Can you tell us about your early years growing up in Sydney and your future aspirations?
I grew up in the leafy suburbs of Sydney and have memories of just roaming around the streets with my best friend. There was always something to do and none of it involved looking at an iPad or watching TV. We’d climb onto our neighbour’s roof, or make floral bouquets from the garden or swim in the pool. I had a large cupboard off my bedroom and my parents let me paint it. I suppose I knew two things about myself growing up – I was creative, and I loved animals. I always had a growing collection – dogs, cats, birds, rabbits, guinea pigs. My best friend had a farm in the country and some of my happiest memories are spending the holidays there horse riding or avoiding snakes.
You studied fashion at the London College of Fashion and in your book, you describe feeling validated for the first time with your writing. Can you tell us more?
I still remember that moment very well actually. I’d never felt seen at school. It was a very academic school and while I had a fantastic art teacher and was able to spend hours in the darkroom processing photos, art wasn’t taken seriously. To be seen, you needed to master subjects like science and maths. I also found English lessons challenging – I write in a very chatty, conversational style. We were supposed to use long, florid sentences and never start a sentence with words such as ‘but’ or ‘and’ (something I do all the time now). There were so many rules on how we should write and no room for exploring our own style. When I decided to enrol in a semester aboard at the London College of Fashion, I had no idea what to expect. When we started the fashion journalism module, I felt right at home. We were asked to write a story, and mine was read out to the class as an example of great fashion writing. I wanted to cry – my work had never been read out to the class at school. Here I was, in the middle of London, and I was being given the validation I needed to push forward with my career. Sometimes, we need to take the long road to get to these moments of validation.
You were the Deputy Editor of Australian Vogue which sounds hugely glamorous - but what led you to this - a lucky break, years of hard work?
It was a very, very glamorous job and one I worked very hard for. I always knew I wanted to work in fashion magazines. Ever since I was a teen, I’d race down to the newsagency and buy all the new copies of my favourite magazines. As a teenager, I started buying international editions of VOGUE, the UK edition being my favourite. I started working at a publishing company as an assistant while I was finishing my media degree. When I finished, I joined the company full-time. It was the same company that published VOGUE. I got a job at VOGUE in the end through sheer determination. I emailed the then-editor of VOGUE for two years expressing my interest in working for the magazine. In that time, I left the company and moved to Dubai for two years where I worked on the launch edition of Harper’s BAZAAR Dubai. I’d continued to email her during my time away. She never wrote back, until one day, she did. I had a job interview – and got the job! Working in magazines was a very rewarding, challenging and glamorous chapter of my career and one I’m very grateful for.
You then spent years working at Vogue being flown around the world for shows, launches, and interviews with celebrities. Were they the halcyon days of magazines?
They really were – I was flown all over the world. To Paris for the Couture shows. To Seoul to see an exhibition of Prada skirts. To Hong Kong to see a Louis Vuitton jewellery exhibition. To New York to interview Tommy Hilfiger. I was in my 20s, had no children, and I was free to go wherever I liked. I look back and can’t believe some of the things I got to do – it was all so extravagant, and unashamedly so. I guess all the travel made up for the salaries being so low. Magazines have changed so much since I left. They’re no longer what they once were, but it has been great watching some brands evolve into powerful digital brands. I still love magazines and feel they have their place.
When did the shift occur for you in terms of what you wanted to do… when did the shine wear off?
I fell pregnant when I was at VOGUE. At first, I believed this little bump that kept getting bigger and bigger wouldn’t change a thing. As my pregnancy progressed, I kept asking people what I should read. Where were all the great magazines and websites? Turns out, there were none. There were plenty of websites which would tell me what fruit my baby was the size of (which by the way, is important and for some reason fascinating information when you’re pregnant). I wanted to read other women’s stories. What was their experience of motherhood – and what did I need to know? I started workshopping the idea for a website for mothers. Something beautifully photographed and written that resembled a magazine. I launched the site when Arabella was around 10 months old. I’d become so fascinated by the world of motherhood, and less interested in fashion. My second arrived 17 months later, and it was a very difficult birth. I experienced a post-partum haemorrhage six weeks after the birth and needed five blood transfusions. It was such a life-changing experience, and I knew I couldn’t go back to magazines. I could do it all – but not all at once. I couldn’t do the big job, and be the kind of mum I wanted to be, so I closed that chapter and left.
