Christos Garkinos overcame addiction and financial ruin to build a multi-million dollar live-shopping business selling luxury vintage clothing via Instagram Live. He previously owned a top Los Angeles clothing store, appeared on Bravo, and worked for Richard Branson. After hitting rock bottom emotionally, physically, and financially, he achieved sobriety and rebuilt his life while maintaining a high-profile relationship with influencer Rolland Ryan. He developed an Instagram-based commerce model that turned live broadcasts into direct sales. He published a bestselling memoir, Covet the Comeback, and exemplifies post-traumatic growth and the role of virtual communities in supporting recovery and entrepreneurship.
Christos Garkinos speaks with the confident cadence of someone who's learned that life's biggest setbacks can become its greatest comebacks. While he now runs a multi-million dollar live-shopping empire, it wasn't always this way. After decades owning one of LA's top clothing stores-which led to a stint with his own Bravo TV show-he became addicted to drugs and lost everything. Then, after hitting rock bottom-emotionally, physically and financially-he found sobriety.
But getting sober didn't mean everything came together with a finger snap. While he found love with influencer Rolland Ryan, his finances remained rocky while he built his life back up. As he worked on his emotional sobriety, he came up with a new business model: to turn his Instagram into his own QVC, selling luxury vintage clothing and allowing followers to purchase it in the comments.
Earlier this year, Garkinos compiled all of those experiences into "Covet the Comeback," his bestselling memoir that attracted coverage in every publication from People to WWD and Entrepreneur and brought together standing-room-only crowds at book events around the country. Garkinos' story offers a compelling real-world example of post-traumatic growth -where he didn't just recover from losing it all, but actually developed beyond his previous level of functioning.
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