siness

Brenda Rosenberg
tried to retire from
the fashion business.
Now she is designing
and marketing shoes.

THE DETRO

KIMBERLY LIFTON
STAFF WRITER

verything is an
accessory in Bren-
da Rosenberg's
Orchard
Lake
home.
Southwest-style
silver bracelets
with turquoise stones sit atop
cabinets in her Santa Fe room. A
black hat dresses up a coffee
table in her living room.
"Everything can be used for
decor," explains Ms. Rosenberg,
a fashion executive.
Highly visible in her eclectic
home is a complete shoe collec-
tion. Shoes are everywhere. She
doesn't keep count. But, Ms.
Rosenberg figures, she can
choose from among 250 pairs (or
one of 70 pairs of cowboy boots)
on any given day.
"Shoes have always been my
love," says Ms. Rosenberg, who
started her career during high
school, selling clothes for
Albert's, B. Siegel and Kay
Baum.
These days, Ms. Rosenberg's
lust for shoes is more apparent
than ever. After just completing
a trendy line of fall shoe designs
for Mia, she joined Sam & Libby
two months ago as design and
marketing director where she
markets shoes and other of the
company's products. She com-
mutes during the week to New
York.
This is not too shabby a job
for Ms. Rosenberg, who had been
toying with the idea of an early
retirement when Mia CEO
Richard Strauss asked for her
assistance on a buying trip to
Europe. It was supposed to be

just one business trip. But it was
a venture that led to a new
career of sorts — something Ms.
Rosenberg hadn't planned.
"Retire. Not Brenda. She is
unsinkable," says Farmington
Hills retail consultant Fred
Marx. "She can design from head
to toe. She has lint in her blood-
stream."
Though she is comfortable
about her talent for design, Ms.
Rosenberg still is amazed at her
success because her career was
unplanned. She always liked
fashion and she had a knack for
it, but she never prepared a
resume, nor did she ever look for
a job. Things simply fell into
place.
The former Brenda Cohen did
have her mind set on finding a

husband. One of her favorite
tales is the story of how she met
her husband, Howard
Rosenberg.
Brenda was a confident
young woman — a popular stu-
dent at Mumford High School.
She was, after all, Miss Teen
Detroit, and she wanted to meet
Howard Rosenberg. He was at
the top of her personal list of eli-
gible young bachelors.
He was a student at the
University of Michigan. He was
going to be a lawyer.
With the help of a girlfriend,
she made up a story to arrange a
casual meeting with her future
husband, who at first asked the
friend out on a date. Soon after,
he called Brenda.
"We were looking for hus-
bands," she says. "He was No. 1.
He had the looks. He had the
potential. My mom wanted me to
have a career. I wanted to get
married.
"If someone had told me then
that I would have had this
career now, I never would have
believed it," she says. "In high
school, I sold clothes at Albert's.
I didn't like the displays in the
windows, and one day, I just
redid all of the windows.
"They were thrilled," she says.
"Who wouldn't be? I was a high
school kid, and I was enthused
about doing someone else's job. I
always did my job plus two or
three other jobs.
"The fact that I got paid for
what I loved was an extra
bonus," she adds. "I still feel that
way. Sam & Libby is like a
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