ep 059: Nat Tersigni

Nat Tersigni is both an open book and an enigma, at the same time. A long-time retail veteran, she has been running Gravity Pope Tailored Goods for more than a decade, bringing her warmth & impeccable taste to the shop, to her clients, and to the community. She was born and raised in Toronto, in a family that is Italian in every sense of the word: tight-knit and led by strong females. Both her grandmothers (or ‘nonnas’) lived long lives and were the matriarchs of the roost—Nat, shy in nature and the only girl in the whole family, spent a lot of time with them as a child. As a teen, she would buy vintage clothing by the pound at Value Village because it was an affordable way to be experimental. Her dream was to one day open her own shop, so she pursued her retail management degree in university after trying to study photography at Humber College and finding it didn’t suit her. During school, she also worked in retail—juggling it with stints at night clubs—marking the start of her long career in fashion. A (short-lived) job at Aritzia’s head office brought her out west, before she headed to Gravity Pope in the summer of 2016. In this conversation, we explore the genesis of her work ethic in relation to parental pride & approval; memories of watching her nonnas cook meals in their basement kitchens; how working high-level retail and in nightclubs during university helped her come out of her shell; how asking questions allowed Nat to develop real relationships with her loyal clientele; how she leads her young shop team with openness and what she’s learned from this next generation; teaching her young son about women, emotions, empathy & compassion; what she hopes for herself; and more.