Best Prof: Renee Gosline

Renee Richardson Gosline

Assistant Professor of Marketing

Age: 36

Institution: MIT Sloan School of Management

Hometown: Brooklyn, New York

Marital Status: Married

Children: None (unless you count one dog named Keeper)

Courses: Branding

At MIT Since: 2009

Before MIT: Doctoral student at Harvard Business School

Extracurricular Activities: Forbes.com contributor

Fun Fact: Although my family is from the Caribbean, I am an avid snowboarder. I’ve traveled around the world to ride and currently hold a season pass at Cannon Mountain, home of Olympic champion, Bode Miller. I’m sure he wishes he could snowboard like me!

Gucci vs. Ralph Lauren. Louis Vuitton vs. the Gap. On the surface, it seems like the lower end, more common labels are not worthy to be compared to the high-end luxury brands. Research from Professor Renee Richardson Gosline uncovers the intrinsic social meanings that are associated with name brand consumer items and the social signals that are sent when buyers choose one brand over the other.

Born and raised in Brooklyn, New York, she became intrigued with intellectual research after writing a senior thesis and graduating from Harvard College.  Gosline worked for several years in advertising and marketing (as a planner and account supervisor at Leo Burnett and  a brand management associate at LVMH Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton). She quickly developed a love for the field, fascinated by consumer behavior and how managers made decisions.  Now, as an academic, her research and teaching focus on brands and how they function as symbols of social status.

The 36-year-old has also been featured in Forbes for her unconventional research findings showing that black market knockoffs can be advantageous to luxury brands.

Students Say:

Prof. Renee Richardson Gosline has been a wonderful mentor to me over the last year, starting with the fact that she was willing to listen to a somewhat confused MBA student with a potential interest in academia. When I decided to apply for the doctoral program at MIT Sloan, she gave me great advice. I can confidently say that I would not be here today without her help.

In terms of her class, she did a great job weaving together academic research and real-world applications. The fact that she had worked in the industry before earning her PhD has allowed her to relate well to students; she also shows students how an academic research paper can provide useful information for marketers and how collaboration between professionals and academicians can bring value to both sides. Her classes were consistently interesting – I would lose track of time and forget to look at the clock! — Nell Putnam-Farr, MIT Sloan PhD candidate (MIT Sloan MBA alumna)

Renee Gosline is among “The World’s 40 Best B-School Profs Under the Age of 40“