Despite having interviewed several candidates for the position and not finding a quality candidate, Meghan Markle has decided to appoint herself as the CEO of her new lifestyle brand.
Meghan announced her new cooking and lifestyle firm, American Riviera Orchard, with great fanfare back in March and shortly afterwards, began her search for a Chief Executive Officer.
After a fruitless search, as reported in the Daily Mail, insiders have claimed she found the perfect candidate – herself.
An insider told the New York Post: “She is the CEO of American Riviera Orchard.”
The Diary Editor of the Daily Mail, Richard Eden, also reports the Duchess of Sussex is in negotiations with streaming giant Netflix about entering a commercial partnership with American Riviera Orchard.
Meghan is said to be focusing her brand products on home, garden, and lifestyle and currently American Riviera Orchard has over 600K followers on Instagram – existing posts however, only form the shape of her logo.
The Duchess, 43, unveiled her venture in March by posting a video on her Instagram page in which she could be seen busying herself in a rustic-looking kitchen, arranging white and pink flowers and whisking up a treat in a bowl.
Regarding the streaming giant’s potential interest in the brand, the source disclosed to the Daily Mail: “This is something new for Netflix. It would run the lifestyle business with Meghan, developing products as spin-offs from her show. If a partnership is agreed, it’s likely that Netflix would install its own CEO to run operations.”
Meghan, however, does have a separate Netflix show coming out next year thought to focus on “cooking, gardening and entertaining” as part of Meghan and Harry’s existing multi-million-pound Netflix deal.
According to trademark filings, Meghan earmarked plans to sell a range of products under her new brand, including homewares, cooking utensils, makeup, and even pet food.
Prince Harry‘s wife is still yet to announce a release date to sell any of her wares to the public but is currently embroiled in a trademark dispute.
In August, the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) rejected Meghan’s attempt to trademark her goods.
She was reportedly given three months to address several issues, including the prohibition on trademarking geographic locations.
Reports state she has been told she can’t have exclusive rights to ‘American Riviera’ due to this being a commonly used place name to describe the California coast where the Duke and Duchess of Sussex live.