Getting The Gig

We’re calling it, House of Darwin will be the next big thing in Australia.

Welcome to Getting The Gig, a career series where we catch up with culture’s trailblazers on how they landed their dream job.

When it comes to the beauty industry, sustainable and eco-conscious aren’t often the first words that come to mind, which is why we’re just a little bit obsessed with Anna Ross, the boss babe behind vegan and cruelty-free beauty brand Kester Black.

Linn Sandstrom, 29, is a former table tennis pro and is about to fight for the Super Fly Title belt in boxing. How did she get there and score such a sweet gig? We caught up with her ahead of her fight on 7 July to find out. 

We caught up with Melbourne-based artist Dom Gauci to find how she turned her passion for art from a side hustle into an awesome full-time gig. 

When you think of tech gurus like Bill Gates and the late Steve Jobs, you think straight-talking, no nonsense leaders. Which is why it was a total breath of fresh—and surprising—air when we caught up with Danielle Krettek, the founder of Google’s Empathy Lab.

Being a third-generation South Asian woman who was raised in Queensland, Tasneem Shahidullah struggled for years to find the perfect lipstick shade for her skin tone, so she set about mixing and blending her own hues, eventually launching TASNEEM Cosmetics just over two years ago.

Enter swimwear guardian angels, Elise Wallbank and Julian Tali, who founded Youswim—a truly game-changing swimwear label that creates no size bikinis and one-pieces. Nope, that’s not a typo. They stock one size, in a rainbow of colours and cuts that adapts to fit a range of different shapes and sizes. Yes, they’ve basically created the swimwear version of the Sisterhood Of The Travelling Pants.

For someone who has designed sneakers for the likes of NBA legend James Harden, Macklemore and supermodel Ashley Graham, Vince Lebon is one down to earth dude. As the founder of shoe company Rollie, Lebon’s career has taken him from the western suburbs of Melbourne to Adidas' creative studios in New York, and yet he remains one of the most humble creatives I’ve had the pleasure of chatting with.

Allira Potter is a legit Jill of all trades. She’s a healer and psychic first and foremost, but she’s also a meditation teacher, reiki practitioner and most recently a life coach—yes you’ll want to enrol in the school of Allira Potter asap. In short, she’s a total boss babe and I’m stoked to have her sprinkle a little of her magic at Urban List.

Led by an all female cast (Emily Mortimer, Robyn Nevin and Bella Heathcote), Relic tells the story of Edna, an elderly matriarch who goes missing. Suffering from Alzheimer's, her worried daughter and granddaughter travel to the remote family home in the Melbourne countryside to find her. Soon after her return, they start to discover a sinister presence haunting the house and taking control of Edna. Intrigued? You can catch it on Stan from Friday 10 July.

When you talk about girl crushes, they don’t get much bigger than the love we have for Maia Mitchell—and we’re not alone, she’s got a casual six million Insta followers.

In honour of this month’s Sustainability launch (read more about it here) we wanted our latest instalment of Getting The Gig to celebrate someone who has been at the forefront of the small change big impact movement. Enter Sophie Kovic, founder of Seed & Sprout, an online store on a crusade to end our obsession with single-use plastic with a range of uber cute homewares, kitchen essentials and beauty products. FYI eight million tonnes of plastic are dumped in our oceans every year so it’s a big freaking deal that we start making changes now.

 We’ll always have the upmost respect for chefs, they feed us, they bring us joy and they save us when the only thing we have in our fridge on a Friday night is a sad looking packet of mixed greens. Which is why we’re always keen to sit down with them and find how they got their epic gig. This time we’ve been lucky enough to chat to Wayne Liew, a third-generation chef that heads up Singapore’s famed Keng Eng Kee.

If you’ve googled the combo of “millennial”, “Generation Z” and “money” lately, you’ll know the prediction for our financial future (and the chance of us ever retiring) is pretty bleak. Fortunately, not everyone is believing the hype, including one millennial in particular—Emma Edwards founder of The Broke Generation. In her hugely popular blog, the reformed spender turned finance whiz, is breaking down the taboo topics, debunking money myths and simplifying lingo so people like you and me can one day buy their dream home and still eat that avocado toast. 

She’s collab’d with Hermes and Tiffany & Co. She’s also fresh from solo exhibitions in Sydney and New York. So how did she do it?

As the temperatures rise and we find ourselves well and truly in beach season, we’re all reaching for our favourite pair of swimmers to hit the sea in. But choosing a swimsuit that’s both comfortable and makes us feel confident can be a bit of a challenge. Here in lies the ethos behind popular Aussie label Lahana Swim.

Real talk: not everyone jumps out of bed in the morning, pumped for work; who wouldn’t rather spend their week on the beach or hanging with mates? So, if you’re guilty of getting a case of the Monday blues, that’s totally cool. What’s not cool? Feeling sick to your stomach because someone in your office is making your life hell. 

If you haven’t heard of LIVIN, you’ve surely seen their range of uber-cool tees and hoodies adoring the backs of everyone from your local surf groms to the likes of Chris Hemsworth and Jonathan Thurston. But the most important thing about these slick threads? The message behind them. LIVIN, is a charity that’s striving to break the stigma around mental health. Don’t think this affects you? Suicide remains the leading cause of death for Australians aged between 15 and 44. Which is why the work of LIVIN is so damn important.  

You’d be hard pressed to find someone who takes sweet treats as seriously as Lauren Eldridge. At just 30, the uber-talented chef has a resume most could only dream of, including stints at Parisian three Michelin starred restaurants Le Cinq and Guy Savoy, as well as working with internationally renowned chef Massimo Bottura in Italy, when his restaurant, Osteria Francescana, was named number one in the world. 

You’d be hard pressed to find someone who doesn’t adore sartorial sister act Jess and Stef Dadon. From their perfectly curated Instagram account How Two Live (with 99k followers and counting), to their brand-new podcast and amazing vegan shoe range TWOOBS, the siblings are the definition of boss babes.

As far as dream jobs go, they don’t get much greater than owning your own record label. Top that off with the fact that you’re only 23 years old and you’ve got Perth music mogul in the making, Vincent Tolefe. Transforming his love of beats into Your Angle Records, Tolefe is solid proof that hard work, patience and passion are all the ingredients you need for the kind of day job most could only image.  

Some people are just so talented it hurts. One of said talented people is James J Robinson. But rather than be jealous of the Melbourne photographer and filmmaker, we’re pretty stoked because this homegrown talent is making waves around the world with his moody, thought-provoking work. 

If you don’t know Poppy Lissiman—and, you absolutely should—then you’ll certainly recognise her designs. Her sunglasses have found a permanent home, perched on the noses of Hollywood’s IT crowd. Everyone from Kylie Jenner and Emily Ratajkowski to Bella Hadid and Ariana Grande has fallen for Lissiman’s quirky style, while her achingly cool bags can be seen slung on the shoulder of a top model in the pages of Vogue and Elle. 

Three years ago, Lauren Silvers and Lisa Maree had never heard of one another. The entrepreneurs were busy running their own businesses from Sydney and LA respectively. But when a chance encounter with an investor suggested they combine their companies, the duo decided to pool their resources to create one of the country’s most successful beauty apps, Glamazon.

If you haven’t heard of Nicole Thompson before, you’ve surely seen her work. A magician with a make-up brush, Thompson has worked her way up from department store makeup counter to become a global brand ambassador for MAC. If you’re thinking dream job, you’d be right.

Breaking into the world of radio is no easy feat. You have to be funny, whip smart and possess the ability to think on your feet. You also have to be likeable, like seriously likeable. So it’s pretty fortunate that triple j brekky presenter Ben Harvey, is all of the above and then some.

When Prudence Melom was just four years old, she was forced to flee her home in Chad as war threatened to tear her country apart. After spending seven long years in a refugee camp, her family were finally granted asylum in Australia and have called Toowoomba, in rural south east Queensland, home ever since. 

If you don’t know Flex Mami, then you must have been living under a rock. A very uncool rock. Flex, or Lillian to her closest pals, is Australia’s “IT” gal. How did she earn such a title? Because at just 23 she has not one, but FOUR jobs (and counting) and commands an Insta following of over 17K.