Do you want to be McDonald’s or do you just want to be the little Deli down the road?!
I was once working for a large e-tailer (over 200 brands + moving hundreds of thousands of products per day – mass, fast fashion!) and found myself making the case (yet again) with one of the directors to scale back on the number of vendors for what I believed would allow better quality of product, a stronger customer experience and, through my projections, ultimately increase profit. This way of operating didn’t really translate well in this “more, more, more, bigger, bigger, bigger” environment and to prove his point that I needed to be increasing the portfolio, he asked me “Do you want to be Mcdonald’s or do you just want to be the little deli down the road?!”
The ‘little deli down the road’ just happened to be one of my favourite food stores in the world! It was owned by a beautiful Italian family who were all so passionate about every single little thing they stocked, which included some of the best local produce as well as their own curation of delicacies from around the world. People would line up waiting for them to open on a Saturday morning.
It was in a great location in Sydney and was very successful in its own right so this question didn’t hit me in the way it was intended, referring to the age old narrative of the starving creative vs commercial wealth narrative, and that you can’t be both! Instead, it just made me realise I was in the wrong position, in the wrong place. I was a Deli girl! I wanted to be the deli down the road; full of creativity, passion, integrity and soul.
The question, and more importantly my response, reminded me of why I’d gotten into the industry in the first place - my love of creativity, the magic and connection that can be created through design and the levels of craftsmanship, care and attention to detail I had come to deeply appreciate after having worked with some of the finest luxury brands and creative geniuses in the years prior…
I left that role shortly after that conversation.
It still took me another few years trying to juggle the desire to further my career and ‘reach the top’ of what I could achieve professionally and still stay true to myself and my values. It was an ongoing inner battle through my last few years in the fashion industry, both in management roles and as I stepped out on my own and started my consultancy.
It remained a struggle until the day I signed a contract for a project with the largest fast-fashion retailer in the world. It was the perfect client to have within my portfolio; to show what I was capable of and allow me to start scaling my business, quickly. But I didn’t even celebrate signing the client. I distinctly remember thinking that I’d just sold my soul! (This only sounds dramatic to anyone who is not aware of how these retailers operate, as I was starting to truly see first-hand and learn at the time.)
And, only as life can and will, the signs got louder and the feeling got worse as the project went on. I finished the project early, closed my little office and took some time out (or had a complete mid-life crisis, depending on who you ask!).
The break became a catalyst for starting to manage not-for-profit partnerships and collaborations with aligned retailers and brands before I took a complete hiatus from the industry and started working with not-for-profit and health and wellbeing brands.
*For some transparency this was not a smooth, all rainbows & unicorns like process – this was starting all over again, making major changes in my life. It was stressful, it was challenging, I lost huge amounts of money and I spent 99.9% of the early stages of those changes questioning WTF I was doing!
Over the next couple of years, outside of lecturing at a college and mentoring a few small-medium creative brands which I still loved, I didn’t really think I’d step back into the industry again.
On a trip to Morocco early last year, the creative spark was ignited again in the souks of Marrakech - the soulful sense of craftsmanship, the creative sensory overload, the connection, the care that goes into being invited into homes to sit and sip tea while meeting the artisans and business owners - I felt the pang to be back creating, to be around inspiring creatives, to be able to get lost in the process of creativity again … all the things I loved but had gotten lost in the hustle and grind.
Another trip back to Morocco and Europe a few months later further ignited the spark and gave me the time and space to start finding my own way of firstly enjoying all the things I love about the creative process, from connecting ideas and people together to nurturing a vision that’s bursting to come alive, and then starting to look at how they could all come together in a business setting again.
I read a beautiful statement from Marie-France Cohen, the founder of Merci (one of my favourite concept stores in the world) explaining why she continues to create and has come out of retirement so many times to start new brands and retail destinations. ‘‘When you are creative, you need to create,’’ she says. ‘‘Or else you perish.’’ In my own little way this was how I was starting to feel.
Creativity in its purest form is something to be deeply appreciated, respected and celebrated.
My way of working today is designed to let me enjoy the things I love in the creative industries, unapologetically say no to the things that do not align with my values and help me to play my part contributing to the kind of world I want to live in and be a part of.
There’s some exciting things in the pipeline – creative retreats, educational resources for freelancers and start-ups and campaigns with non-profits I work with that I hope will create further opportunities for creatives to connect and collaborate in this space. But, like everyone else at this point in time, I'm taking it slowly, step-by-step as the world shifts and changes daily. And through any of the frustrations and arising challenges, I’m trying to keep my focus on quality not quantity and integrity not impressions. Alongside all of these changes and constant adaptations, I’m bringing myself back to thinking long-term and planting seeds through this time of re-set that will be ripe for picking when the time is right! I’m inspired by the changes already taking place within our industries and i’m hopeful for what the future will bring.
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P.S The e-tailer I was working for is no longer in business – there was not enough infrastructure to scale that quickly or enough listening to consumer and market changes. And the deli? It still has an eager stream of loyal customers lining up down the street most days of the week! It’s thriving through a Pandemic! True creativity and integrity will always stand the test of time, greed will not! (And, I will always find a way to prove a point! Ha!!)