I see my job as a reflection of my personality. Being a Production Director in the fashion industry means working alongside celebrities, top models, talents, publicists, public relations agencies and fashion brands from all over the world, with a countless amount of unforeseen events. I wasn’t attracted by the wow-factor of working with famous people but what there was behind their scenes. I have always been a great doer or, to give a better idea, an impeccable ‘organiser’ as I enjoy the whole creative planning / execution processes in many aspects. It is quite funny to think I never really thought I would do this job at the beginning of my career. I started my own projects when I was 18 and was mainly looking to meet as many photographers as possible so I could get inspired by them and ask them questions. I was so curious to know how to create images and how to bring a project to life. Planning a photo or video shoot was mainly a necessity by the time, and I ended up organising everything on my own most times. That eventually made me realise I was very good at this job. When I started to work at the magazine, my network has really expanded so I wanted to bring a creative team of people together. Stepping in the production world was the best decision I made. My role models are my mum and dad. No one I have seen working as hard as them. They aren’t in the same business as me, but I got so inspired by their work ethic, humility and ambition.

3.) Everyone in life goes through adversity of some sort. Is there anything in your life that has any influence on the work that you do? What is the most difficult thing you’ve had to endure on your path to becoming an entrepreneur?

Accepting the fact that sometimes you can’t control the uncontrollable. My job is all about planning, negotiating, controlling, but sometimes things can get out of hands and there is nothing you can do. I had to cancel or postpone a few important jobs due to many unexpected events I could not solve. After years of experience I would say always have two or three alternative plans in addition to what you have worked on already. It’s frustrating when you know it’s not your fault or anyone else’s really, but I have definitely learned to stay positive and think of every difficult event or obstacle as a chance to learn something new. Everything happens for a reason, always!

4.) How do you prepare yourself to create? What is your process?

It depends on if it’s a client job or a personal project. I want to be honest; clients are demanding and you have to follow their brief. You can suggest and add in your creativity, but it’s good to keep in mind that you must keep the client happy. Most of my clients are fashion brands with their own aesthetic or music labels representing talents they work with. I create a team of people who are able to connect and communicate together. Everything starts with following the creative brief and recruiting the team of photographer and wardrobe stylist. Once these two have been set, you want to make sure there is a clear idea of the project – if it’s a talent feature it means that this has been organised from myself through PR agencies or from a magazine editor, who is usually in touch with freelance writers and reading press releases. When a model is starring instead, there is a whole process behind it that requires a lot of time, attention and experience; you do this through model agencies, getting in-town models available or packages of models over-sea that you can fly in where the project is taking place. Then you must research and recruit make-up and hair, manicurists, prop stylists or set designers, assistants and so on… and oh, I did not forget about the most important thing, the budget. If there is money to produce there will be better results. It’s not a matter of spending money just for the sake of it, but the more you have available, the more people can get involved into the project, which means big times. This is just my personal opinion, fashion to me should be fun. So many creative minds together in a room means – chaos and creation – a great way to quote the title of Franca Sozzani’s documentary about her life and career. If you haven’t watched, please please do!

5.) Unfortunately many industries are full of talented individuals who more or less become the “starving artist” and don’t get any recognition for their talent and/or hard work. What do you plan to do to make sure you stand out and get noticed?

I don’t mean to start this on a negative note, but I have learned a lot during the years. I used to blame other people when I was younger as I wasn’t satisfied with myself and my work. Don’t expect anyone to knock on your door and bring what you want. In the fashion industry it might not be easy to get recognition, but it’s not impossible. I have seen young interns becoming international artists and designers without getting any help from others. You must work for what you want, no one else can put in the work better than how you do it for yourself. I believe that consistency is key in life, and not only applies in this business, but in many aspects of our life. If you are consistent, without letting difficulties let you down, you will get what you want. It won’t be an easy ride, but if you don’t give up you will get there eventually. I want to be recognised as a professional, reliable and positive human being to be around. Go to events, email who you want to connect with, participate to concerts, fashion shows, after parties during fashion week, show yourself to the world and never ever look back.

6.) Would you rather work for a big corporation or would you rather stay independent? Why or why not? What makes one better than the other? Are you able to make a living with your art? If so, how were you able to attain a career doing what you love? If not, what do you do in order to fund your business? What advice would give to someone who’s interested in pursuing a career in the creative industry?

I used to work full time as a Production Director for three fashion magazines at the publishing house Visual Talent LTD in London. I am lucky I get to work with them still although I have decided to go fully freelance. I made that decision after the pandemic and I think it was the right thing for me to do. I think there’s always going to be pros and cons in both situations, freelance is more risky as you could earn an X amount of money for a couple of months and then getting a bit quieter times, but you are your own employer and you get to travel for work way more often. On the other side, working for a corporation is a safe bet when it comes to salary. It gives you structure during the day at the office or working remotely with colleagues means participating to daily meetings, following sale and marketing briefs, going through different creative processes that might be helpful and fun if done with a team you know and are comfortable with. I have tried both and I can say I go through phases, but I have gone freelance for over 3 years now and I am pretty happy with my business. If anyone is interested in pursuing a career in the creative field, I would say write down what you really want to do and try to plan what you can, reach out to companies or artists directly and tell them you are new to the business and would love to collaborate. This business always need young creatives. You might not get paid much initially but trust me, I have worked over 6 months with no solid salary as an intern, in a company that taught me how to do this job from A to Z. It’s also important to consider LinkedIn as a powerful tool to connect. I know it might sound awkward but showing interest on there or anywhere else where you can get the chance to chat with experts and professionals, it’s a winning game for me no matter how it ends up. You often will get surprised on how many people could get back to you, without expecting too much.

7.) How do you think the internet and social media affected the creative industry and how artists are able to market themselves? Social media is obviously an extremely important element in today’s world, especially when it comes to business, branding, marketing, etc. With that being said, do you think an artist will be able to survive in today’s economy if they’re not social media savvy?

I am not social media savvy and I still get a lot of clients and publications who reach out to me on email. I think social media is a powerful tool and it should not be underrated when it comes to building business around it, and trying to earn money with it. There’s nothing wrong with the whole idea of being an influencer or whatever role you want to build around that, but I don’t think that great artists’ work would ever be forgotten due to their absence on social media. Tim Walker still doesn’t have instagram and to me he is one of the best artists of all time, still shooting non-stop for campaigns, high fashion brands and magazines. It’s more about how hard you work to build your reputation in the business rather than how many followers you may have on your profiles.

8.) Typically, entrepreneurs who try to create products and/or services for mass consumption for the general public and make more money are seen as “sell-outs.” Do you see it that way and if so, what do you plan to do to make sure that what you offer stays true to your brand and make a good living at the same time without having to “sell out”?

I don’t think I will ever aim for mass consumption, unless I would perhaps open my own magazine. In order to be able to make a good living without having to sell out is simply just work, work, work and learn from your mistakes. I have done so many in the past and I continue to do so. We never really stop learning from what we don’t do right and that is the best thing for a human who is trying to make it in a business. I think it’s all about getting enough experience and see what works best for you, how hard / often you need to work to make a decent amount of money. I can see people trying to sell silly stuff to make extra cash, especially online and you know what, although I wouldn’t do it I would respect whoever is putting some hard work in and grinding to make extra money. It’s our own decision, we are free to decide who to work with and how to portray ourselves to the outside world. There’s always people commenting anyways, so it doesn’t really matter. I recently discovered a few of the people I worked with, have been getting underpaid for a long time as scared to ask for more money to clients as scared to lose future jobs. One thing I would ask to myself is – why do you underestimate your time’s worth? Think about it.

9.) Professionally, where do you see yourself 5 years from now?

I would love to produce and cast for movies, films and music events around the world. I do love fashion a lot, but I would love to explore new paths where my job can extend to, and see how far I can go. Producing is such a versatile job role, easily adaptable to many different work environments – the best of all is what makes you happy.