviously transforming every industry. You touched on it a little bit earlier. I know you just chaired a CFO summit recently and I'm sure AI was a big topic. Can you talk about maybe some learnings from that and how you see the future?

[Virginie Costa]

Yeah. Thank you, Don. It was an amazing event and we had CFOs NCHROs in the audience. AI was the number one topic. And the way I approach it right now is people are very nervous that they're going to lose their job to AI. And with me having worked for 30 years, so I always remember when my first job there was no computer, no Internet, no iPhones, only landlines. So I've lived through a lot of evolution of the technology and what I've noticed at each revolution or new step, it actually, it doesn't necessarily make you lose your job, it makes you change your focus. And working on other tasks in finance in particular, AI will help us continue our journey on automating anything that is really pure routine, transactional, same old, same old. And so that finance professionals can now focus even more so on the value creation, on the value chain. So to me, the future of finance is human centered AI powered and purpose led.

[Don]

I hope you're right. I mean, I hope those things happen. It sounds amazing. I guess we will see, right? We have no. It seems like it's moving like 100 miles a minute. But I can imagine in the CFO or finance roles AI could be an incredible tool and opportunity to, you know, to cut a cut down on mundane things and to really hyper focus on, you know, big picture, bigger impact items. But if people want to get in touch with you, they want to find out more, they want to follow your journey, how can they do so sure.

[Virginie Costa]

You can find me on LinkedIn, Virginicosta where I share a lot of insights on exactly transformation strategy and finance topic as well as leadership. I also speak regularly on events and I'm always happy to connect with people. So especially if you're passionate like me, you can reach out this way and you can also reach me via my website, virginicosta.com and let's stay in touch.

[Don]

Well, Virginia Costa, great conversation. I know you and I talked earlier before we started about France and how we were just in Lyon and that's where basically you grew up. Best food probably on the planet is overall. But this has been amazing conversation. Thank you for today. And I'm really inspired about luxury in the future. And then obviously, you know, the CFO role that most people, the CFO role, I don't think it's like, like, in a band, you have like, the lead singer is like the CEO who's always out there, and the CFO is like the drummer who, who no one really knows, but is like an integral part of, of the, of how things happen. But really, thank you for all that you do and joining us today.

[Virginie Costa]

Thank you for.