Sterling & Hyde Launch + My Career Journey

   

With the lovely Amy Richards, Founder of Sterling & Hyde

 

This week I was given the kind invitation to attend the Sterling & Hyde launch for the Sterling & Hyde Custom line. Amongst those that were invited, I got to catch up with the wonderful Natasha from Breakfast with Audrey, Carrie from Dailyaddict and meet the gorgeous Margaret from Shinebythree as well as the Founder of Sterling & Hyde, Amy Richards.

Sterling & Hyde is Australia's first custom handbag design website which allows you to choose your own bag design, colour, material and hardware. There are 16 bag designs to choose from, ranging from overnight totes to iPad bags and all custom designs are sent within 6 weeks of creation. To ensure that you're happy with your custom-made arm candy, customers are offered a 100 day refund guarantee.



Above is Amy showcasing the design process of a Sterling & Hyde custom handbag. (Bloggers also pictured include: Lucy and the Runaways, Xssatstreetfashion and Mint Maison)

Last week I was also given the pleasure to attend the BRW Best Places to Work Awards at Hemmesphere. To see my article about the event click here.

This year in first, second and third place on the Best Places to Work in Australia list were: OBS, NetApp and Google respectively. E-Web Marketing took out the 4th spot this year which means that we have been in the top 10 for Best Places to Work in Australia for 3 years running!



My career journey (be warned: lots of reading awaits)
For those of you who have been asking, here is my (attempt of a) story.

Working at E-Web Marketing has been a great turning point in my life. Before I found my place here I dabbled around in various casual jobs to get me through my first few years of full-time uni, found an internship to dip my toes in the water and during my last year of University - I converted to part-time Uni when a full-time opportunity presented itself to me which I couldn't refuse.

I landed, what I thought was, my dream job at the time...and it turned out to be everything that I never wanted. It wasn't because I didn't love the freedom of creativity and the tasks I got given, it was because of the lack of trust in the work culture and month after month I'd overwork myself to pour my heart and soul into projects only to be given a myriad of false promises in return.

I soon realized that this wasn't for me and I'm glad I realized this quite early on in my career journey because I can now pass onto you, the most important lesson that I've learnt through this process:

Choose a job you love and you'll never have to work a day in your life. 

I was lucky enough to have already picked up some job skills when I reached my epiphany which lead me to finding my feet at E-Web Marketing. I guess I had to kiss a few frogs first before I found my prince ;)

I started to really enjoy myself at work and grew incredibly close to the E-Web family when I suddenly felt like I was hitting another brick wall. Sure the work culture is great and the office perks I'm grateful for, but when I looked at where I want to be in my career in 5, 10 and 20 years time, I knew I couldn't be an Account Manager forever.

I continued to run my POPSHOP on the side and dwell on the idea of taking this up as a full-time gig because it was something I was truly passionate about but I still didn't have the heart to leave my E-Web family at the time.

Then came the day when the stars suddenly aligned.

I had a Personal Growth Projection plan at work to plot what I wanted to achieve personally and professionally and the steps I'd have to take to get there. I had the support of wonderful peers to help me keep tabs of my progressions and take an interest in what I was also trying to achieve outside of work. Amongst these peers were Gary and Josh, E-Web's CEO and COO. 


Gary is a visionary nurturer of ideas. After a year of working at E-Web I'm still taken by surprise at the amount of attention he dedicates to his employees and the investment he puts into our futures. In recognising what I was pursuing outside of work, he discussed some ideas with me and before I knew it I was given the generous offer of playing a lead part in a jewelry business venture.

From E-Web Account Manager to Head of eCommerce for Bellagio & Co., not only am I able to now do what I love, I'm also still able to continue working in an office that I love amongst my new found E-Web family. On top of this, I'm being mentored weekly by the most inspiring and successful people I know: E-Web's CEO and Andrew Morello, the previous winner of The Apprentice who has also partnered to embark on this Bellagio journey.

So, to answer my suddenly hot Formspring topic for the month:
Bellagio & Co will be Australia’s online boutique supplier of European Designer Inspired Jewellery. We are currently operating in Melbourne and Sydney and specialising in selling as well as hosting showcasing events and parties with Bellagio 925 sterling silver jewelry.

I am enthralled with excitement to partake in setting up the foundations and continuously sharing with you my experiences in planting this business and watching it grow. In other words, watch me as I grow up in this big big world! Haha

So for those that have read this far. If you would like to apply for a job at E-Web or just take a tour of our pimpin' office. Register here!

In other news, coming up in my next post will be all the new additions to ANNIEPOPSHOP and my review on the China Glaze collection of Magnetix nail polishes. Below is a swatch of Pull Me Close.