How I Got Here: Mecca’s Senior Brand Marketing Manager on embracing discomfort
IMAGE VIA MADDISON SULLIVAN-THORPE
WORDS BY Kate Streader
“I think a constant appetite for learning and development is key to any role.”
Have you ever stalked someone on LinkedIn and wondered how on earth they managed to land that wildly impressive job? While the internet and social media might have us believe that our ideal job is a mere pipe dream, the individuals who have these jobs were, believe it or not, in the same position once, fantasising over someone else’s seemingly unattainable job.
But behind the awe-inspiring titles and the fancy work events lies a heck of a lot of hard work. So what lessons have been learnt and what skills have proved invaluable in getting them from daydreaming about success to actually being at the top of their industry?
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Welcome to How I Got Here, where we talk to women who are killing it in their respective fields about how they landed their awe-inspiring jobs, exploring the peaks and pits, the failures and the wins, and most importantly the knowledge, advice and practical tips they’ve gleaned along the way.
This week we speak to Maddison Sullivan-Thorpe, the Senior Brand Marketing Manager at Australia’s premier beauty destination, Mecca. Originally setting out post-university to work in law, Maddison discovered her love for creating meaningful brand stories while working with major brands across fast-moving consumer goods and Australian-born beauty.
At Mecca, Maddison started out on the shop floor and swiftly moved into the support team as a Legal Coordinator, before returning to head up marketing for the in-house brand Mecca Cosmetica. She’s worked in various facets of the industry over her career, using her unwavering inquisitiveness to squeeze as much knowledge as possible from every opportunity. Here’s what she’s learnt along the way.
What do you do and what’s your official job title?
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I work for Mecca as the Senior Brand Marketing Manager on Mecca Cosmetica, one of Mecca’s in-house brands dedicated to creating luxurious everyday formulas.
Take us back to when you were first starting out. Did you study to get into your chosen field, or did you start out with an internship/entry-level role and climb the ladder? Tell us the story.
My path to marketing was by no means a conventional one! I originally started working with Mecca on the shop floor when I was freshly 18 and studying law, convinced I was going to complete my degree and work in mergers and acquisitions (M&A) law. During that time, Mecca advertised for a Legal Coordinator role in their support centre, which I was lucky enough to get.
As part of my role, I worked alongside Mecca’s Signature Line team reviewing formulas for the soon-to-be-launched Mecca Max. As a result, I got a front-row seat to their development journey – safe to say it was love at first sight. I was completely enchanted from ideation to formulation. I thought they had the best jobs in the world! During that time, the team were on the hunt for an Assistant Brand Manager to work on the Mecca Cosmetica brand and as soon as I saw the role advertised, all my corporate M&A ambitions flew out the window.
I wasn’t the obvious choice for the role, but I threw my hand up to apply. I had zero experience in marketing, but I could hustle and I was determined to learn. Fast forward to aptitude testing, a case study and three interviews later, I was lucky enough to be offered the position.
After a few years with Mecca, I made the difficult decision to spread my wings in favour of an opportunity in a totally new industry – fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG). I took a role as Assistant Brand Manager with Bega Foods, working on Vegemite. Truthfully, I was petrified to go from selling luxury SPF to yeast spreads, but I couldn’t have loved my time [there] more. I worked with incredible teams in four different roles over two and a half years. Working for Bega gave me a vast array of experience in areas such as project management, marketing science, customer presentation, category data and management – the list could truly be endless!
After Bega, I headed over to Chobani as Senior Brand Manager looking after Chobani and Gippsland Dairy for the Woolworths account, and after a few months into the role, I moved into the role of Marketing Communications Manager heading up the social, community and design teams. Not long into my new role, an opportunity that was too good to refuse came up back home at Mecca.
What challenges/hurdles have you faced getting to where you are now? Can you tell us about one in particular?
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Without a doubt, my biggest challenge has been imposter syndrome. There have been times I’ve found myself to be the youngest in the room and often that’s resulted in me doubting myself. I’ve spent a lot of development time working with my managers and mentors to remember that age doesn’t always correlate to experience and to value my seat at the table – remembering I’ve been hired to be there. ‘Fake it ’til you make it’ is all well and good in theory, but it can be crippling to your confidence to feel as though you’re not worthy of your seat.
Latching on to mentors and becoming aware of both my strengths and my development areas has enabled me to know when to speak up in those forums. As a great manager once told me, “You don’t need to know everything – you just need to be willing to admit it and learn from whoever’s willing to coach”.
What do you want people to know about your industry/your role?
It’s not all glitz and glamour. When I tell people I work at Mecca their eyes twinkle – and don’t get me wrong, there is no greater feeling in the world than when someone starts reeling off their favourite products from your brand or tells you about their favourite store host from their local Mecca. But I think, more often than not, the perception is we spend our days frolicking around in high heels at glamorous events and playing with lipsticks.
The reality couldn’t be starker. Sure, there’s a touch of glamour that comes with launch events, but to get to the fun stuff, there’s a whole lot of work the team puts in behind the scenes to create and deliver a long-term brand strategy to ensure we have a well-marketed, profitable brand that our customers love.
What’s the best part about your role?
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My favourite part of the role is working with our store teams. Mecca Cosmetica is a brand built on a strong foundation of our store teams’ expertise. They’re the ones interacting with our customers – they know what customers want better than anyone. My local Mecca Cosmetica can attest that I’m a resident pest!
I’m in there at least once a week picking their brains on everything from packaging to formulas, brands they’re loving and what customers are saying. Not every brand is lucky enough to have such a direct connection with those who are at the core of the business and that is without a doubt my favourite part of the role.
A cheeky second favourite, when you’re out and about or death-scrolling on socials and catch someone with a product you’ve worked on! Big proud-parent energy!
What would surprise people about your role?
People are often surprised by how commercial my role is. I think, externally, people see the glamorous side that is events, photoshoots, products and in-store execution… while those things are key focus areas of my role, there’s also a more complex side of managing the overall brand profit and loss (P&L) and ensuring we’re building a commercially sound brand that’s loved by our customers and set up for future success.
What skills have served you well in your industry?
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Vulnerability! I’m always the one to ask the ‘silly’ questions, or approach someone in a different team and ask to learn how their system works with 1001 “But why?” and “How?” questions. I’m not afraid to fail or to put myself out there. Being honest about your strengths and areas of opportunity opens a lot of doors!
[And] getting comfortable in the discomfort. Honestly, any time I’ve found myself comfortable in a role, I’ve put my hand up and asked for more. I think a constant appetite for learning and development is key to any role.
What advice would you give to someone who wants to be in a role like yours one day?
Don’t be afraid to do the hard tasks and to take the ‘unsexy’ roles. Yes – I’m now (thankfully) working on a brand and in an industry that I live and breathe, both personally and professionally. But you never know what you might get out of the unconventional role.
I certainly didn’t think roles with the likes of Vegemite or Chobani would be the most joy-sparking jobs, but it turns out I was wrong. There’s no way I would be in the position I am today if it wasn’t for the experience I had and the people I met at that time.
So my advice is not to become fixated on working for a particular business or industry; no one ever said career trajectories had to be linear. Diverse experience and attitude are often more important than the industry or business someone has worked in.
Lastly, never (ever!) burn your bridges. I am thankful for every workplace I’ve worked in and have kept close contact with all my previous colleagues and managers. It’s how I landed back at Mecca, by keeping in touch we were both paying close attention to what the other was doing… a ‘coffee catch-up’ quickly led to a job offer and homecoming.
What about a practical tip?
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Be unapologetically relentless when it comes to networking. There’s no shame in a LinkedIn message or social DM – everyone has stepped out onto the first step of the career ladder at some point and no one’s gotten to where they are without guidance and sound advice from those who’ve climbed before them.
I’ve had some incredible mentors and bosses along the way, an invite for a coffee or walk is almost always accepted (and if it’s not, being left on read really isn’t the worst thing to happen) – never underestimate others’ generosity of spirit.
Read the rest of the How I Got Here series here.
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