11 creative Australian women share their most valuable career advice
IMAGE VIA @JASMINEDOWLING/INSTAGRAM
WORDS BY TIA HARMER
“There is no limit on what you can give, so you need to be careful with yourself.”
Everyone is all too happy dishing out career advice. Whether it’s your grandpa or your teacher, you will be given fistfuls of recommendations and instructions whether you want them or not. That’s great and all, but sometimes you need something a little more niche, specifically from the people working the job you’ve been dreaming of. We know firsthand that talking to those people can be hard and a bit scary.
Over the years, Fashion Journal has spoken to countless people about their experience in the creative industry. From writers and PR consultants, to book designers and stylists, we’ve sat down with some of the country’s brightest to have the conversations we dreamed of having as kids.
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Whether you’re just starting out on the retail floor with hopes of becoming a designer or in the midst of a midlife career change, we’ve filtered through our articles to find the best career advice we’ve heard so far. While we recommend you go and read up on all the different people we’ve interviewed in our How I Got Here series, here’s a curated list of some of the best career advice from 11 women who work in the creative industry.
Gabrielle Majelle, she/her, Founder of film production company Majella
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“[T]ry not to take rejection personally and instead use it as fuel for the next opportunity. The amount of cold emails, calls and events that I’ve relentlessly put myself out there for and gained no response in return is insanity, but it’s also given me the grit to keep going. The way I see it, the only possible way you could fail is if you quit.”
Read the rest of the discussion with Gabrielle here.
Natalie Xenita, she/her, Vice President-Managing Director of IMG Fashion Events and Properties Asia-Pacific
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“Earlier in my career, a former boss taught me about the importance of a personal brand – things like punctuality, courtesy, helping others and reliability all contribute to your personal brand. Your personal brand is cultivated through consistency and will open doors.”
Read the rest of the discussion with Natalie here.
Ingrid Kesa, she/her, Founder of Eponymous Creative and Communications Studio
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“I think it’s important to be prepared to start from the bottom and work your way up. Instagram helps to cultivate the illusion that people are just instantly ‘successful’ as soon as exiting the womb, but there’s a lot of hard work that needs to go on behind the scenes – especially when starting out. Get involved in everything and adopt the attitude that nothing is below you. It’s all part of the journey!”
Read the rest of the discussion with Ingrid here.
Melissa Leong, she/her, food media consultant and Masterchef Australia judge
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“There is no limit on what you can give, so you need to be careful with yourself. Entertainment thrives on [the] generosity of energy, knowledge [and] passion. You need to dig deep to give that to complete strangers, and you need to know where to draw the line in order for this thing to remain sustainable and a joy. It is not easy.”
Read the rest of the discussion with Melissa here.
Santilla Chingaipe, she/her, journalist and filmmaker
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“It’s easier said than done, but when you’re doing things that go against the grain, you want people around you who aren’t projecting their fears onto you. And so sometimes people will say things well-intentioned, but they might make you second guess your choice. So you kind of want to be around people that support you, irrespective of whether or not you fail. You know what I mean? So I would say that I have at least one person that is like my cheerleader.”
Read the rest of the discussion with Santilla here.
Yatu Widders Hunt, she/her, General Manager at Cox Inall Ridgeway and Founder of Australian Indigenous Fashion
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“Sometimes people get caught up trying to define the type of role they want and exactly the industry they want to be in. I think if you know what you want to do and what you like doing, then the opportunities can wrap around that. I’ve essentially had the same focus and interest for my whole career but worked across multiple sectors.”
Read the rest of the discussion with Yatu here.
Genevieve Phelan, she/her, communications consultant
“Reach out to people whose work you deeply connect with and look up to. It will make their day, likely make your day, and could be the start of something special (workwise or otherwise). Also — because suddenly 100 tips have come to me — celebrating and publicising your own wins is HUGE and important.”
Read the rest of the discussion with Genevieve here.
Jasmine Dowling, she/her, freelance creative
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“Make time for personal work. Most of the time in a freelance creative job you are hired off work you’ve already done. Making time to experiment or work with a new medium can not only open new doors for you but also means you’re constantly evolving and improving your craft. Often your early client projects may not be the type of work you want to attract, so create a body of work that truly represents you. Most potential clients won’t care if you were paid for that portfolio work or not.”
Read the rest of the discussion with Jasmine here.
Courtney Ray, she/her, CEO of Daily Blooms
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“I think for anyone wanting to start their own business, [know] there is never an ideal time. Once you have an idea and a plan on how to roll it out, just go for it. It doesn’t matter how much you think about something – the reality will always be different. You will need to change and adapt to curve balls and unexpected events in real time.
You also don’t need to risk everything to start. I think it is really smart to start small or start as a side hustle. You just need a bit of forward momentum and you can grow from there.”
Read the rest of the discussion with Courtney here.
Anthea Waller, she/her, Public Relations Manager at The Australian Ballet
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“Explore as many different industries as you can. You might be working in an industry that you don’t particularly have any affinity to, but without realising, you’re going to refer back to all these experiences in your future roles and apply your experience in many situations.
“When you start out in PR you might feel like you’re stuck in media lists, media monitoring, clippings and reports – it may seem boring at first but if you flip your perspective slightly, this is actually the perfect way to learn about the media landscape, the names of journalists and what they write about or report on. You will be consuming and reading so much and that, in turn, creates the best foundations for your career in PR.”
Read the rest of the discussion with Anthea here.
Alicia Tan, she/her, Puma’s Head of Brand Marketing
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“Live and breathe the brand that you work for. The brand’s values need to resonate with your own personal values. I think the most important advice is that you need empathy and be inquisitive about consumers to give them what they want – otherwise, it’s all noise to them. So stay relevant, stay focused, keep listening and have conversations to shape your approach to the type of marketer you want to be.”
Read the rest of the discussion with Alicia here.
Read the rest of the How I Got Here series here.
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