Title: Owner, Director of Merchandising

Company: Forecast

Location: West Hollywood, Calif.

Throughout her career, Ms. Bitton has attributed her success to experiencing a lot of ups and downs. Every time she always believed in herself, she is so strong. She looks at her life, and she raised two kids on her own. She was confident she would always land on her feet and never get depressed. She said she is not going to do it. She endured ups and downs in the industry; she just picks up the pieces and goes, this is the easier way. Initially, Ms. Bitton became involved in her profession because she is originally from France. In Paris she had her own company and did a lot of great things in the 1970s. She created a company and designed bell bottoms with  stripe mattress fabric and that was a huge hit. She then did shorts with a long coat and big boots.

All her life, Ms. Bitton wanted to live in U.S. She came on a vacation in 1982 and had a good friend who had a company. wanted to live here forever. The company was called Jag. In three years she turned the company around, from $1.2 to 150 million. She also worked in management at Macy’s. She created a line for them:’Avenue A by Mireille Bitton,’ which was men’s and women’s sportswear and active wear. When Macy’s was bought out by Federated, and as she use to run Mode Information in France, she decided to do the same thing here. She opened a Bookstore on Ninth Street downtown  where she sold  Trend and Forecasting Books, did consulting and trend reports and boards for fashion magazines.

Riots destroyed the place. Ms. Bitton then did merchandising in a fabric companies, then worked with Bisou Bisou to design a PJ line and later went on to become Design Director for HOUSE OF DEREON and JESSICA SIMPSON. She came here and wanted to work the American way that required more schooling and she went on to study at  OTIS PARSON and LA TRADE TECH after work and during weekends. Ms. Bitton also taught forecasting at FIDM and students came to her store to do homework.

Ms. Bitton has five grandchildren, two in America and three in France. Her son works with Lenny Kravitz in photography, video, and graphics, and as graphic artist he was nominated for a Grammy Award in 2010, and is working on tour. Her daughter is in Paris and a mom. She is very talented and went to art school in Paris but she wanted to stay home and raise her kids. She has a beautiful husband who supports her.

In five years, Ms. Bitton’s goal is to achieve great success, have more money to be able to retire and do things she loves. She will continue to mentor people and work as a consultant. She wants to be more flexible with her time and use her artistic talents. She wants to be able to oversee and not be as involved, to be able to teach people. She has a lot of experience with children and did raise 2 kids on her own. She knows how to work with and teach children and her experience as a teacher in a charter school was a highlight in her life. She has a great sense of humor and enjoys making people laugh and smile.