Musings On QVC’s Gem Day, Carolyn Pollack, Etc.

We thought QVC had a pretty sweet lineup for its Gem Day event this week, and saw a number of new faces.

Who knew there was now an Affinity Gems line, and a spokeswoman for it? We didn’t catch her name, but she was pleasant enough and informative.

We also appreciated the fact that QVC did a remote broadcast with the gent — whose name we can’t remember (dang) and whose dad owned the Sleeping Beauty mine — from a Frank Lloyd Wright house that appeared to be in Scottsdale, Arizona. To us, it looked like it was on Camelback Mountain.

There were a number of pieces that tempted us, including some incredibly priced diamond, precious gem and diamond rings. One ring with bright yellow sapphires blew us away.

And not to be mean, but we were a little shocked to see America West jewelry vendor Carolyn Pollack on-air Thursday night with Rick Domeier. Maybe it was a bad camera angle, maybe she had a bad night, but she didn’t look OK facially.

Are we the only ones who thought something was amiss with her? We hope she is good. Her Southwest jewelry pieces are among our favorites.

Ex-QVC Host Antonella’s Husband Suffers Heart Attack

True be told, our family never had the most upbeat outlook on life.

If something went wrong, they would say, “That’s typical Moss luck or something like that.” We love them, but lots of good things happened, too. But the glass was often half empty to them.

In any event, that brings us to the sad tale of ex-QVC host Antonella Nestor. One could seriously say that if she didn’t have bad luck she wouldn’t have any luck at all.

First, she was abruptly canned at QVC. We know that feeling.

Then her husband lost his job.

Then they lost their house, and planned to live on a houseboat.

Then Antonella was diagnosed with leukemia.

Then she was diagnosed with breast cancer.

Then she was undergoing painful chemo for the cancer.

Yesterday, she posted a video on Facebook saying that her husband had suffered a mild heart attack. He was in the hospital, but he was doing OK.

Seriously, how much is one person supposed to suffer?

Sending prayers to her and her husband. Lord, enough is enough for them.

Joy Mangano Returns to HSN With The ‘Boss’

One of our readers tipped us off, and we thank her, that former HSN clean queen Joy Mangano is returning to the home shopping network.

On Facebook Mangano, inventor of Huggable Hangers and a zillion other items, announced she will be on July 31 hawking her Clean Boss product. We looked it up, and it is self-described as the “most powerful botanical disinfectant,” according to its website.

Mangano was a fixture on HSN for decades, and the network owned her company. But when HSN was absorbed by Qurate Retail, QVC’s parent, that seemed to put an end to Mangano’s tenure on HSN.

A few years back there was a feature film about her life, where she was portrayed by Jennifer Lawrence.

It was quite a jolt and disappointment when Mangano exited, or was forced to exit, HSN.

We admit, she did get on our nerves sometimes, but she will be better than some of the other fare that HSN is airing, we suspect.

QVC, HSN Parent Names Successor To Mike George

We won’t have Mike George to kick around for very long soon.

Qurate Retail, owner of QVC and HSN, on Tuesday announced that David Rawlinson II will assume the role of president and CEO effective Oct. 1. He will succeed George after a two-month transition period, beginning Aug. 1, during which time Rawlinson will serve as president and CEO-elect.

Prior to joining NielsenIQ as CEO, Rawlinson was president of Grainger Global Online, where he led the fastest growth, stand-alone division of W.W. Grainger Inc. , a Fortune 500 firm. Under his leadership “the business grew double digits every year and won multiple national awards for workplace culture,” Qurate said in its press release.

Rawlinson has also held executive roles with ITT Exelis, formerly ITT Corp. He also served a Presidential appointment as a White House Fellow and held various appointed positions in both the Bush and Obama administrations.

In the Obama Administration, he was a senior adviser for economic policy with the White House National Economic Council. He has an MBA from Harvard Business School, a JD from the University of South Carolina School of Law and is a graduate of The Citadel, a tough-ass military school.

Impressive.

From Oct. 1 until his retirement at year-end, George will serve as a senior adviser to Qurate to assist in transitional matters. Effective Jan. 1 next year, and concurrently with George’s retirement from Qurate’s board, Rawlinson will join the board. Qurate had announced in November 2020 that George would be retiring from the company at the end of this year.

“We are pleased to welcome David Rawlinson to the Qurate family. David brings an impressive track record of success, most recently with two storied brands, Nielsen and Grainger,” Greg Maffei, Qurate Executive Chairman, said in a statement.

“At these companies, David was a transformational leader and successfully managed the businesses through evolutionary transitions,” Maffei said. “His knowledge of global e-commerce, understanding of consumer trends and focus on mission and culture as a purpose-driven leader make him a natural fit for Qurate Retail.”

And here are Rawlinson’s words of wisdom.

“Qurate Retail operates as a unique and powerful enterprise. The world of shopping has been forever changed by the pandemic and these brands have the international scale, customer affinity, and expertise in driving and meeting demand across multiple platforms to define the future of experiential retail.”

“QVC and HSN pioneered home shopping and are now set to define a new world of seamless shopping. Zulily, Ballard Designs, Frontgate, Garnet Hill and Grandin Road are all focused and modern brands with passionate customers and unique value propositions. Together, Qurate Retail is in a strong position to drive value for our customers, shareholders, communities, and employees. I look forward to working with the exceptional team at Qurate Retail and I am grateful to Mike for being such a capable and values-driven leader for the company.”