Why the Most Interesting Careers Never Make Sense on Paper

Today I'm joined by Gia Kuan, founder of Gia Kuan Consulting (GKC) — the New Zealand-Taiwanese publicist New York Magazine once called a "downtown press maven." We recorded on a Sunday afternoon in her office in Chinatown, Manhattan, the neighborhood she's lived and worked in since she first landed in New York. We go back to her roots: born in Taipei, Taiwan, Gia learned English from the Flintstones and Scooby-Doo after her family moved to Santo Domingo — where her father worked for the Taiwanese Embassy — before New Zealand for school and Melbourne for college. We trace the journey: a job at the Melbourne luxury boutique Assin (Ann Demeulemeester, Rick Owens, Junya Watanabe, Comme des Garçons) lit the spark; a one-year course at Parsons brought her to New York in 2010; a first job at Comme des Garçons in 2011 and six years helping open Dover Street Market built the foundation — with a detour into art PR at Nadine Johnson, where she met the designers who would change everything. We break down the mechanics of the agency: how she launched GKC in 2019, why she keeps a tight, deliberately non-linear roster — Telfar, Luar, Kim Shui, Priscavera, Ottolinger, Lu'u Dan, Kiko Kostadinov, Reese Cooper, Sander Lak — and how a team of eleven does everything from New York Fashion Week shows to the quiet art of the seating chart. We also talk about the creative process: telling a brand's story in "chapters," writing for a three-second attention span, print versus Substack (Lauren Sherman, Nicole Phelps, Emily Sundberg's Feed Me), and what AI is doing to the craft. And we get into the deeper subjects: New York itself as her real engine, Chinatown's unchanged soul, and Whaam! — the gallery she co-founded with her husband Anatoly Kirichenko, now showing painter Justin Hager. And her compass: work hard, play hard, stay curious, never get too comfortable — and always visit three places you've never been. Enjoy the episode. — 📍 TIMELINE 00:00 — Cold open: a Sunday in a Chinatown office 02:15 — Who is Gia Kuan: PR across fashion, art and culture 03:16 — Born in Taipei — a childhood on the move 03:22 — Santo Domingo, and learning English from cartoons 04:26 — New Zealand, then Melbourne for college 05:55 — Assin: discovering Rick Owens, Comme des Garçons 06:53 — Parsons, New York, and a first job at Comme des Garçons 07:26 — Interning for Tom Ford and The Sartorialist 08:40 — Six years opening Dover Street Market 09:47 — A detour into art PR at Nadine Johnson 10:08 — Meeting Telfar, Kim Shui and Raul Lopez of Luar 13:03 — The green-card years 13:52 — The GKC roster today 14:51 — A tour of the bureau: Reese Cooper, Sander Lak 16:00 — What PR actually means now 18:51 — The Telfar story: Babak, the CFDA nomination 20:23 — White Castle parties and the Irving Plaza show 23:38 — Not the craft, but the story 25:08 — Her real driver: New York City 29:49 — A favorite: Whitney Mallett's Whitney Review 33:54 — Walk and talk: Interview, Mel Ottenberg, Pin-Up 36:23 — How she chooses her clients 39:47 — Into the Chinatown mall under the bridge 44:20 — Telling a brand's story in chapters 49:24 — AI, attention spans and the swing back to long form 51:28 — Substacks: Sherman, Phelps, Emily Sundberg's Feed Me 55:11 — Why Chinatown never changes 57:46 — Is New York still worth it? 1:00:15 — The state of independent fashion: Parsons, FIT, Pratt, RISD 1:02:25 — New York Fashion Week, then and now 1:06:04 — What makes a great show 1:10:11 — Whaam!, the gallery with her husband 1:13:37 — How she met Anatoly, over a garment bag 1:14:20 — A wedding at the dim sum place next door 1:18:15 — No plan, just instinct 1:20:00 — PR as a service, and a friendship 1:23:26 — Turning 40: what she'd do differently 1:24:40 — Addicted to travel, and the rule of three 1:27:03 — A message to the youth 1:28:59 — Passing the baton — A big thank you to Gia Kuan for this fascinating conversation. To support TheBoldWay, subscribe, leave a comment, share the episode. 🎙️ Find TheBoldWay on all audio platforms. 📸 Instagram : @theboldway.fr #TheBoldWay #GiaKuan #GKC #Telfar #FashionPR #NewYork #Paris #Entrepreneurship