Nice to meet you

West of Chelsea was founded by Kat Romanelli and Alexi Gleaves, who met at NYFW in 2018 at a show somewhere west of Chelsea in New York City. Kat & Alexi both have strong backgrounds in the fashion industry, and after noticing a gap in the market for high-end, visually-focused brand consulting, they decided to combine their talents to offer a variety of services from branding to content creation to retail & growth strategy. Learn more about our team below.

Meet the Team

  • Alexi Gleaves

    FOUNDER + CREATIVE DIRECTOR

    Alexi is an apparel designer by trade, who specializes in contemporary Women’s ready-to-wear. She has worked as a corporate designer for a number of brands in NYC’s Garment District over the last seven years. Five years ago she launched her social media and digital strategy studio, House Gleaves, and has since collaborated with many fashion & beauty brands as a content creator. Her background in photography & photo editing lends itself particularly well to this aspect of her work, and has also led to contracted roles as a social media consultant for luxury brands. Alexi has an eye for elegant, sophisticated and evocative design, as is evidenced by the body of work she has produced for her clients & brand partners alike. Her portfolio is available upon request.

  • KAT ROMANELLI

    FOUNDER + PRESIDENT

    Kat’s professional background is centered in the fields of luxury fashion, public relations and finance. In her PR roles, her focus was on developing and implementing brand strategy as well as managing the runway archive at Thom Browne. Kat has two degrees in the Arts, her Bachelors from Davidson College in Art History, and her Masters from Parsons School of Design in Fashion Studies with a focus in Curation. Her educational background lends itself to her passion for creating compelling, cohesive, and memorable brand stories. Kat’s expertise lies in working with entrepreneurs to create harmonious narratives, and helping them to navigate the gap between idea and implementation. Kat recently left New York for Austin to work in private equity at a private credit fund. There she worked with middle market companies analyzing organization structures, financials and thinking through growth strategies.