This is the story of how it all begun. In third person, because that's how I'd like to remember it.
Audrey stepped into the media industry 10 years ago, as a 17 year old. Young and naive, she started her blog to document bits and pieces of her late mother. You wouldn't expect this from a girl her age, and what accompanied the dark prose and hasty recollection of events. After all, she was 17.
She was offered an ambassadorship contract with Shiseido's younger sister brand within 6 months of launching clumsily into the blogosphere (a word that is obsolete and irrelevant now). Despite not knowing where it would take her, she went in great faith and took the contract. She worked with the company for 5 years attending media events, gracing glossy magazines, getting dolled up by top makeup artists for shoots and more. She met people, lots and lots of people. Funny because she initially thought that she would be blogging until graduation, and eventually take a dreaded leave to find a "proper office job" whatever that is.
She wrote so many goodbyes on this blog. Too many to count in fact. Well kept in her archives, with each one marking a milestone. Graduation from her second diploma, she thought that she might have to focus on her studies. She enrolled herself into University, took on double degree majors and juggled a full time job while at it. She gave up on her blog, and the steady income that came along with it. However, blessed was she when Instagram came along. A platform that offered users to offer bite-sized information about their lives. Perfect!
Like everything else, Audrey was late to the game. After all, it is in her blood to be a late bloomer in regards to trends. She never watched popular tv shows to catch up with conversations. She never shackled to mainstream games. She set up her Instagram account more than 6 months after it became popular among her peers, who were way ahead of her in their game. She was lagging behind by the thousands, yet she decided to set up an account not directly related to her name. She thought that it would help her disconnect from her online persona.
She bought her first secondhand DSLR despite everyone telling her that she would be happier with a cute pink compact camera. A close friend even told her that, a phone camera would be sufficient if she wanted to pursue photography. It was obvious that no one took her seriously. As a girl, she felt that there was simply too much she couldn't do.
She was as stubborn as hell and refused to adhere to the standards shoved into her hands. She made lots of videos in her free time, shot waaaayy too many pictures for fun. She got noticed somehow and people started looking beyond her online persona.
Close to 3 years ago, she became proud employee of a startup that sat around 2 office tables for lunch. She believed in the company's humility as a young startup, the culture and everything beyond the glossy pictures. Today, TheSmartLocal mentors close to 100 bright, passionate young people who don't treat work like work. People who are not just numbers on a spreadsheet or commodity to recruiters. Here's to us achieving far more than what the naysayers say we can do, to breaking down gender stereotypes and getting closer to workplace equality! Happy International Women's Day girlfriends 👊🏻
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