Your career has evolved while at RUBY - can you talk to us about your journey?
My journey at RUBY has been a highlight of my life over the last 8 years. I started in the RUBY Christchurch store while at UC, as a part time gig to support my studies (as many students do) unbeknownst that this part-time role would be the start of my career.
After finishing my LLB and BCom, I moved into the role of Community Manager at RUBY (think HR + administration + health and safety), which was a bit of a baptism by fire as we went into the 2021 lockdown only a few weeks after I started. This role really made the most of the knowledge I gained throughout my studies.
When we returned to the office, I took responsibility of the stock team, managing the flow from production to our physical stores. From there my role evolved to overseeing the e-commerce operations and then into the Community & Operations Manager role.
I led the businesswide re-platform of our internal tech stack. This project was a major learning curve for me and one of the defining experiences of my career and something I am so proud of. It was a joy to lead a project of this size despite the amount of work it took. Let’s just say, the Uber Eats drivers in the Grey Lynn area made a killing from our team in those final three months leading up to our go-live date!
Following the successful implementation of this project, I moved into the Head of Digital & Logistics role where my shift into the marketing space began. About a year later, I became Head of Marketing. This role pushed me to the edge of where I thought my skills extended, yet every time I learned that I have been more than capable. This has been exceptional for my growth not only as a senior leader within my department but also within the wider business. I have loved being able to deepen and share my knowledge and have an impact across all areas of the business and as a part of the RUBY executive team.
RUBY is one of Aotearoa New Zealand's eminent fashion labels - take us through a day in your life working with the brand.
No two days were ever the same which was one of my favourite things about my role!
Retail is a reactive industry so we start each day reviewing sales, site stats and comms from our retail stores. Then we get into project work like our recent RUBY Says Recycle pop-up at Smith & Caugheys.
Afternoons are for meetings with my team or other HODs - a highlight was seeing previews of upcoming collections!
While this might be a normal day in my role, one day I can be at the top of a 3m high ladder hanging DIY wall curtains from the roof of a pop-up store, or trying to move a giant teddy bear into our Ponsonby store. This is what I love most about the role, you sometimes never know where a day may end up, but that’s half the fun of it!
What was your favourite thing about your job? What was the most challenging?
As cheesy as it may sound, it truly is the people. The RUBY team are not only the best people to work with but are now some of my close friends. Every aspect of the role is enjoyable when you get to work with passionate people who care so deeply about what they do.
From a purely work perspective, I have to admit I’m a bit of a nerd. I love diving into a new tech platform, or analysing data and formatting it in a beautiful spreadsheet that deserves a feature in a design magazine. Similarly, I find problem solving rewarding, whether that be refining a process that isn’t quite right, or on your feet solving an issue with a creative solution.
The most challenging is the reactivity. As mentioned earlier, retail is an ever-changing game, even from one day to the next. You can have a picture-perfect strategy (or week plan!) mapped out, and sometimes 24 hours later, that plan is no longer right and you need to re-strategise. While it's challenging, my experience at RUBY has allowed me to deeply develop the ability to review a situation, evaluate the impacts on key departments or our Rubettes, and make a decision that is best for the business, customers and team.
You're about to head off on your OE, what plans do you have in mind?
Yes! It feels strange to even say that I am heading off to London, in just under 2 months now. I'm looking for a senior role in the fashion space in the UK, to grow further the skills that I have learnt over my time at RUBY.
I guess in the least subtle shameless plug to ever exist, if anyone is looking for someone in the Digital, Marketing or Operational space in London… 🙋🏼♀️
You were a member of the LAWSOC Exec during your time at UC - can you tell us about that experience?
I got involved in the club scene after attending LAWSOC events in my second year. I made an effort to attend these, as I had transferred to UC from VUW and as a result, didn’t know a lot of my LLB year group.
The following year I decided to take part in Law Revue as I was studying with friends who were already involved. I had such a great time and made good friends (that I have still to this day!) that in my fourth year, I decided to apply for the role of Promotions Officer within LAWSOC.
This role was my first experience working in a more 'real life' business, where you didn’t necessarily have an 'adult' to guide you through what to do. It was a great opportunity to learn how to work autonomously on executing a large-scale idea (i.e. ensuring a sell-out Law Revue, or Law Ball), or designing that year's LAWSOC t-shirts. I learned a lot during my time in this role, skills which I even have leaned on recently! Such as when I moved into my role as Head of Digital, and two days later had to attempt to put up an ad on our socials for our annual RUBY Garage Sale, without our Performance Marketing Manager. Luckily this was something I knew how to do, as a result of having run ads to help sell Law Revue tickets during my time as Promotions Officer.
It is cool to look back on that time and experience and to see that it really can be valuable when you step out into the real world.
