Petia A. Abdur-RazzaaqFuturist · Strategic Advisor · Storyteller

Futurist · Strategic Advisor · Storyteller

For more than 25 years, I have helped brands and leaders turn each new wave of technology into something people can understand, trust and use.

From the early commercial web to AI, I work with organizations deciding what comes next — as a strategic partner, storyteller and market builder. I am Founder & CEO of The Stylista Group, Strategic Partner & North American Lead for LAF | Les Années Folles, and a Business Advisor with the Goldman Sachs One Million Black Women: Black in Business program.

Explore ways to work togetherRead the latest thinking

Petia A. Abdur-Razzaaq in a yellow dress against a gray studio backdrop, one hand resting at her chin, looking away from the camera.
Photograph: OM Photo
  • The Stylista Group
  • LAF | Les Années Folles
  • Goldman Sachs
  • Lehman College
  • Simplicity IT

Formerly Google · Constant Contact · Ralph Lauren · M5 Networks · boston.com

The argument

Anyone can assert foresight. Very few people advising on AI today were running campaigns on the commercial web in 1998.

Fewer still spent the intervening decades teaching it — at City College, through Constant Contact and Grow with Google, and at Lehman College, where I designed the three courses I teach.

The tools change completely each time. What earns trust barely changes at all. That is the whole of the method, and it is the reason this page leads with the length of the career rather than a claim about the future.

How the work shows up

Five roles, and what stands behind each one

  1. Strategic Partner

    Senior collaboration, not task delivery. Seventeen years owning an agency and fourteen running an IT firm.

  2. Market Builder

    I help translate opportunities across markets — connecting positioning, culture, partnerships and influence so organizations can enter new markets with greater clarity and credibility.

  3. Storyteller

    The through-line clients name first, and the one that has survived every platform shift.

  4. Educator & Advisor

    Fifteen years of teaching, from Constant Contact to Lehman College. Goldman and Lehman make it current rather than historical.

  5. Futurist

    I study shifts in technology, culture, customer behavior and influence — then translate those signals into practical decisions leaders can act on now.

Two ways in

Pick the room you are actually in

Delivery

The Stylista Group

Brand strategy for lifestyle, luxury and social-impact companies. AI-enabled brand strategy, narrative infrastructure, immersive brand experience and founder visibility.

Founded 2009 · New York

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Packaged intellectual property

Speaking & Advisory

Keynotes, workshops and advisory built from material that has already been taught — to boardrooms, universities, chambers of commerce and rooms full of first-time founders.

Fifteen years · Four institutions

Check speaking availability

Tell me what you are deciding.

The useful first conversation is usually about the decision in front of you, not about services.

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About

I started in 1998, and I have watched every supposedly world-ending technology shift arrive since.

Each time, the same thing turns out to be true: the tools change completely, and what earns trust barely changes at all.

The long version

I started in 1998 at boston.com, building some of the first online campaigns brands like Dunkin' Donuts and Fleet Bank ever ran, during the early commercial web era. Since then I have watched every supposedly world-ending technology shift arrive, and I have learned the same thing each time: the tools change completely, and what earns trust barely changes at all.

That conviction has taken a few forms. I founded The Stylista Group in 2009 to help lifestyle, luxury and social-impact brands make better digital decisions. Since 2012 I have been Managing Partner at Simplicity IT, a Microsoft-certified managed services firm, which keeps me close to how technology actually gets implemented rather than how it gets talked about. And for fifteen years I have taught — at City College, through Constant Contact and Grow with Google, and today at Lehman College, where I designed the three courses I teach — because an idea you cannot explain to a room of small business owners is usually not a very good idea.

Today I advise ten scholars each cycle through the Goldman Sachs One Million Black Women: Black in Business program, and I lead the North American expansion of Les Années Folles, a European B2B influence agency. Both are the same work: helping people build credibility that lasts longer than the platform it was built on.

Since 1998

The record

  1. 1998

    boston.com

    Online Marketing Analyst, Major Accounts. Developed early online campaigns for major brands including Dunkin' Donuts and Fleet Bank during the early commercial web era.

  2. 2004

    Clinton Foundation

    Marketing and strategy consultant on a joint initiative with Booz Allen Hamilton, advising Harlem small businesses — while completing my MBA.

  3. 2005

    Polo Ralph Lauren

    Off-Price Brand Manager. Luxury, at scale.

  4. 2006

    M5 Networks

    Channel Marketing Manager across three hundred channel partners.

  5. 2009

    The Stylista Group

    Founded. Lifestyle, luxury and social-impact brands.

  6. 2012

    Simplicity IT

    Managing Partner at a Microsoft-certified managed services firm. Fourteen years close to how technology is actually implemented.

  7. 2013

    City College of New York

    Adjunct Instructor, Brand Management & Marketing Certification.

  8. 2020

    Grow with Google

    Contracted speaker, 2020 to 2023.

  9. 2021

    Lehman College

    Adjunct Lecturer, Management and Business Innovation. I designed and teach three accredited courses: BBA 188, BBA 189 and MSB 724.

  10. 2024

    Goldman Sachs

    Business Advisor, One Million Black Women: Black in Business. Ten scholars per cycle.

  11. 2026

    LAF | Les Années Folles

    Strategic Partner & North American Lead.

Credentials

MBA in marketing, Pace University, Lubin School of Business. BA in management and marketing, Simmons University. Based in New York City.

Lehman College

The courses I designed and teach

Management and Business Innovation, Lehman College (CUNY), taught since 2021

Each links to that course's entry in the public CUNY catalog. My faculty listing

Petia A. Abdur-Razzaaq in a yellow dress against a gray studio backdrop, arms folded, looking directly at the camera.
Photograph: OM Photo

That is the record. The work is the interesting part.

See how we might work together

Work With Me

Two routes, and they lead to different rooms.

There are two primary ways to work with me: through The Stylista Group for brand and growth strategy, or directly through speaking and advisory engagements. Start with the path that best matches the decision in front of you.

Delivery

The Stylista Group

Brand strategy for lifestyle, luxury and social-impact companies. AI-enabled brand strategy, narrative infrastructure, immersive brand experience and founder visibility.

Founded 2009 · New York

Start a Stylista conversation

Packaged intellectual property

Speaking & Advisory

Keynotes, workshops and advisory built from material that has already been taught — to boardrooms, universities, chambers of commerce and rooms full of first-time founders.

Fifteen years · Four institutions

Check speaking availability

What a first conversation looks like

Start with the decision.

Tell me what you are trying to decide, what is changing around you, and what you have already tried. If another expert or pathway is a better fit, I will point you in the right direction.

Start where the decision is.

Start a conversation

Speaking & Advisory

Make the change legible, then make it actionable before anyone leaves the room.

I have taught this material to boardrooms, universities, chambers of commerce and rooms full of first-time founders — for Google, for Constant Contact, at City College, and at Lehman College, where I built the curriculum I teach from scratch.

Where this material has been taught

Fifteen years of teaching

Lehman College
Adjunct Lecturer. Three accredited courses of my own design — two undergraduate, one graduate — taught since 2021
Grow with Google
Contracted speaker, 2020 to 2023
City College of New York
Adjunct Instructor, Brand Management & Marketing Certification, 2013 to 2015
Constant Contact
Authorized Local Expert and speaker, 2011 to 2015
Goldman Sachs
Business Advisor, One Million Black Women: Black in Business, since 2024

Talks

Three subjects, all taught before they were ever put on a stage

Talk 1

The Future Is Intentional

What more than 25 years of technology transitions can teach leaders about navigating AI, change and what comes next.

Talk 2

Human Authority in an AI-Driven World

How leaders and organizations build credibility, trust and influence that outlast any single platform.

Talk 3

The AI Decision Test

A practical approach to making AI and technology decisions your organization can still defend two years from now.

Petia A. Abdur-Razzaaq in a yellow dress against a gray studio backdrop, laughing, chin resting on her hand.
Studio portrait · Photograph: OM Photo

Planning a keynote, workshop or advisory session?

Let's talk about your audience, the decision they are facing, and what you want them to be able to do when they leave the room.

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Insights

The thinking, published.

Four pillars, each one drawn from work that already exists rather than a content calendar: technology transitions and what they repeat; trust as the actual unit of brand value; transatlantic market building; and teaching as a discipline for thinking clearly.

Petia A. Abdur-Razzaaq seated in a modern interior, wearing a yellow dress and looking thoughtfully off camera.

Insights · Future of Business

The Future Is Intentional: Bringing the Threads of My Journey Together

For more than two decades, my work has moved across digital media, marketing, entrepreneurship, education, technology, business advising and global B2B influence. What once looked like separate chapters now feels like one continuous body of work: helping people and organizations understand change, find clarity within it, and make intentional decisions about what comes next.

By Petia A. Abdur-Razzaaq · November 2026 · 7 min read

Read article

Topics

What Insights covers

  • Technology transitions and what they repeat
  • Trust as the actual unit of brand value
  • Transatlantic market building
  • Teaching as a discipline for thinking clearly

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Petia A. Abdur-Razzaaq, MBA, is a strategist and storyteller working at the intersection of AI, B2B influence and executive visibility. She is Founder & CEO of The Stylista Group, Strategic Partner & North American Lead for LAF | Les Années Folles, and a Goldman Sachs business advisor. She teaches courses of her own design at Lehman College.

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100 words

Petia A. Abdur-Razzaaq, MBA, has spent more than twenty-five years helping brands and leaders turn new technology into durable trust. She began at boston.com in 1998, building early online campaigns for Dunkin' Donuts and Fleet Bank, and founded The Stylista Group in 2009 to advise lifestyle, luxury and social-impact brands. She is Strategic Partner & North American Lead for LAF | Les Années Folles, Managing Partner at Simplicity IT, and a business advisor with the Goldman Sachs One Million Black Women: Black in Business program. She has taught for Google, Constant Contact and City College, and at Lehman College she designed the three courses she teaches.

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250 words

Petia A. Abdur-Razzaaq, MBA, is a strategist, storyteller and market builder who has spent more than twenty-five years helping organizations turn each new wave of technology into something people actually trust. She began in 1998 at The Boston Globe's boston.com, developing some of the first online campaigns for brands including Dunkin' Donuts and Fleet Bank. She went on to Polo Ralph Lauren and M5 Networks, managing marketing across three hundred channel partners, before founding The Stylista Group in 2009. It advises lifestyle, luxury and social-impact brands on AI-enabled brand strategy, narrative infrastructure, immersive brand experience and founder visibility. Since 2012 she has also been Managing Partner at Simplicity IT, a Microsoft-certified managed services firm. In 2026 she became Strategic Partner & North American Lead for LAF | Les Années Folles, the European B2B influence agency, leading its North American expansion. Teaching has run alongside the work for fifteen years: Constant Contact Authorized Local Expert, contracted Grow with Google speaker from 2020 to 2023, and adjunct instructor at City College of New York. At Lehman College she is an Adjunct Lecturer in Management and Business Innovation, where she designed three accredited courses she has taught since 2021. She advises founders through the Goldman Sachs One Million Black Women: Black in Business program, and earlier worked with the Clinton Foundation and Booz Allen Hamilton on small businesses in Harlem. She holds an MBA in marketing from Pace University's Lubin School of Business and a BA from Simmons University. She lives and works in New York City.

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Verified facts

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Name
Petia A. Abdur-Razzaaq, MBA
Title
Founder & CEO, The Stylista Group
Also
Strategic Partner & North American Lead, LAF | Les Années Folles · Managing Partner, Simplicity IT · Business Advisor, Goldman Sachs One Million Black Women: Black in Business · Adjunct Lecturer, Lehman College
Career span
More than 25 years, from February 1998
Agency
The Stylista Group, founded January 2009
Legal entity
The Stylista Group, a division of Petia Bradshaw and Associates LLC
Teaching
Adjunct Lecturer, Management and Business Innovation, Lehman College (CUNY), since 2021 · Three courses of her own design: BBA 188 Introduction to Social Media Marketing, BBA 189 Using Social Media Marketing, MSB 724 Social Media Marketing
Education
MBA, Pace University Lubin School of Business · BA, Simmons University
Location
New York, New York
Contact
petia@petiaabdurrazzaaq.com

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