6:30am. I wake up and check my phone – some of my best work is actually done now. Then, when I arrive at work, I bombard Kate with all my thoughts and ideas.
7am. I’m up with the kids and out the door for school drop-off by 8:30am. We live just down the road, so most days we walk to school. Our school community is amazing and we always see familiar faces along the way.
8:30am. Most days we take a walk in Hagley Park – we are so lucky to have such a beautiful park in the middle of our city and we definitely utilise it as much as we can. Frankie, my dog, adores her morning walks and there is often a group of us who leave for a walk fromschool. If it’s just me and the dog, then I will listen to a podcast. I’m currently loving Petra Bagust's Grey Areas and Kate Ivey's DediKate – we have so many amazing women in New Zealand with podcasts! If it’s Kate, Amanda and me, we normally talk shop.
9:30am. Work starts, and the first thing Inormally do is make myself and Amanda a coffee – and one for Kate, if she needs another. Then we pack orders from the night before and normally have a quick team meeting about what needs to be achieved that day. Our roles all overlap so you are rarely working on something alone. Amanda and I might work on content for web and social, deciding what we need photographed next. Kate and I will discuss new retailers I’m going to approach and what geographic areas we need to target. Then Kate and Amanda might work on choosing colours for a new design Amanda is working on. Stock management is always a big chat. We recently collaborated with stylist Lou Heller and the beautiful Carrie twilly we created together keeps selling out.
12pm. Lunch time! Kate makes our lunch – eggs on toast – every workday. It’s our favourite and we haven’t changed it for years now.
1pm. More packing orders, before the courier arrives. We do everything ourselves so making sure every job gets done is important. We also name all our scarves after friends and family – Kate and Amanda know this is my favourite part of the process, so I always start that chat. Then it’s school pickup time and normally the kids have an after-school commitment.
4pm. Time to tidy the house, do laundry, make dinner and life admin. Normally Kate and I would send a few messages over this time, as it can be a busy worktime for the rest of the world. So between talking to our manufacturers, Australian retailers and customer queries there’s a few emails and WhatsApp messages flying around.
7:30pm. I end the day with some Instagram posting and social-media work before bedtime at 10:30pm. This is fun for me, and I love how instant it all is. We have made some amazing friendships and business relationships over Instagram. I’m definitely no expert, but I have fun and love that our little feed is a happy place filled with colour.
Dark Hampton’s elegant, vibrant Glackin silk scarf is our subscription offer for this month. Subscribe or gift a Shepherdess subscription for two years before 31st March 2024 and you’ll receive a beautiful Dark Hampton silk scarf, valued at $95.
This story appeared in our Ngahuru Autumn 2024 Edition.
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