Alana Saphin has a background in marketing roles in Sydney, Singapore and New York. In New York, she worked in corporate marketing for Twitter, and in Singapore, she worked for Skyscanner and started a digital marketing consultancy.

On returning to Sydney, Alana has started two businesses in the fashion industry. One is a marketing business to support small fashion retailers. The opportunity was born out of the online boom during the Covid pandemic. The second business is a fashion label.

Alana is passionate about marketing because the most outstanding marketers tell a story. The marketer has to believe in the product they are promoting. She loves storytelling.

If you are passionate about your product then you can tell a story, you can be a marketer. Of course, storytelling is going back to how marketing started. Consumers want an emotional connection. They don’t want Google or Facebook telling them what to buy.

The fashion label Alana is developing has a story: remnant fabrics, made in Australia, sustainable process. She meets the makers and understands where the fabrics come from.

Alana sees the remote team as the future of work. Hire the right skills at the right price regardless of location. 

Alana does not see herself as a leader, just a person starting a business. She selects people for her team who want to succeed. All of her team members are passionate about what they are doing. 

Advice for young graduates: In life, you can get lucky. Lucky is the people you choose or have in your life. Everything else requires hard work. Jobs do not just fall in your lap. Take every opportunity and give it your best. Find something you are passionate about, and then it does not feel like work.