NIKAIA's president, Nathalie Duncan, is a French native who moved to the United States in 1989. Aware that her Doctorate degree in Philosophy was not going to take her very far on this side of the Atlantic Ocean, she took a job with a key supplier for The Sharper Image in San Francisco. Nathalie later joined the prestigious retail and mail-order company to handle their international sales. It was a fierce yet amazing immersion in the business world worth any MBA she could have pursued. First, the exposure to the retail environment was exceptional. Back then, The Sharper Image was among the top retailers in the high-end segment of the market. From merchandising to inventory control to visual presentation, each department was directed by top-notch executives.