Episode Details

This week, we chat with Mariam Naficy!

A serial entrepreneur and visionary leader known for pioneering new ways to connect creativity, technology, and human expression. Mariam is the Founder and Chairman of Minted, and now the Founder and CEO of Arcade, a platform that uses AI to help people communicate visually — transcending geographic and language barriers to connect creators, artisans, and consumers worldwide.

For Mariam, Arcade is a full-circle moment. Having grown up overseas exploring marketplaces and bazaars, she developed a lifelong love of handcrafted objects and the stories behind them. At Arcade, she’s bringing that passion to life — using technology to foster deeper human connection. By training models for makers like Christofle, Bitossi Ceramiche, Cabana, and Anastasio Home, as well as manufacturers around the world, Arcade empowers anyone to create meaningful, personal objects that reflect individual taste and creativity.

Before founding Arcade, Mariam built some of the Internet’s most influential creative brands over the past several decades. She founded and built Minted, the design marketplace that revolutionized the creator economy and became a several hundred million dollar business, and co-founded Eve.com, the very first online cosmetics retailer in the world, in 1998.

At the heart of her work is a belief that technology, when used thoughtfully, can bring meaning, beauty, and connection into people’s lives—as well as create meaningful income for others, such as the Minted artist community.

✨ This episode is presented by Brex.

Brex: brex.com/trailblazerspod

This episode is supported by RocketReach, Gusto, OpenPhone & Athena.

RocketReach: rocketreach.co/trailblazers

Gusto: gusto.com/trailblazers

Quo: Quo.com/trailblazers

Athena: athenago.me/Erica-Wenger

Follow Us!

Mariam Naficy: @mnaficy

Arcade: arcade_ai

@thetrailblazerspod: Instagram, YouTube, TikTok

Erica Wenger: @erica_wenger