“Working in fashion or starting your own business doesn’t have to be a pipe dream. You don’t necessarily need to know someone in the industry to make it happen.”
Have you ever stalked someone on LinkedIn and wondered how on earth they managed to land that wildly impressive job? While it might look like smooth sailing, there’s no doubt been a heck of a lot of hard work involved in getting there.
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 people 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 Bridie Alman, PR and Brand Communications Manager at Aje and co-founder of Flowerbed Nails. From the time she was a Teen Vogue Handbook-wielding teen, Bridie knew she wanted to work in fashion. Undertaking a Fashion and Communications degree in Wellington, Bridie single-handedly built her industry network using only her tenacity, enthusiasm and a number of introductory emails.
Moving from styling and journalism to the dynamic world of PR, Bridie worked through lockdown after her 2020 New York plans were derailed. For a year, she balanced freelance work, a job at creative agency Arc and the upcoming launch of her business, Flowerbed Nails. Burnt out and time-poor, she was left reassessing her priorities.
Bridie then landed her job with Australian fashion house Aje, involving “working on PR activities and marketing content initiatives”. Still creating curated nail designs alongside friend Crimson, Bridie’s professional journey has taught her “it’s okay to not always be ‘productive’… to create boundaries between work and life outside it.” Here’s what she’s learnt along the way.
What do you do and what’s your official job title?
I’m the PR and Brand Communications Manager at Australian fashion house Aje and the co-founder of Flowerbed Nails. During weekdays, I’m working on PR activities and marketing content initiatives across Aje and Aje Athletica.
This involves everything from events and activations to supporting content production, securing press, facilitating collaborations, and a sprinkle of copywriting. During the morning and evening, I’m working on Flowerbed Nails, which I co-founded with Crimson Dunstan. We tag team on everything together from packing orders to design and producing content.
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.
I’ve been obsessed with magazines since I was a kid and always knew I wanted to work in the fashion industry in some capacity. At first, I aspired to be a fashion journalist – reading every fashion memoir, watching behind-the-scenes documentaries and biopics, and following the careers of the likes of Tina Brown and Amy Astley.
The Teen Vogue Handbook was the closest case study I had to what a future career in fashion could look like. During high school in Christchurch, I emailed anyone and everyone in NZ vaguely related to fashion, asking to assist. I flew up to Auckland to volunteer at fashion weeks, worked as a digital intern at a PR agency and assisted local stylists.
During summers while studying Fashion and Communications at Massey Uni in Wellington, I’d come over to Sydney to intern in magazines three to four days a week, working in retail to support myself. Firstly at Russh through a cold email, then at Vogue. This was back before you needed to be earning university credits to be eligible to intern in Australia.
When the reality struck that full-time jobs in fashion journalism were few and far between, I looked towards PR. It offered the same ability to write and connect with designers and creatives on a daily basis. After interning at Vogue, I landed my first job looking after the showroom at a fashion PR agency, before moving onto creative agency Arc. I stayed for four years honing my skills in publicity, content production and developed a love for all things beauty too.
What challenges/hurdles have you faced getting to where you are now? Can you tell us about one in particular?
In February 2020, I’d sorted a temporary visa, sold most of my things, quit the job I loved at Arc and booked a one-way ticket to New York. Then, of course, COVID-19 hit and all of my carefully organised plans backfired.
Luckily, I was able to continue working three days a week at Arc. On my days off, I took on a few freelance clients and started ideating Flowerbed with my work bestie Crimson. Before long, I was getting up at 6am to start work and finishing at 10pm most evenings on calls with clients overseas.
While it was great to be busy during lockdown, I hit burnout quickly and had to reassess where I wanted to spend my time. Jia Tolentino’s ‘Always Be Optimising’ chapter in Trick Mirror was a catalyst in making me reprioritise, accepting that it’s okay to take rest and disconnect when the cogs of capitalism tell us we need to be running on. It’s okay to not always be ‘productive’ and to create boundaries between work and life outside it.
Now working at Aje full-time and running Flowerbed, I’ve found a balance where I’m able to have clear delineations of my time, keeping driven and creative while leaving lots of energy for a social life.
What do you want people to know about your industry/your role?
Working in fashion or starting your own business doesn’t have to be a pipe dream. You don’t necessarily need to know someone in the industry to make it happen. Most of the people I love in the local industry are hard workers from small towns across Australia that moved to Sydney after high school or uni.
We all grew up in the industry together and a lot of the people I started alongside, I now collaborate with across different facets of the industry. While interning, I worked with the divine Sean Brady in retail. Now he’s the master of makeup at our Flowerbed shoots, meanwhile working for titles like Dazed and Paper internationally.
What’s the best part about your role?
The best part of working in PR and content production is having the opportunity to observe the creative processes and build relationships with a broad range of inspiring designers, stylists, journalists, directors, and artists. I’ve had some real pinch-me moments – having beers with Lee Lin Chin, casting Andreja Pejić in a Bonds campaign and interviewing Paloma Elsesser during lockdown stand out as highlights. I’m grateful to say I’m working in my dream job.
The best part of Flowerbed, hands down, is seeing direct messages from strangers across the world saying Flowerbed brightened their day. There are few greater joys than knowing our little stickers are smiling back on the hands of someone on the other side of the world.
What would surprise people about your role?
At the end of the day, while getting to go to events and shoots is a fun part of the job, most of the time it’s a desk job like any other. Knowing how to write concisely, having excel spreadsheet wizardry, being hyper organised and budgeting are essential skills.
On Flowerbed, people are often surprised that it’s just Crimson and me. I walk down to the post office most mornings before work, Crimson looks after socials and customer service on the bus and we put aside a couple of nights a week for strategy, PR and creative planning. For anything we don’t know how to do, we call on friends (hello Jas and Shy at After Hours). We’re still learning how to outsource and ask for help.
What skills have served you well in your industry?
Having a strong work ethic never goes unnoticed. From the get-go, I felt grateful to have the opportunity to work in fashion. Working in a creative industry is a luxury, so whether someone asked me to steam a dress, get a coffee order, clean an accessories table or reorganise a cupboard, I’d try to do it with the same graciousness as any other task. People who can nail the small tasks consistently (and are fun to be around while they’re doing it) are naturally given more consideration and responsibility.
What advice would you give to someone who wants to be in a role like yours one day?
There are so many different jobs in fashion and beauty; lean into what you’re good at and run towards it. From accountants to pattern makers to copywriters… we all work together. When I first knew I wanted to work in fashion, I thought the only roles were a fashion designer, journalist or stylist – which all sound glamorous, but require very specific skill sets that don’t fit everyone. I realised early on that I was no seamstress, but loved the balance of writing, relationship building and creativity PR offered.
Also, patience is such a virtue. It’s not going to happen overnight. While having tenacity and a point of difference is important, above everything else, being consistently polite and hardworking is essential. Eventually, you’ll build a reputation and be in the right place at the right time. There’s no need to rush it.
What about a practical tip?
Go through the masthead of your favourite magazine or fashion PR agency on Instagram, find people whose work you resonate with and reach out to them via email with specific questions. Don’t be afraid to pick up the phone to make sure you’ve got the right point of contact. While most people won’t have time to sit and chat, it’s a quick way to make sure you’re on the right track or point you in the right direction. Being a publicist is all about finding your audience, asking the right questions and uncovering the best way to tell your story.
A practical tip for starting a business is to do just that, make a start. Don’t wait until everything is perfect or ‘just right’ otherwise, you’ll never do it. Crimson and I launched Flowerbed one week into the 2021 lockdown and while it wasn’t the big launch moment we were envisioning, having the extra time at home to pack orders and launch softly ended up being a blessing in disguise. You only uncover everything you don’t know once you get started.
Read the rest of the How I Got Here series here.
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