About Us
My name is Tishia Bouchez and I am 49 years old. I have been with my wonderful husband Tim for an adventurous 27 years and together, we have 2 amazing children; our son Dylan is 24 and our daughter Kandyn is 20. I have been working at Nordstrom for the past 4 years and my daughter has followed in my footsteps. I guess you could say that selling runs in the family! After being a stay at mo
m for 18 years, watching my children grow and become independent, I decided it was time for me to do something different. I had been a manicurist for part of my life and knew that as a people person, it was all about building relationships. I knew that I wanted to work at Nordstrom. After a family friend who works at Nordstrom informed me that the Thousand Oaks location was hiring for Christmas in 2010, The moment I stepped into the handbag department, I knew this was the place for me. I knew nothing about handbags but I was told I would be trained on it all, and I was eager to learn. I fell in love with handbags right away and worked hard at building relationships with my customers and driving my business becoming a Pacesetter within my first year. Working with women, assisting them in choosing the right item that defines their personality, an item that completes their look and holds all of their most important items with them daily; allowed me to gain their trust and understand what their needs are in a bag is what inspired me to create my handbag “support plate”. I had been working with my customer Sally in 2011 that had purchased the Tory Burch ‘Amanda’ in red from me. Sally called me the next day and said she loved the bag, but unfortunately she was going to have to return it because it sagged so much and she didn’t like that. I asked Sally if she would keep the bag if I could make it not sag. She said she would be open to it, but she would have to see. That night I went home, told my husband what I what I wanted to make, I knew exactly what I needed and what shape it needed to be and off the Home Depot we went. Lucky for me, my husband can make anything I PUT MY MIND TO! I was so excited to come to work and show Sally what we made for her, but unfortunately our schedules didn’t coordinate. I was going on vacation, so I let her know that I left the ‘support plate’ for her and she could pick it up at her convenience. While on vacation in Hawaii, I received a phone call from Sally. She decided to keep her Tory Burch bag, the ‘support plate’ I left her made all the difference for her and she was back in love with her bag. Sally was the inspiration for this ‘support plate’. I have sold and saved many handbag sales for me and other employees with the help of my ‘support plate’. The ‘support plate’ works for all handbags, whether it’s Designer or Bridge; bags that are made with soft leather or lamb, lack structure and need that support. For example, we love how luxurious our Valentino, Chloe, Burberry and Marc Jacobs bags are; but like everything, a little lift goes a long way. In the past four years that I have worked for Nordstrom, I have learned so much. I have been a Pacesetter for three years, Customer Service All Star twice and have been promoted to a personal stylist. When I was approached to become a personal stylist, I again felt the nerves set in. I do believe in that old saying “Everything happens for a reason.” A whole new world has opened up for me and I have tripled my clientele. I pride myself on delivering exceptional service and really listening to the needs and wants of my customers. My customers are the reason and the inspiration for me creating my ‘support plate’. According to them, it is the must have accessory for the handbag lover. They have helped me with choosing plate colors, price points and are continually checking in on my progress. This idea would not have come to life without them.
