Freedom Hunters

Anyone with a passing interest in fashion will have heard of Tash Sefton. She is one of Australia’s most successful fashion entrepreneurs.

Tash started out her career in fashion manufacturing, and moved into a business role, overseeing production, manufacturing and buying for one of Australia’s biggest streetwear brands, General Pants.

But it was when she started a blog called They All Hate Us with her friend and colleague, Elle Ferguson, that work and life changed for Tash. The runaway success of their website meant that she was able to leave her job behind and turn her website into a fully fledged fashion ecommerce business. From there she has gone on to co-host TV makeover show, Style Squad, create and se ll her artwork with her sister Hayley, and provide style consulting to corporates and private clients.

With her huge following Tash has also been able to shine a light on causes close to her heart such as conscious consumerism and animal preservation.

Tash talked to me about her career journey, which includes one of the funniest job resignation stories I’ve ever heard. She also tells it how it is to be a fashion entrepreneur: the hard work and long hours that go on behind the glamour of the Instagram grid, and how her approach to social media has completely changed as her career has developed.

 Tash’s Personal Styling site: Where Did Your Style Go

Tash and Hayley’s Art: Sefton & Segedin

Tash works with the Taronga Conservation Society

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In episode 8, Suzanne talks to Sally Hepworth. Sally started out her career in event management and HR, but it was while she was on maternity leave with her first child that she finally followed her instinct for writing and penned her first novel.

Her first book, the Secrets of Midwives, was the top selling debut novel in Australia in 2015. Fast forward a few years later, and Sally is the best selling author of five books.

Sally talks about about her career journey and how she made the change out of her HR career and into full time writing. She has some valuable advice about not giving up in the face of rejection. She also had interesting insights about the idea of women’s fiction, and how writers of the genre are having the last laugh. 

At the time of this episode, Sally's latest book, The Mother In Law, has just been released in the UK and USA.

 You can follow Sally on her Instagram @sallyhepworth, and her website, www.sallyhepworthauthor.com

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In episode 7, Suzanne talks to Naomi Mdudu. Naomi started her career as a fashion editor for some of the UK’s biggest print publications. Several grueling years later, Naomi dreamt up a career which involved the creation of content which was meaningful to her. This led to her establishing the Lifestyle Edit, an online destination and podcast designed for and about women entrepreneurs, their experiences, their challenges and their achievements. In addition to this, she is a business coach and consultant for female business founders all over the world.

In this episode Naomi talks about her decision to leave the print world behind, as well as how she made the transition from editor to business woman. Naomi also shares invaluable advice for anyone with a burning desire to start a business and follow their dream.

The Lifestyle Edit Website

The Lifestyle Edit Podcast

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Emily Johnston, blogger, columnist and digital content creator moved from South Carolina to London straight out of university to pursue her dream of forging a career in the art world. Early on, she found a role at an art auction house and ended up as a PR manager for the auction house.

But it was when she started her fashion industry news blog in her spare time, that life started to change for Emily. 

In this episode, Emily talks to Suzanne about how she transitioned from her corporate PR role to her current career which has involved the continued evolution of her hugely successful fashion and lifestyle blog, Fashion Foie Gras, as well as a column for Hello  magazine and collaborations with brands such as Ralph Lauren and Coach.

Emily shares the challenges of going freelance, how she stays true to herself on social media and how she developed her personal brand. She also has some fascinating insights into whether the body positivity movement has gone too far.

You can follow Emily on Instagram @emilyjanejohnston, and on her website Fashion Foie Gras.

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Today’s inspiring guest on Freedom Hunters is Lucy Beard. Originally from South Africa, Lucy started her career as a lawyer in London city law firms, and as an in-house lawyer for the UK’s largest commercial TV producer and broadcaster, ITV. She then spent two years as general manager of the broadcast technology company, SDN. It was during a grown up gap year of travelling around Europe that Lucy and her husband Leigh, also a lawyer, were struck with the idea of starting a gin distillery.

This led the two back to their native South Africa, where they started up Hope on Hopkins, Cape Town’s first artisanal gin distillery.

In this episode of Freedom Hunters, I talk to Lucy about how inspiration struck her and her husband to start up in the gin business, how they made the transition from lawyers to distillers and the importance of family and friends.

Hope on Hopkins: http://hopeonhopkins.co.za 

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Bola Marquis started out his career as a business analyst and then programme manager in industries including oil and gas, travel and advertising. It was his entrepreneurial spirit and creative flair that led him to leave it all behind (although not quite entirely - more on that in the podcast) to start up Okun, an African inspired swimwear brand that is stocked in luxury stores and online stockists including Matches and Mr Porter.   In this episode Bola talks about how he went about "opening the door" to his new career, serendipity, how he deals with failure and his unique take on job versus passion.   The Okun Instagram account, @okunbeachwear is a beautiful source of beach inspiration, and features heavenly African beaches with the colourful, vibrant African-inspired designs of Okun men's swim shorts. With womenswear in his sights for the coming year - watch this space.   Okun beachwear: www.okunlife.com  

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Celeste Wong started out her career as an actress and barista. Since moving to London, she has been listed as one of London’s top five baristas in The Financial Times and has held top positions in artisan cafes.

In recent years, in pursuit of more fulfillment from her work, Celeste produced and presented her own web series based around coffee and people in the coffee industry. That was the catalyst for her to develop the ultimate portfolio career. She is now a brand consultant, video producer and presenter, actress, blogger about all things coffee, lifestyle and travel and she has her own brand of coffee beans and merchandise.

Celeste talks to Suzanne about how she changed career from barista to multi-hyphen business woman, developing a brand and purpose and how she deals with failure.

The Girl in the Café: www.thegirlinthecafe.co.uk

Instagram: @the_girl_in_the_cafe

TGITC Web Series: www.thegirlinthecafe.co.uk/webseries/

TGITC coffee and merchandise: http://www.thegirlinthecafe.co.uk/shop/

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Chloe Roberts is a music industry executive in London. Her company has developed the careers of artists such as Zayn and Ellie Goulding and currently manages Rita Ora amongst other big names. Chloe also invented and launched a baby product, Lapbaby.

Chloe talks to Suzanne about how she got into the music industry, her style as an executive in a creative world, time's up in the music industry and what happened when she was presented with the opportunity to take her career in a completely different direction.

First Access Entertainment: www.firstaccessent.com

Lap Baby: www.lap-baby.com

Happy Not Perfect: https://happynotperfect.com/

Since recording the interview, Chloe has also started developing her own podcast, Corporate Buddha. In it, she’ll be talking to people about how they create work/life balance and how they bring their spirituality into the boardroom. You can follow her on Instagram @corporatebuddha

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