Fashion Ambitionist’s Marissa Grossman Is Launching a Fashion Brand
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Marissa Grossman, née Fuchs, of last year’s viral proposal craze, is gearing up for her next venture: a fashion brand of her very own.
The influencer, who left her role as director of brand partnerships at Goop in November, revealed the news today just a few months after she experienced a short window of Internet fame when her elaborate, branded scavenger hunt-themed marriage proposal-turned-wedding went viral via her extensive documentation on Instagram.
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Many were captivated by her more than 300 Instagram Stories showing each stage of the “experience,” complete with brand tags and product mentions, but media outlets speculated that the scavenger hunt was a little more than an elaborate sponsored content stunt. A pitch deck made by Grossman’s now-husband, Gabriel Grossman, was leaked online and seemed to confirm such speculation. As did the Grossmans holding a second wedding for friends and family.
After all the publicity, Grossman has revealed she’s officially branching out on her own. On Tuesday, she revealed to her 172,000 Instagram followers the launch of a new business called Shop Ambitionist as an extension of her Instagram account and blog, which focuses on shopping, fashion and lifestyle.
“Thank you guys so much for following, I’m so overwhelmed,” Grossman said in an Instagram Story. “I was literally just crying, obviously, but thank you. I’m so, so nervous and I really appreciate your support and I can’t wait to share with you over the next few weeks what’s to come.”
While Grossman has yet to share specifics on the Shop Ambitionist brand, she stated in her Instagram Stories that the business has been two years in the making. She’s been dropping hints about the brand’s inception on her Instagram account of late, asking her followers Monday night if they can guess what the business will be.
The Shop Ambitionist Instagram page offers little additional information. The page had almost 2,000 followers as of Tuesday afternoon. Its first post is a quote: “A feeling of comfort and confidence in all you do.”
A post shared by SHOP AMBITIONIST (@shopambitionist) on Feb 25, 2020 at 6:00am PST
Grossman has largely stayed out of the headlines since her “viral proposal” in June 2019, when the influencer dutifully captured all steps of the jet-setting scavenger hunt — she went to the Hamptons, Miami and Paris — all the while tagging fashion brands like LoveShackFancy, Ramy Brook and Tumi throughout.
The pitch deck for the proposal leaked online, detailing Grossman’s itinerary (including scheduled times for social media posts) and called on brands to “align with this momentous occasion.” It was reported that the pitch deck was presented to brands prior to the social media stunt in the hopes of locking in sponsorships.
The efforts at monetization and publicity led Goop to launch an internal review in order to determine whether Grossman leveraged her role with the company to lock down sponsorships. A source close to the company told WWD after the proposal went viral that Gwyneth Paltrow, founder and chief executive officer of Goop, was particularly put off by the apparent stunt.
Grossman is now the head of brand partnerships at Editorialist as of November, according to her LinkedIn account.
Goop communications director Jacqueline Weitzen confirmed that Grossman no longer works at the company, but would not provide further comment.
Others on social media questioned the authenticity of the scavenger hunt, speculating that Grossman was in on the proposal-turned-wedding. In an interview with the New York Times shortly after the wedding, the influencer said she was unaware of the proposal, but knew about the pitch deck.
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