Through GlowInto, I love getting to know the women behind their businesses, including the passions and experiences that shape who they are. On a warm October afternoon, I sat down for lunch with Diana Ford, and our conversation traveled well beyond the doors of The Vault Luxury Resale. We talked about family, finding her place in her mother’s business, and a love of travel that has taken her to all seven continents.
At 58, her list of places to explore is still growing. She loves Switzerland and New Zealand, would happily return to Italy, and has a sailing trip through Croatia’s islands on her wish list.
“If I don’t have a trip on the books, I am crazy,” she told me.
Diana is a mother of two sons, a daughter, a sister, and a woman who loves creating experiences. As we talked, I began to see how the passion she discovered through travel had found a place in the family business. She had spent years taking people somewhere new. Now she gives them reasons to come together closer to home. And she still makes room for adventures of her own.
Finding her way in the world
When I asked Diana what marked her turning point into adulthood, she paused. Travel was what came to mind. “I think mine is when I started traveling,” she said. “I realized that was my passion.” Then came the realization that she could make a living doing it.
For approximately a decade, Diana worked as a travel director for Maritz, helping carry out corporate travel programs around the world. Planners developed the itineraries; Diana and her fellow travel directors went on the road to make them happen. Her assignments included Antarctica and a month in Thailand for the Asian Games. The work required organization, flexibility, and an understanding of what makes an experience enjoyable. Diana was responsible for helping plans work in real life, where people have questions, circumstances change, and someone needs to know what happens next.
By the time she joined her mother’s business, she had spent years doing that work. She would bring a professional life of her own into the family’s.
For a period, she also owned a shopping travel company, taking groups of women on trips around the world. She still creates those experiences. At the time of our conversation, she was preparing a New York trip for a group from Canada, with plans that included breakfast at Tiffany’s, lunch at the Louis Vuitton café, Broadway, and resale shopping tours.
Listen to her describe it and you hear how much she enjoys the details. A hotel lobby, its bar, even its gift shop can become part of the pleasure. She can imagine writing a coffee table book about the world’s most interesting hotels.
A little Breakfast at Tiffany’s
Walking into The Vault, I immediately thought of one of my favorite movies, Breakfast at Tiffany’s. Chandeliers sparkled throughout the showroom, with painted blue walls and gold accents. Hermès scarves draped a wall like paintings, each telling a story through color and design. Handbags and shoes were displayed like works of art, while jewelry cases offered a touch of bling from familiar favorites like Tiffany & Co.
I thought about Holly Golightly finding comfort in Tiffany’s, and her belief that “nothing very bad could happen to you there.” With a coffee cart inside The Vault, I could imagine her coming in and staying awhile.
But another scene from the movie helped me put that feeling into words. Holly and Paul bring a ring from a Cracker Jack box to Tiffany’s and ask about having it engraved. Holly wonders whether the request would be beneath the store. “But I think you’ll find that Tiffany’s is very understanding,” the salesman tells her. I have always loved the grace in that response. He gives their modest request his attention and makes them feel welcome at the counter. The ring matters to the people standing in front of him, and he treats it with care.
That was the connection I felt at The Vault. The graciousness of the surroundings carries through to the way people are spoken to and helped. Sue opening a case and taking time with a customer brought that scene to mind. You can admire beautiful things without feeling that you have to prove you belong among them.
Diana spoke about women choosing their first Coach bag and women purchasing far more expensive pieces. She wants them to feel welcome in the same space. Someone should be able to come for coffee, she explained, without feeling obligated to shop.
To me, that is where “Luxury for All”, the phrase written on the wall when you enter the showroom finds its meaning. Beautiful surroundings draw you through the door. How you are treated gives you a reason to feel you belong.
Diana describes The Vault as a gathering space for women. Her travel background made sense here: she understands how the details of a place become part of the experience, and how that experience can become a reason to return.
Sue’s vision, with family at its heart
To understand the business Diana joined, it helps to know something about her mother, Sue McCarthy. In her memoir, Good, Better, Best: The Rags-to-Riches Story of the Upscale Resale Queen, Sue describes a childhood marked by poverty, including a period when her family lived in a New Orleans park. She wore rummage-sale clothing and shoes patched with newspaper and cardboard.
She also remembers what her parents taught her. Her mother found ways to make difficult circumstances feel like an adventure. Her father taught her about work and customers. Selling vegetables alongside him, Sue learned the effect of a smile, good manners, and offering a little extra. In New Orleans, she came to know that practice as lagniappe. She writes about carrying it into her business through personal attention and a gracious welcome.
During my visit, I watched Sue move through the showroom, checking on customers, opening a display case, and pulling out pieces for them to see. She took time to understand what they needed and make sure they felt helped. Reading her account of lagniappe, I thought back to those moments. The extra attention she described in her book was something I had seen for myself.
Sue’s vision for her own resale store took shape after one day working in another consignment shop. She saw crowded displays, inconsistent quality, and prices that kept merchandise from moving. She imagined an organized, welcoming store where carefully selected pieces could be appreciated and purchased at realistic prices. By the end of that day, she knew she wanted to open her own. The business she established as Women’s Closet Exchange would become part of the family story that continues at The Vault.
Finding her own place
Diana’s path took her around the world before bringing her into the family business. When she came off the road, Sue offered her a place planning events. Diana remembers joining around 2008, bringing years of experience organizing people and anticipating their needs.
I liked that detail in her story. She had discovered something she loved, learned how to do it professionally, and found another setting where those abilities could grow. The events she creates at The Vault carry something of the travel director with them: an occasion to look forward to, thoughtful details, and people sharing an experience.
Sue and her daughters, Diana and Laura Maurice, also became familiar to television viewers through the Style Network series Resale Royalty. For those who remember the show’s visits to remarkable closets, Diana has a cheerful update: the closets have only gotten bigger and better since then.
Behind that public recognition is the everyday work of being a family in business together. Laura handles buying and curating, including evaluating potential closet purchases. Diana concentrates on events and marketing. Sue remains involved in finances and the larger direction of the business, along with the customer attention I witnessed.
“We all stay in our own lanes,” Diana says.
After eight years working in a family-owned business myself, I appreciated how clearly she could describe what each woman brings to the business. Diana spoke about the trust her mother places in her and Laura to make decisions in their own areas. You can see what Diana has done with that trust in the events she plans. They have a travel director’s touch. There’s an occasion to look forward to, someone has thought through the details, and people get to share an experience.
Their connection extends beyond the store. Sue, Diana, and Laura take an annual spa trip. Recently, Diana’s parents took both daughters to Italy, where they traveled on the Orient Express, fulfilling something Sue had wanted to do. Their annual spa trips and recent journey to Italy give them time together beyond their work at the store.
Beautiful things, with more stories ahead
Looking around The Vault, I found myself thinking about what happens when a beautiful piece finds another owner. Its story begins with the people who make it, then continues with the person who first chooses it. A handbag accompanies someone through her everyday life. A dress goes to a celebration. A scarf is tucked into a suitcase and taken somewhere new.
Through resale, those pieces get another life. We may never know everywhere they have been or what they meant to the women who owned them before us. But we get to carry them into our own lives, on our own adventures. With care, quality pieces can be enjoyed beyond one owner, one occasion, or one chapter. Sitting with a woman who has traveled to every continent, I liked that connection.
Bringing people together with purpose
Diana loves planning events, especially the kind that give people something they haven’t experienced before. When I asked whether she feels she has to keep topping herself, her answer was immediate: yes. At The Vault, that creativity has a practical home. Diana said the family deliberately chose a store where the center of the showroom could be rearranged for gatherings. Hosting events was part of what they wanted the space to make possible.
She described vendor bazaars where local businesses set up tables and introduce their work to shoppers. She also spoke about a fashion trivia fundraiser supporting Grace & Growth, a mentorship initiative for young girls, with a portion of sales going back to the organization. Those gatherings draw on the skills Diana developed as a travel director: thinking through the experience, bringing people together, and giving them a reason to participate. Here, the experience can also introduce someone to a local business or a cause she might want to support.
Another gathering Diana told me about is planned for November 19 at The Vault with artist Faith Berger and Canvas for Kids. Founded by Berger, the nonprofit uses guided painting experiences and collaborative art to help children express themselves, build confidence, and connect with others. Readers interested in attending can follow The Vault’s event announcements for details and learn more about the organization at canvasforkids.org.
During our lunch, Diana also described an idea she and Sue had discussed that very morning: inviting women into the store before opening for mimosas, muffins, and an introduction to volunteer opportunities. They envisioned a breakfast where people could connect with organizations serving different needs and find somewhere their time and interests would be useful. People often want to help, Diana observed, but don’t know where to begin. She was already thinking about how to make that first step easier. Someone might arrive for breakfast and conversation and leave knowing where she could volunteer.
That giving extends beyond scheduled events. Diana described The Vault’s handbag initiative: for every handbag sold, a gently used handbag is donated to a woman in need. The contents are selected with the recipients’ circumstances in mind, from everyday essentials to resources for women navigating a transition. Diana was also clear about an important distinction. The Vault is a business, and supporting nonprofits and community needs is a choice the family makes about how to operate it. Diana said The Vault has given more than $2.5 million back to the community.
“We give back because it’s the right thing to do.”
I saw a connection between that commitment and the welcome Diana wants people to feel inside the store. She creates occasions where enjoying yourself and doing something useful can happen together. A shopping visit can introduce a cause. A fundraiser can bring new people through the door. A morning gathering can help someone find a way to give her time. For Diana, planning an event means thinking about what people will do when they arrive, who they might meet, and what the gathering can make possible after they leave.
What she would tell her younger self
When I asked Diana what advice she would give her younger self, she didn’t offer a long list of things she wished she had done differently. She described herself as a free spirit, someone who had been willing to try things and take a chance. Her advice was practical: take better care of her health earlier, including wearing sunscreen. I appreciated that answer. Advice to our younger selves can reveal both what we would change and what we’re glad we allowed ourselves to do. Diana seemed comfortable with the curiosity that had guided her.
She sees some of it in her older son, who recently traveled through China and then visited Greece and Croatia with his girlfriend. Watching him develop a love of travel delighted her. I could hear the pleasure in that recognition. A passion that had shaped her own life was becoming something she could share with him, even as he chose his own places to go.
As we talked about what might come next for Diana, she mentioned an idea many people would consider a dream: a flat in Florence. She would love one. Italy is a place she could return to again and again. But she also knows herself well enough to see the complication. If she owned a home there, she might feel she should use it, even when she wanted to explore somewhere else. I found that small hesitation revealing. After all seven continents, she is still thinking about the places she hasn’t been.
At 58, Diana speaks with enthusiasm about both the events she is creating and the places she still wants to visit. Our conversation moved easily from her work with Sue and Laura to their family trips, her son’s travels, and her own wish to sail through Croatia. Listening to her, I thought about how easy it can be to postpone the things we enjoy until we have finished taking care of everything else. What I heard in Diana’s plans was a continued enthusiasm for something she had loved for years. Travel remains a part of her work and something she looks forward to for herself.
Her story reminded me that a passion discovered early can continue to shape us as our lives change. Sometimes we find a new way to use it. Sometimes we make space to return to it. Diana has done both.
The flat in Florence may remain a possibility. For now, there are other places she wants to see, experiences she wants to create, and, whenever possible, another trip on the books.
