The Trend Curve Team
When you see a name below a post, or read the name of an editorial correspondent in The Trend Curve, you might wonder who they are. Here's a brief snapshot of the people behind The Trend Curve:
Core Team
Michelle Lamb is co-founder and chairman of Minneapolis-based Marketing Directions, Inc. Established in 1987, Marketing Directions specializes in home furnishings color and trend forecasting, working extensively with clients to provide individual direction and color specification. A sampling of past and present clients includes 3M, Hunter Douglas, Target Stores, Home Depot, Gerber Baby Products, Tarkett, Hunter Fan, EK Success, Petmate and Day-Timers. Learn more about Michelle here.
Steve Borsch is co-founder and President/CEO of Marketing Directions, Inc. and joined our growing firm full time in 2006. Prior to that he was Vice President, Strategic Alliances at Lawson Software in St. Paul, MN, and today works with executives and leaders in public and private companies on next generation social media, Internet and Web technologies. In addition, Steve runs our Innov8Press business, which creates and delivers leading-edge websites for small-to-midsize businesses.
Editorial Correspondents
Teresa Andreoli has been researching, writing, and editing business articles and presentations for more than 30 years. She launched her career as an associate editor at Discount Store News and soon after became a founding editor of License! magazine (now known as License Global). Teresa joined Project Partners Network as a researcher and writer in 2020.
Paris-based Mélanie Ayem came to the world of trend via her work in digital marketing and communications. She has focused on digital media strategy with platforms such as Google, Facebook, WeChat, TikTok and other influence-marketing entities. Mélanie is currently a Marketing Master student at IESEG School of Management in Paris, France. During her time as a student, Melanie has had significant internships at Guerlain, Hanes France, Graazie.com, and Moulin Roty, LTD in Hong Kong.
Elizabeth Borsch is an editorial assistant and correspondent for The Trend Curve who thrives on all aspects of color, pattern and design and is particularly adept at trendspotting. With her extensive background in the use of social media, her passion for mobile and computing technologies, along with her interest in the psychology and sociology of their use, Elizabeth brings a unique perspective to the team.
Kim Cook is a former marketing professional in both Toronto and Chicago. Kim has spent the past decade as a freelance journalist based in New York, covering international and national design, décor and lifestyle stories for several print and digital entities.
Her regular "Right at Home" columns for the Associated Press focus on trends and topics across the Home categories. In addition to her work for The Trend Curve, she's a contributor to magazines including Innovation + Inspiration, Casual Living and Exterior Design. Kim has also served on the judging panel for NY Now’s Best New Products awards and the Best in Biz awards. See KimCookHome.com for more.
John Currie, President and Creativitymonger of CURRIEWORKS, Inc., is a graphic designer and copywriter, and edits a private journal for collectors of historic military vehicles. His distinguished client list includes such companies as Target, Canson Papers, DayTimers and 3M/Post-it.
Long associated with the restaurant industry, he helped create the concepts for chains such as The Olive Garden, Bahama Breeze and Seasons 52. John also is a cast-bronze sculptor and oil painter, with works in private collections in the US, South America and Europe. John believes that good design works, communicates, improves function––it is almost always more than just good-looking.
Trisha McBride Ferguson is passionate about all things related to color, fabric and furniture and she is a 20-year veteran of the home furnishings industry and a trained interior designer. When she’s not reporting on furniture, textiles and interior design, she’s experimenting with them in her own home in Clemmons, NC.
Elaine Markoutsas writes a monthly lead home design feature that appears in 100 newspapers for Universal Press Syndicate, something she has done for almost 28 years—launched while she was home furnishings director at the Merchandise Mart for two years. Prior to that, she was home furnishings editor at the Chicago Tribune, where she began as a features writer, as well as a reporter in the newsroom.Elaine is a field editor for Traditional Home, Better Homes & Gardens and its special interest publications, where she enjoys both producing location shots and writing. Other publications include: the Chicago Tribune, Luxe magazine, and Modern Luxury Interiors.
Leigh Ann Schwarzkopf is the co-founder of Project Partners Network, is honored to work with some of the world's largest corporations as a consultant or fractional/interim licensing executive. As a trailblazing trend expert, she ransacks the globe for Fortune 50 to midsize clients as their informed outsider looking for unexpected, innovative and inspired opportunities to promote differentiation and business growth.
Previously, she led General Mills’ trademark licensing team for six years overseeing the Betty Crocker, the Pillsbury Doughboy, Wheaties and Cheerios brands. During that time, she tripled the licensee base for several properties, integrated Pillsbury’s properties into General Mills’ portfolio during the billion-dollar food giants’ merger, redeveloped the company’s licensee summits, and structured programs to improve licensees’ start-up and speed-to-market time.