BCR BARBARA
CLARKE-RUIZ Let’s connect

Vision meets execution

Great ideas.
Great products.
Lasting impact.

I connect creative vision with commercial strategy to build products consumers choose, brands people trust, and businesses that grow.

Explore my impact Meet Barbara

Consumer Product Executive
Design • Product Development • Brand Strategy

Barbara Clarke-Ruiz smiling in a black top, her hand resting beneath her chin
BARBARA CLARKE-RUIZCreative vision. Commercial impact.
20+ years building products, brands and businesses for some of the world’s most recognized consumer companies.Discover the story

A career alongside the world’s most recognized brands

01 / Commercial impactCreative product. Measurable performance.

Creative instinct.
Commercial discipline.

Great products begin with understanding people. Great businesses turn that understanding into something the market values.

My work connects consumer insight, creative vision, product strategy, merchandising and commercialization to business performance.

Retail scale$750M+

Seasonal business responsibility across six Walmart Athletic Works divisions

Creative leadership at national scale
Consumer connection2%26%

Target-consumer penetration for Kohl’s Tek Gear, in approximately six weeks

Insight translated into performance
Commercial growth$40M+

Retail sales generated through Walmart and Dick’s Sporting Goods during a major business initiative

From product strategy to retail results
02 / Selected impactThe opportunity. The work. The outcome.

The thinking is creative.
The results are commercial.

From global retail scale to building a brand from its first idea. A connected perspective on the problems products and brands can solve.

01 / ScaleProduct leadership
Six divisions.
One clear vision.

Across six divisions. From vision to execution.

Walmart Athletic Works

Leadership of a national athletic business with $750M+ in seasonal responsibility.

Explore the story
The opportunity
An athletic business spanning six divisions within one of the world’s largest retailers.
What I did
Led Walmart’s Athletic Works business, connecting consumer needs with product and design leadership.
The product / solution
An athletic product offer managed across six divisions, with a connected view of the consumer and the business.
The commercial impact
$750M+ in seasonal business responsibility across those six divisions.
02 / Consumer insightProduct strategy
2% 26%

Target-consumer penetration · Approximately six weeks

Kohl’s Tek Gear

A sharper understanding of the target consumer translated into measurable change in approximately six weeks.

Explore the story
The opportunity
Tek Gear’s penetration within its target consumer stood at 2%.
What I did
Applied consumer insight, product strategy and design leadership to better address that audience.
The product / solution
A consumer-informed product and design direction for Tek Gear.
The commercial impact
Target-consumer penetration increased from 2% to 26% in approximately six weeks.
03 / Brand buildingConcept to market
From a vision.
To a brand.

Concept / Product / Commercialization

EleVen by Venus Williams

Recruited by Venus Williams to help re-ignite EleVen through design, product development and commercialization.

Explore the story
04 / Design legacyGlobal perspective
An original.
Before Originals.

France / Germany / A lasting design legacy

adidas International design teams

A Trefoil capsule collection for adidas AG that helped lay the groundwork for adidas Originals.

Explore the story
Additional brands & partnerships

A broader perspective across consumer products, retail, sport and culture.

03 / How I create value

See the opportunity.
Shape the product.
Build the business.

A connected view of the entire product lifecycle. The right questions at the beginning. The right decisions all the way to market.

Experience should keep evolving. I combine seasoned commercial judgment with AI and emerging tools across research, design, development, sourcing, marketing and commercialization—working smarter, moving faster and making better-informed decisions.

Explore working together
01

Consumer & Market Insight

Find the unmet need, understand the consumer, and identify the space your business has permission to own. Connect research with the judgment to recognize a meaningful opportunity.

Consumer opportunity · White space · Product strategy
02

Product & Design Leadership

Translate a strategic direction into meaningful products. Align creative teams around the consumer, the brand and the business opportunity, from the first idea through development.

Design direction · Product development · Team leadership
03

Brand & Merchandising Strategy

Connect what a brand stands for with what it brings to market. Shape assortments, pricing and a product story that make sense to the consumer and the business.

Brand development · Assortment strategy · Retail positioning
04

Commercialization & Growth

Bring the pieces together—from sourcing and manufacturing to marketing, retail execution and partnerships—to turn product potential into measurable commercial growth.

Sourcing · Retail execution · Partnerships · Brand growth
Portrait of Barbara Clarke-Ruiz
20+YEARS CONNECTING
CREATIVITY & COMMERCE

BARBARA CLARKE-RUIZ A global perspective

04 / Meet Barbara

The designer.
The strategist.
The builder.

Design is where my career began.
It’s still how I see possibility.

For more than two decades, I’ve turned ideas into products, products into brands, and brands into businesses.

My career has taken me from living and working in France, Germany and Italy to leading product and design at scale in the United States. That journey taught me to see a product through every lens: the creative idea, the consumer, development, merchandising and the work of bringing it to market.

I bring that perspective to every business I help build. And I know the founder’s side, too. Building Lick You Silly Pet Products has made the decisions I advise on deeply personal.

Discover my founder story
Lived, worked & created across
  1. 01France
  2. 02Germany
  3. 03Italy
  4. 04United States
05 / Work with BarbaraConsulting & advisory

Your opportunity.
Our next move.

Senior perspective and practical direction for founders, CEOs and consumer businesses—at the decisions that shape what comes next.

01Direction

Strategic Advisory

For founders, CEOs and consumer brands seeking senior-level guidance. Clarify the opportunity, strengthen the proposition and set a focused direction for growth.

Consumer opportunity · Brand direction · Growth priorities
02Development

Design, Product &
Commercialization

Connect the consumer opportunity to the product and the path to market—from concept and design through development, sourcing, assortment, pricing and launch.

Concept to product · Sourcing · Go-to-market
03Leadership

Fractional Leadership

Senior product, merchandising, brand or commercialization leadership during growth, transformation or transition. Bring direction to the work and alignment to the team.

Team leadership · Transformation · Execution
04Growth

Brand Growth &
Retail Strategy

Help established brands strengthen positioning, refine assortments and prepare for retail expansion—connecting the brand promise to the commercial decisions that drive growth.

Positioning · Assortments · Retail expansion
Let’s discuss your opportunity.

Consulting through BCSWIRL, my consumer product strategy and brand development consultancy.

06 / Executive leadership

Creative vision.
Executive perspective.

I’m open to select executive leadership opportunities where design, product, consumer insight, brand strategy and commercialization come together to drive meaningful business growth.

From the creative team to the retail business, I bring a connected understanding of the decisions that shape products, people and performance.

Explore a leadership opportunity.

Where I bring perspective

  • Product & consumer-business leadership
  • Design & creative leadership
  • Merchandising & assortment strategy
  • Brand, commercialization & growth
Full professional experience on LinkedIn
07 / Ideas worth sharingOn stage. In conversation. On camera.

Host.
Speaker.
Brand storyteller.

The perspective of a designer. The commercial lens of an executive. The firsthand understanding of a founder. I bring that combination to conversations about the products, brands and businesses shaping our lives.

Let’s discuss your event or partnership.

Conversations I can bring to your audience

  • Consumer Products & Entrepreneurship
  • Turning Ideas Into Market-Ready Products
  • Product Innovation & Commercialization
  • Leading Creativity With Commercial Purpose.
  • Building Brands Consumers Believe In
  • Retail, Sport & Consumer Culture

My work through Sport Culture Advisors also connects brands with sport, culture, partnerships and consumer communities.

  • Hosting
  • Panels
  • Keynotes
  • Moderating
  • Brand Partnerships
  • On-Camera Hosting & Product Storytelling.
08 / Founder spotlightLick You Silly Pet Products

From global brands to my own

I’ve sat on
both sides
of the table.

The scale of an established business.
The conviction to build one from the beginning.

AmazonTop 2%Seller recognition
CosmopolitanBest
Dog TreatNamed by Cosmopolitan

A consumer need.
A founder’s instinct.

My dogs, Pepper and Chili, helped me recognize a need for cleaner, high-quality treats. That insight became Lick You Silly Pet Products—and gave me the opportunity to build a consumer brand from the ground up.

Building the brand has meant making the decisions myself—from product development and sourcing to manufacturing, packaging, pricing, Amazon, DTC, retail and marketing. Lick You Silly Pet Products has grown into a premium dog treat brand with meaningful market recognition: before COVID, we served as the pet amenity for eight Kimpton hotels; today, the brand ranks in the top 2% of dog treats on Amazon and was named Best Dog Treat by Cosmopolitan magazine.

I understand the complexity of global organizations and major retailers. I also understand the resourcefulness, judgment and persistence required to build a consumer business from the ground up. That perspective shapes how I advise, lead and build.

Visit Lick You Silly Pet Products
  • Product Development
  • Sourcing
  • Manufacturing
  • Packaging
  • Pricing
  • Amazon
  • DTC
  • Retail
  • Marketing
  • Brand Building

09 / Start a conversation

Let’s build
what’s next.

A leadership opportunity. A brand ready for its next chapter. A conversation that deserves a bigger stage. Let’s explore what we can build together.

Start a conversation
Start a conversation

Let’s build what’s next.

Tell me about the opportunity. I’d welcome the conversation.

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