She Shopbop-ped to the top. Stephanie Horton is the global marketing director for commerce at Google, but that’s just one of the many feathers in her hat. Actually, it’s more like a boa, since the Chicago native has worked for major names in the fashion world including Vogue and Farfetch. She’s also the co-founder of Fashion Tech Connects, an organization dedicated to bringing more women of color to both industries.

Here, the 50-year-old shares how she built a legendary resume, how she’s using big tech to support small businesses, and the essential career advice we all need to hear.

We’re so inspired by your career. How did you get started?
It’s funny, I fell into it completely by mistake. I was a finance undergrad. When I was in business school, I switched to marketing and was working at an agency. We bought advertising in Gotham magazine. I happened to be moving to New York at the time and took a job with Jason Binn in managing Gotham. I went from there to the New York Times, and then got called by Vogue to help them monetize the CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund, as well as the Met Ball. Then for some reason, I just followed the fashion train.

Why did you transition from fashion to tech?
I’ve always dabbled in the fashion-tech space. I was at Farfetch, then I was at Shopbop [which is] owned by Amazon—so [it’s] really the more e-commerce space. When it was presented to me, I saw an opportunity at Google to bring things to life that were important to me, like helping consumers shop underrepresented businesses [that were] Black-owned, Latinx, etc.

So what do you do at Google?
I have a very long and complicated job title. Commerce covers both shopping and travel, so my day-to-day is setting a marketing strategy for both of those product areas and looking at how we bring the product team’s vision alive. We’ve been building different partnerships and programs to do that. We also teamed with the 15 Percent Pledge. I’ve known [the founder] Aurora from my years on the CFDA. It was a nice opportunity for us to partner and give the businesses in her database training so that they’re able to supply all the retailers she signed up with.

You’ve had like 7 dream jobs. How do you know when it’s time to switch roles?
The growth stage is my passion. I usually tell people, “If you’re looking for someone to run a department, I’m probably not your girl.” I’m not just going to up and leave jobs, but 5 years down the line, when the problem’s solved, I’m like, “You guys got this. Who else needs my help?”

Has working in fashion influenced your style?
Oh, for sure [laughing]. Just [by] having close relationships with designers and stylists, you definitely get sucked into the crazy. I love shopping, which is why this job was really good for me, and I definitely pivot more towards young, indie designers. I’ve bought a lot of Christopher John Rogers. There’s also a London designer called Racil Chalhoub who does great tuxedo dressing.

What’s your ultimate career advice?
Don’t write it in pen. Always write it in pencil. I never thought I’d work at Google, but when the opportunity came, I was like, “Why not look at it?” Being agile is really important in one’s career, and you can always get there and scope, but you shouldn’t pass up good experiences.