Edward Razek

Edward G. Razek (born April 24, 1948) is an American businessman who was the chief marketing officer for L Brands where he developed the Victoria's Secret Angels and the company's annual fashion show. Razek joined L Brands in 1983 and resigned He attended the Culver Military Academy in Indiana starting at age 12. In 1983, Razek left SBC and joined in-house branding operations at the Limited.

In 1994, Wexner tasked Razek with developing a fashion show for one of the companies brands. The first fashion show took place in 1995 with the chosen brand, Victoria's Secret. A somewhat modest affair for a risqué product at first, the fashion show, under Razek, transformed into a spectacle and became an entertainment event, with peak viewership in 2001.

Razek was instrumental in selecting the brand's models, known as "Angels" and given angel wings, and creating the company's TV ads.

It later emerged that Razek was the subject of repeated complaints to the human resources department regarding inappropriate behaviour, but he continued to operate with impunity for many years. In an era of MeToo and body positivity the backlash was severe, with calls for Razek to step down.

Resignation and subsequent allegations In response to the backlash against Razek, the company hired its first openly transgender model, Valentina Sampaio, in August 2019. Razek later apologized on social media and, in August 2019, he stepped down. In November 2019, the annual fashion show was officially cancelled after running for over two decades of production.

In 2020, The New York Times reported that Razek "presided over an entrenched culture of misogyny, bullying, and harassment". Interviews with more than 30 current and former executives, employees, contractors and models alleged that Wexner and Razek played prominent roles in cultivating the toxic environment. The shareholders of Victoria's Secret parent company, L Brands, filed a complaint in the Court of Chancery of Delaware on January 14, 2021, stating that chair Wexner and Razek, whose misconduct was "widely known", created an "entrenched culture of misogyny, bullying and harassment", which breached the directors' fiduciary duty to the company, causing devaluation of the brand.