ALANA VAREL – CO-FOUNDER OF STARWORKS GROUP AND FOUNDER OF “THIS PLACE”   Alana Varel co-founded the Starworks Group (SWG) with James Grant in New York City in 2000. Through her extensive celebrity connections and discreet, selective approach to client relationships, she has steered the company to become a go-to agency for connecting fashion brands and the entertainment industry. Varel takes an organic approach to strategic communications that has proved to be a winning formula for SWG and its numerous clients. Her work method is both intuitive and meticulous, and has resulted in numerous successful collaborations between top fashion brands such as Prada and Burberry, and celebrities like Angelina Jolie and Maggie Gyllenhaal. A native of Odessa, Ukraine, Varel began her career as a nightlife brand manager and strategist during the heyday of New York’s club scene in the 90s. She has subsequently moved into model management at Boss Models and then to Next Model Management. There she steered the careers of and befriended the likes of Mila Jovovich and Ashton Kutcher. For her part, Varel decided to launch SWG on the idea of closing the communications gap between the entertainment and fashion industries. Since its inception, SWG has become the go-to agency for celebrity casting and has subsequently expanded into a holistic creative communications firm with a reputation of being at the forefront of marketing innovation. Discover Alana's passion project on her Website here