A Day In The Life Of… The Style Co.

The Style Co. , A Day In The Life Of, Inspirational Women, events, Style, Career Advice, Career Development

Ever wanted to step into somebody else’s shoes for the day and see what life is like as a magazine editor, a professional sportsperson or corporate high-flyer..? Well, SHESAID is giving you the closest thing to your very own Freaky Friday experience with our A Day In The Life Of… series.

Names and roles

Marie Cruz and Sarah Gonsalves, owners of The Style Co.

Tell us about The Style Co. How did it come about and what makes it unique to others?

The Style Co. was born from Marie’s frustrations over the lack of unique options to customise the design and feel of her own wedding. This belief that every event whether it be an wedding or private event, should be customised to make people feel something, is the oxygen that fuels our super talented team of twelve to continuously show clients that thinking outside the box is the only way to execute an event.

When did you both discover your talent? Where you always creative bodies?

Marie: I’ve always been creative, from making jewellery right through to designing stationery, so event design was a natural progression and one that only become my serious career path after years of working as travel agent left me feeling uninspired and hungry to start my own business.

Sarah: I was lulled into the world of events whilst completing an internship at a creative agency. It was here that I fell in love how styling could significantly impact people’s experiences and I knew that finally I had found my calling.

You create beautiful custom events that continually push the boundaries, do you ever feel the pressure to continually design, create and impress?

We love the challenge of continuously thinking outside the box and designing something that is innovative, fresh and experiential. We don’t feel any pressure externally, it’s more so an internal drive within our team, that sees us always reaching for bigger and brighter ideas that we know will create lifelong memories for our clients and their guests.

Where do you find your inspiration?

Our inspiration comes from so many amazing places, particularly from this amazing city – Melbourne! We’re obsessed with architecture, interiors, fashion, travelling and soaking up the millions of beautiful images we see on blogs and Pinterest.

The Style Co is now in its fifth year of operation, congratulations! What were the initial stumbling blocks and how have you overcome them?

The finance side of the business. Day to day cashflow was difficult to manage at the beginning. It’s not something that comes easily to a lot of creatives and also something you don’t think about when starting a creative business. Not being able to pay myself an income the first few months also meant that I took a hit personally and had to juggle bills and a mortgage.

What are your goals for the future and the future of The Style Co.?

To continue pushing the boundaries and showing people the possibilities when designing events. We also have our eyes set on doing a few events overseas and workshops.

What advice would you give to someone hoping to follow in the same career path as yourself?

Get as much experience as possible. If it means putting your hand up for free work, do it. And work hard! Call the people in the industry that inspire you and ask them what they look for when hiring. Each business is looking for something different.. but something we all have in common is that we’re all looking for the hardest working and most eager to learn.

Your workdays are much more exciting than the average 9 to 5. What does a work day for you involve? Particularly if you were planning or the day of an event!

The designing and planning of an event can sometimes be more hectic than event day itself.. but there really is no typical day..

Marie

6:45am: Hit snooze on the old alarm

7am: Wake up, get ready and pack Harrison’s things

8am: Wake Harrison up, feed him and get him ready (pray to God I don’t have a screaming baby on my hands)

8.45am: Head to work with baby on board

9am: Have breakfast and check my emails

9.30am: Daily team meeting to discuss the week ahead

10am-6pm: Is generally filled with site visits, concept meetings, supplier meetings, sourcing, workshop and marketing planning all while juggling Harrison feeding routine.

6pm to 7pm: Client meetings where the team present our latest concepts

7.30pm: Put Harrison to bed, have dinner and catch up on daily gossip with hubby or watch the next episode of whatever series I happen to be obsessed with at the time

10pm: Respond to emails and troll the Internet for design inspiration or check out and obsess over unrealistic holiday destinations that I can’t take a baby to (sad face).

11:30pm: Hit the sack and hope that bub sleeps through the night.

Sarah

6am: Alarm goes off. Denial sets in…….snooze!

6:15am: Alarm goes off again!!! Get up & shower relunctantly. Throw on some (hopefully clean) gym gear, grab a change of clothes and head out the door.

6:30am: Drive to Pilates listening to Triple J.On the way I’m brainwashing myself by repeating the mantra ‘exercise is a good thing’

7am: Pilates with some of my fellow Style Co. team members

7:45am: Pull my broken body off the reformer bed and hit the showers.

8:30am: Back in the car heading to the studio.

8:45am: Arrive at studio, make brekky whilst gossiping about the night before’s Bachelor episode. #welovebachie

9am: Sit down and map out my day and prioritising my tasks.

9:30am: Daily Meeting with the team to get a run down of everyone’s top priorities.

10:00am – 6:00pm: A standard ‘work’ day consists of lengthy phone calls with overwhelmed brides, site inspections, new client appointments, management meetings, design presentations, catching up on my fav blogs and daydreaming on Pinterest.

6:30pm: Switch into girlfriend mode (Damien my boyfriend also works at The Style Co.) and we head out for a bite to eat choosing from a Broadsheet wishlist he’s enthusiastically created over the weekend.

9:30pm: Get home, shower, read a chapter of whatever happens to be resting on my bedside table.

10:30pm: Bedtime. *High-five* Damien for remembering to turn the electric blankets on!

Images via The Style Co.