Besides the “how to start a blog” questions I recently received a lot of e-mails on how I started my so-called career. I don’t really like to use this word since it feels like writing down my professional memoires and it’s not that I’m there yet (where is there anyway). But even for myself it might be interesting to list all the points so here we go…

My entire life I wanted to become a fashion designer so after 6 long years of economy and modern languages I went to study an extra year of visual arts for only one reason, the be accepted at the Antwerp Fashion Academy. By chance I was living in the same building as a girl who studied at the academy and I ended up modeling for her. Seeing everything from the inside made me realize that giving up my entire social life, drawing and sewing all day wasn’t exactly the future I had in mind. So I chose translation Italian – French instead which even was a bigger bummer, for 10 long months I sat behind my desk learning words by heart. Good thing was that after one year I could have an actual conversation with those cute Italian men and I still speak French (not perfectly but I can express myself). Anyways, I felt the creative part in my mind freezing and I looked like a caged bird on the verge of a mental breakdown but the worst part was I had to call my mom to explain her I wanted to go studying something else… again. Thank God she’s a wise women who understood it was for the best! And so it happened that 3 years later I had a degree in communication.

Besides the studying part I always had a job or two to gain real life experience (and to earn some extra money to buy Dries Van noten shoes once in a while, let’s be honest ;)) I worked at Diesel and Essentiel, in a restaurant, at festivals and so on… It actually felt good to earn some money myself instead of just getting everything from my parents. My first ‘real’ professional experience came along during my final year at school when I did an internship at a small publishing house. All went so well that they send my résumé to a few of their contacts and before I even fully realized what was happening I started working at a fashion agency.

For 2,5 years I stayed at this showroom to learn all about wholesale but then the time had come to try out something else and I ended up at a PR company where I had the time of my life. But after 4 interesting years the caged bird feeling returned and even though it has been frightening, I decided to become a part time freelancer and I didn’t regret my decision at all. The past few months have been so exciting and even though I’ve been working 7 days a week, I’m so much enjoying the freedom of making my own choices.

I’m very happy how everything evolved but still… if I could give my younger self one major piece of advice I would say: go studying abroad for a year (or longer) before life gets too serious. There’s an entire world out there to discover so why stay in your hometown while you can meet new people and speak other languages so just go for it (maybe I should erase the “younger” part since it’s never too late to change your life but that’s a subject for another blogpost ;))

And oh yes, having a career is important and can be incredibly interesting but never ever forget to actually live a little.

 

Images: Pinterest