Vicki Howard is a Lecturer in the Department of History at the University of Essex in the UK. Formerly, she was an Associate Professor of History at Hartwick College in the US, where she taught courses in twentieth-century American business history, women’s history, and consumer culture. She is the author of "Brides, Inc. American Weddings" and "The Business of Tradition" (University of Pennsylvania Press, 2006) and "From Main Street to Mall: The Rise and Fall of the American Department Store" (University of Pennsylvania Press, 2015), co-winner of the 2016 Hagley Prize in Business History. She made her appearance as herself in Adam Ruins Weddings.