Most common question in my life LOL!!
Hey folks - hope yall are having an awesome holiday season! I am lol I am currently sitting in the back yard at my folks' place in Arizona, under a palm tree, writing :) I said at some point I would talk about my job, so here goes :) Every full time job that I have had since I graduated university has lead to me this position - my dream job!
The several steps to preloved:
- The most awesome Sales Manager hired me on a whim at Greyhound Courier to cover a territory that had been empty for a bit!
- Then, said amazing manager left, leaving me the BIGGEST tool of a sales manager I have ever come across in my life... So I left there and moved over to Mustang Freight where again said wicked sales manager was now working and hired me on a whim to cover a mat leave!
- So now I am like 22 years old working in LTL freight sales! In Edmonton & Fort Mac! I thought THIS was my dream job - so when they offered me a permanent position I couldn't say no! Except... it was too good to be true and at the end of the mat leave, I had to leave! HOWEVER - during this stint I had the opportunity to working with a group of wholesale fashion agents who used our systems to haul freight from show to show! Key piece of info here...
- Because after moving home from Australia one of those agents called me up and wanted to hire me!!! Could not even believe it?! A career in fashion?! A career in sales?! LIFE made!! I made some awesome connection here... Like my now boss Jules! Turns out this lady who hired me was two sips short of a wine bottle and I decided I didn't care how much I wanted this career, working for her was NOT how I was going to go about it!
- So I quit... and as fate would have it, Jules @ preloved posted on facebook that they were hiring a sales team! 5 years of sales experience needed! Haha well Jules, Jaya & I had gotten pretty close over the last 5 months so I thought... why not?! I applied saying "I don't have 5 years of experience but the 5 months of experience I do have is from selling your brand through this agency!!" AND BOOM!! Someone else in this world took a chance on me! I loaded up my car and drove my ass out to Toronto, mainly to take care of my man who had just had surgery but also to see Jules again and meet the preloved team!!
And here we are... a year and a half-ish later! I am the National Sales Manager for Preloved and could not be happier!! The basic version of what I do is "I sell the preloved collections wholesale to retail stores"! But it is so much more than that.
Recap of preloved history:
Preloved is a Canadian lifestyle brand started over 20 years ago with its heart in Toronto, ON! Preloved styles incorporate vintage & dead-stock fabrics to form these stunning, new and modern pieces for the conscious, fashion forward consumer. We used to have our own retail stores in Toronto, Vancouver & Montreal but now focus solely on wholesale and sell to 400 boutiques worldwide including collaborations with Holt Renfrew, Anthropology, Pink Tartan & Roots. Preloved also specializes in vintage Levi's, army jackets & denim jackets!
Being part of the preloved team is like being part of a crazy little family - seriously little, there was Jules, Yuko, Eva, Jaya, Mandy, me and a crowd of interns coming and going! I say was because Eva left my ass... JK love you chicka! And Christy came in basically full time to deal with my demanding-ness!! HAHA!! We also joke around that we are basically the UN haha! We've got Italians, Ukrainians/Sweeds, Japanese, Bangladesh(ian) haha sorry Jaya?! Bangali? I don't know how to say it LOL, Jamaicans, Chinese, Jaya calls Mandy a Mexican I think?! Haha anyways - we are defo a well rounded team! We have had Jewish interns, interns from Dubai, everyone from all over!! No Aussies though (unless you count you know who ... Jaya...)
Now, I have drove across the country like 4 times - learned toronto - met so many new people - and I have only just begun!
This job has allowed me to fullfill l life long dreams like:
- visiting Chicago, New York, Vancouver Island and everywhere in between
- meeting fun loving store owners
- connecting with awesome people in the same positions as me with different brands
But my fave part is being part of the team & getting to witness the process from design to sale!
I am an asshole lol & the girls in the office hate dealing with me most days but at the end of the day I send them starbucks gift cards and they photoshop me into the christmas photo, and that right there is love!
Next adventure:
Because it is the holidays I get the luxury of working from my laptop down here in AZ - but come January I am back to Toronto to get geared up for the AW18 selling season. Thats Autumn/Winter 2018 btw. LOL I sell a season ahead - I start selling AW18 as SS18 (Spring/Summer 2018) starts shipping to our awesome retailers!
- Jan-Feb // life in toronto
- Mar-Apr // life on the road
- May-June // life working from home (pop-up-shoppssss LOL)
- July-Aug // life in toronto
- Sept-Oct // life on the road
- Nov-Dec // life working from home
The basic cycle of my life :) I wake up everyday looking forward to what new adventure awaits that day :)
Anyyyywho - I actually think my face is sunburnt from sitting out here... keep your eyes peeled for when I blog from out east!!
Chat soon // misty-dawn x
Merry Christmas :)
