Erica Berchtold has spoken out publicly since Best & Less dropped her upcoming role as CEO amid a company takeover.
Berchtold was slated to commence the position on September 4, after resigning from her role as chief of online fashion retailer The Iconic.
Speaking with Australian businessman Mark Bouris on his podcast The Mentor, Berchtold confirmed she was positioned to take on the new role after four-and-a-half years at The Iconic.
“I knew some of the directors, it was a publicly listed company. I thought, okay, I'm going to go for this,” Berchtold said.
"I resigned, I quit my job, I signed up. I wasn't allowed to start straight away [and] that was fine, I really wanted to do the right thing by The Iconic and see out my notice period.
"During that notice period...that company got bought out, privatised and actually the role I wanted, the role I signed up for was no longer going to be the role that was there. That role just wasn't there anymore.
"So now for the first time in my career going, I actually don't have a job right now. I'm on the hunt. I'm looking at what do I want to do next?"
Berchtold has a distinguished career in retail, including managing director of Rebel and A-Mart sports at Super Retail Group and general manager of Crossroads and Autograph at Specialty Fashion Group.
Berchtold revealed she is pursuing the next phase of her career like a project, which involves managing a spreadsheet around professional outreach and sending this to a friend every week for accountability.
“That does two things,” Berchtold said. “A, it makes sure I'm treating this seriously and I'm staying on top of it. The other thing is, it's capturing everything I'm doing to fix this situation.
“That actually helps me de-stress a little bit. I'm not so anxious about it. Here's what I've done. Look at all of the people I've spoken to. Nothing may have come of it yet, but actually, I'm out there.”