As a creative director and consultant to the international media relations company KCD, Nian Fish has directed hundreds of fashion shows for the world's biggest brands.

On a typical morning, she is up at 6 am for an 18-hour day that includes consultations on set design, model casting, music and styling for designers including Calvin Klein and Tory Burch.

But the whirlwind of activities that now fills her days had humble beginnings: She directed her first talent show at age 10, in the lobby of a tenement building on New York's Broome Street.