#559 Inside Pharrell Williams’ auction house | Caitlin Donovan (JOOPITER)

Épisode de TheBoldWay par Adrien Garcia · 25 septembre 2026 · 1 h 03 min

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« Once you’ve placed those first two, three, four bids, in your mind, it’s yours. »

What makes someone bid millions for a dinosaur, a pair of Kobe Bryant’s sneakers or an object that once belonged to Pharrell Williams? This week on TheBoldWay, I meet Caitlin Donovan, Global Head of Sale at JOOPITER, the digital auction house founded by Pharrell.

Born and raised in New York, Caitlin studied criminology and imagined a career in law. A job in handbags led her to Heritage Auctions, then to Christie’s, where she helped build the handbag department and brought sneakers and streetwear into its sales. After more than nine years there, she joined JOOPITER to help build a new kind of auction house.

We go behind the scenes of the decisions that give an object its value: finding a seller, telling the story, setting an estimate and earning a collector’s trust. Caitlin explains why Pharrell created JOOPITER, what makes sports memorabilia so powerful, and how scarcity drives the secondary market for Hermès bags and Patek Philippe watches.

It is also a conversation about ambition, emotion and authority. Caitlin admits that even she can get carried away when bidding, and reflects on the toughness she felt she needed as a young woman at Christie’s. What does it take to make room for a new generation of collectors while building a career on your own terms?

In this episode, you’ll discover:

Why Pharrell founded JOOPITER when established auction houses did not know how to present his collection.

How an auction works, from the estimate and reserve price to the buyer’s premium.

Why storytelling and trust can persuade collectors to buy expensive objects sight unseen.

What a Triceratops and Kobe Bryant’s game-worn sneakers reveal about the future of collecting.

How scarcity creates resale premiums for handbags, watches and other luxury objects.

Why even an auction expert can exceed her bidding limit, and how Caitlin’s leadership has changed over time.

Timeline

00:00 : Introduction and meeting Caitlin Donovan at JOOPITER’s SoHo offices

03:48 : Growing up in New York, studying criminology at Vanderbilt and leaving the law path

05:15 : Joining Heritage Auctions and founding Christie’s handbag department

06:49 : Understanding auction houses and the secondary market

09:34 : Auctions versus fixed-price luxury resale

11:08 : Why telling an object’s story matters

11:56 : Trey the Triceratops and the advice to collect what you love

14:37 : The steps involved in putting an object up for auction

17:02 : Estimates, bidding and the auction-house business model

19:10 : Why Pharrell Williams created JOOPITER

22:43 : Sports memorabilia and the emotional value of game-worn objects

25:59 : Auction versus marketplace, two ways to sell

27:21 : Trust and buying objects without seeing them in person

29:30 : Sales with cultural figures and the Michael Jordan rookie card

35:09 : Leaving Christie’s to build something new

36:57 : Caitlin’s advice for beginning collectors

40:17 : Handbags, women buyers and the Hermès scarcity model

43:28 : Why even specialists get swept up in bidding

52:40 : New York, work and life outside auctions

61:31 : Being taken seriously as a young woman and learning to lead

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Nb: TheBoldWay ou The Bold Way, anciennement connu sous le nom de Entreprendre dans la mode ou EDLM , est un podcast produit et réalisé par Adrien Garcia.

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