Alumni

FIDM Grad and Torrid CEO Liz Muñoz Rings Closing Bell at NY Stock Exchange

In celebration of Torrid’s Initial Public Offering last month, the plus-size retailer’s Chief Executive Officer Liz Muñoz — who earned a degree in Fashion Design from FIDM in 1987 — recently rang The Closing Bell® at the New York Stock Exchange. Torrid’s IPO raised $231 million and won the company a market valuation of $2.3 billion, according to Yahoo! Finance.

After graduating from FIDM, Muñoz spent 10 years at Bongo Jeans before joining Lucky Brand Jeans where she was Head Merchant for 13 years and President for two years. In 2010, Muñoz was named Chief Merchandising Officer of Hot Topic. By 2018, the alumna became CEO of Torrid, the world’s leading plus-size retailer.

As a Latina CEO of a publicly-traded company, Muñoz has become a pioneering force in the industry. Since she took the reins at Torrid, the company has experienced record-high ecommerce growth and a shedding of its previous image as a “mall brand.” A self-described “big girl,” Muñoz has said that 70 percent of American women are in Torrid’s size range and that she thinks “the opportunity is massive” for further growth.