Kim Russo

Kim Russo


Website: www.daretobenaked.com
www.gdnnyc.com
New York, New York, United States
Member since July 24, 2009
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Full bio

Kim Russo spends her time living between two of the hottest cities in the United States - Manhattan & Miami. As an entrepreneur, mentor, and philanthropist, Kim keeps a schedule that would exhaust most women. Regardless of this, Kim maintains an active social calendar and is known for her sophistication and chic sense of fashion. With a hectic schedule and successful business, she found unique ways to stay toned and fit, maintaining her own brand of beauty and fitness, with minimal effort and time. While enjoying the view of beautiful downtown Miami from her 46th floor condo, Kim was inspired to share her secrets with the world, and the tenacious entrepreneur began working tirelessly on bringing Dare to be Naked to the world. After being consistently questioned on how she stays in shape without working out on a regular basis, she began to share her methods.  Kim quickly realized that she was onto something incredible and this discovery gave birth to the DTBN idea.

 Kim’s proven expertise, drive and determination have developed Dare to be Naked from an inspired idea to the growing business that it is today. Early on, she knew she wanted to pursue a career that would capitalize on her entrepreneurial drive and creative spirit.  Kim’s first entrepreneurial effort was at the age of 17, when she placed self-designed flyers on cars, offering at-home manicures and pedicures.  In 2002, the now 39 year old entrepreneur, Kim, began her Wall Street based merchandising company, GDN, from her living room armed with only an intense passion and great determination to succeed.  Without any formal financial or economic background, she transformed her then small firm into a multi-million dollar company with international reach.  Today, GDN’s client roster boasts of the world’s most impressive Investment Banks and Fortune 100/500 companies in six continents and more than a dozen countries. 

In addition to managing GDN’s continued growth from her Wall Street office, her e-commerce business www.daretobenaked.com, has a promising future as Kim is currently working on a potentially explosive marketing strategy via infomercial with a leading national direct television marketing firm.  From concept to execution, Kim developed DTBN and generated sales within the first week of launching her site.  Kim feels DTBN was a natural evolution since she always been an advocate of choosing healthy fit over model thin, wanting woman to realize that with a degree of discipline, they can look and feel fabulous at any age.  The DTBN program is a series of simple techniques in comprehensive format (similar to that in Pilates) which are easily integrated into any woman’s daily routine and require little effort. The techniques focus on awareness of the body’s movements to maximize the effects of each movement.  The DTBN philosophy, Kim explains, is to “be conscious of your body movements throughout the day and make every effort count.”  Within the DTBN download, she has also included her top 10 quick tips on staying healthy inside and out.

Kim Russo is a member of New York State’s lead economic-development agency, Empire State Development; WBENC, Women's Business Enterprise National Council; and ASI, Advertising Specialty Institute.  An active donor to the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation and a number of breast cancer charities, she participated in Morry’s Camp annual fund-raiser for underprivileged children.  Kim also serves as a committee member for the Edwin Gould Services for Children (EGSC), and has participated in the Covenant House mentoring program for children.  She frequently coaches and inspires young entrepreneurs, pro bono, and claims success is attributed to a combination of passion, a love for what she does and NEVER accepting “no” for an answer. Drawing from her background, Kim sat on the ad hoc board and subsequent design committee for 15 Broad Street and regularly spearheads efforts to increase communication and collaboration among the various members of her industry.