THREE GENERATIONS OF SHOPPING CENTER MARKETING LEADERSHIP, MENTORING, AND CAREER CREATION
MONTVILLE, N.J. (May 05, 2025) — When Karen E. Fluharty, now Founding Partner and Chief Strategist of Strategy+Style Marketing Group, spoke in the late 1980s to a student group from the American Marketing Association about her experiences as regional marketing director in the shopping center industry, she had little idea that would be the start of a lifelong connection that would inspire decades of retail real estate marketers.
Strategy+Style Marketing Group’s Karen Fluharty (second from left) with Alexa & Brenda Tietjen
Just as important, it began a business relationship with then-student Brenda Tietjen, who would herself become a leader in the industry, and last year, with Brenda’s daughter Alexa, a student who recently interned with Fluharty at Strategy+Style Marketing Group.
“Who could envision that one speech would create three generations of marketing professionals, in an industry that must combine the stability of longevity with a constant need for renewal to appeal to an ever-changing consumer?” Fluharty said.
Fluharty was already an established professional when she was asked to speak at Rowan University in Glassboro, N.J. Brenda Tietjen, now marketing director at Center Stage Productions, was in attendance, and approached Fluharty afterward.
“That set a fire in me,” Tietjen said. “I grew up loving shopping and didn’t know you could make a living out of it.”
Fluharty and Tietjen created an internship (paid in some gas money and food court vouchers), and a lifelong friendship was born as Brenda assisted in developing strategic plans, executing fashion and community activations, and learning the basics of shopping center marketing.
“I never wanted the internship to end,” she said.
After college, Brenda explored other industries, until Fluharty lured her back to the business as she held Marketing Director positions with Livingston Mall, Walt Whitman Mall and the Shops at Riverside and more. Meanwhile, Fluharty continued her own exceptional career with senior positions at Prime Retail and Chelsea/Simon Property Group, where she launched luxury outlet centers around the world. The two remained in touch and would catch up at weddings and ICSC and other industry events, discussing the business, families, and more.
“We had the same life and career milestones — new jobs, our children and future business decisions,” Fluharty said. “You need a knowledgeable, sympathetic yet objective ear to advise you, to help you make such critical decisions for your life. We served that role for each other.”
One such decision for Fluharty followed the Great Financial Crisis of 2008/09 — how to continue evolving the marketing industry in light of major changes in retail real estate. She saw an opportunity to create an outsourced, highly specialized marketing department for developers who had drastically reduced its in-house departments. The result is Strategy+Style Marketing Group, which Fluharty founded in 2010, working with clients globally.
After a brief industry hiatus, Tietjen was lured back full-time to serve as director of marketing for Center Stage Productions, a leader in providing holiday décor to high-profile public destinations.
Not surprisingly, the industry also appealed to Brenda’s daughter Alexa, now 18 years old, when she began envisioning her own career path. Her first call: Mom’s friend and mentor.
“Karen was always in our lives – and a positive role model for her as to how a successful businessperson looks, how they can raise children and have an amazing career,” Brenda Tietjen said. “Alexa has big dreams for herself.”
“Karen is a very inspiring person,” Alexa Tietjen said. “She never stops, but she loves it.”
After years of industry leadership, Fluharty was excited to inspire — and be inspired by — yet another generation of marketing professional.
“It’s always true that the mentor learns just as much as the mentee, and Alexa was no exception. We learned from each other,” Fluharty. “She brought different perspectives and skills during her internship here, working on contemporary platforms, video and social algorithms to help create better engagement.”
It’s a completely different mindset from the generation of shoppers Fluharty and Brenda targeted early in their careers.
“In our marketing careers, Brenda and I were the people behind the mall; the property itself was the hero,” Fluharty recalled. “For Alexa’s generation, it’s the personality that helps promote the brand — it’s about the person and the personality before the property.” brand.”
As it was with her mother, Alexa’s internship with Fluharty is a step to a career in marketing luxury brands and real estate. Alexa has recently been accepted to Parsons School of Design at The New School in NYC, majoring in Strategic Design Management (BBA), with a minor in Fashion Communication.
Despite their different experiences and points of view over the generations, some aspects of shopping center marketing remain a constant, Fluharty said.
“It requires talent, ambition, understanding that we are the customer and that we must parlay those qualities into programs that are best for the asset and ownership. Just like Brenda all those years ago, Alexa absorbed all of that and more,” she said. “There is always a place for Alexa at Strategy+Style Marketing Group.”
The next generation begins.
About Strategy + Style Marketing Group
Strategy+Style Marketing Group is a strategic consulting and marketing services firm bringing more than 30 years of experience to private equity investment groups, shopping center ownership entities, real estate developers, third-party management firms, fashion brands and retailers. Our expertise encompasses both consumer and B2B marketing, asset optimization, business development and more. We develop innovative strategies to drive traffic and sales and enhance overall NOI. strategyplusstyle.com