Episode 337 with Amanda Borghese

Amanda borghese

I am thrilled to share my conversation with my dear friend Amanda Borghese.

The Borghese family dates back to the 1100's in Siena, Italy. Born in America, Amanda Borghese is married to Prince Francesco Borghese, whose mother was Princess Marcella Borghese. They married in 1966, and moved to Rome, Italy where she had her first two children, Scipione, and Ilaria.

While living in Rome, Amanda began her own jewelry line, called Duchess of Bomarzo. Two years later she moved to Monza and had her third child, Lorenzo. Francesco began working in Paris, France in 1974. It was there that Amanda became a representative for Barton Connett's Chateau Country Cooking School. In 1977, they moved to the U.S., settling in Connecticut. Amanda continued representing the cooking school, but also got her real estate license with Previews Fine Real Estate. She became their first European coordinator, working with families who were moving to the U.S. Francesco changed businesses, and they moved to New Jersey in 1980.

Amanda started her own business called Balloon-Age, a unique store which specialized in proprietary balloons and exclusive gifts of all sorts. She went on to develop 11 franchise stores on the East coast, and also in Bermuda. Amanda did major proprietary-designed balloon promotions for Bloomingdales, Godiva Chocolate, Bear Necessities Catalog, and Chase Manhattan Bank, as well as a convention for President Reagan.

Between 1980 and 1985 she led four tour groups in four years on religious pilgrimages to Medjugorje, in what was then Yugoslavia (now Croatia).

In 1986, Amanda sold the franchise, and became the manager of the London-based perfumery, Floris of London, with store fronts in New Jersey and Manhattan. After three years, she joined Francesco's company, Perlier which has been around for over 80 years as Italy’s premier manufacturer of beauty treatments. She began to market Perlier's Bath & Body on QVC with her son, Scipione (now called Skip). At the time, Perlier was the first company of its kind selling high-end bath and body products which were launched in the world of electronic retailing. After five years, Amanda and Skip moved to HSN, where they have been going on the air monthly for the past 25 years. To date, they are the only mother/son team in electronic retailing. While working with Perlier, Amanda introduced her own private-label jewelry line to HSN, called the Princess Amanda Collection, which she sold on air for four years. In 2009, Amanda wrote a hardcover coffee table book on flowers titled “Flowers from my Heart.” It is a beautiful book describing the language of flowers, their myths, history, medicinal, astrological, and spiritual aspects. It was a total sell-out on HSN.

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Have a great week!

Love,

Elizabeth