CREATE Restaurant

I also this week, had my first meeting with CREATE, our Marketing Strategy meeting for our fantastic new venture.

I have joined CREATE at a really exciting time at the minute too because we are near to launching our restaurant in August of this year, with the fabulous chef Richard Walton-Allen.

CREATE is a business that provides a place where people can rebuild life and hope, this place being work. CREATE runs a great business but with every penny made, this money goes right back into training, work experience and the creation of jobs for people who need them most. CREATE offer a great Employment Academy whereby a 12-week personalised work programme is given, in a safe, supportive environment to those who need it, those who may have lost motivation and confidence to get back into work after maybe a hard time in their lives.

The whole ethos of the CREATE brand is one that is honest, giving and truly caring to each and every person that walks through the CREATE doors. I worked for CREATE last summer and if you are a reader of my blog you might have seen some posts on FOUND- where I helped in all aspects, but specifically in merchandising the store, from the shop floor, to the window displays. I began working for CREATE because I am keen and confident in what the people at CREATE believe in, and I am a real supporter in helping others, and also working my socks off to enhance and build on a great company.

Our meeting this thursday went extremely well. In the meeting we looked at everything from our S.W.O.T. to our competition, to our commercial objectives and to our marketing and P.R, so as you can imagine the meeting was very informative, which I felt was very good for myself because then I could get a real insight into the whole process of marketing our restaurant from the word go. The restaurant sounds incredible and I'm extremely excited to see the end product, but I'm also very keen to watch the process unfold as to how to market, launch and open a restaurant. After the meeting, we all left with a job load of work to do but everyone is focused and excited about the next coming months. My task for the week is to really get under the skin of 'Corporates' and 'Bright Young Things'- these being key target segments in the City that we need to really understand for our restaurant. So this week I am going to try and organise some short interviews with these types of people to understand them that little more, to then really focus on where's best to showcase our restaurant.

Working with a great company is a real unique opportunity, in which I will grab with both hands and gain some real experience into marketing on a live event, to a nearing deadline. I'm looking forward to these coming months.

To see more about the CREATE Brand and it's new restaurant visit these webpages...


http://www.foodbycreate.co.uk/


http://www.createfoundation.co.uk/

'Red or Black' for ITV.

Yesterday was such an incredible day!

Working with the ITV team was brilliant. My producer, Catherine Ellis was very hard working, focused but very sweet too. If I needed help with anything she was there, our sound man, Steve was a real down to earth northern guy who I gelled with really well, and our camera guy, Chris was a fab character and truly well experienced- he had once interviewed Margaret Thatcher, whom he called maggie as though they were best buddies. He was a lovely and encouraging guy (specially about my degree results which we were given yesterday).

The day started at 8am and for the first couple of hours myself and my friend Steph got to know the crew a little more, with plenty of hand shaking and smiles shared :) I was introduced to my producer and briefed on the day ahead. I just loved and thrived off of how calm and collected Catherine was, which I later found out why, as she has been in the business for many years and has worked on big shows such as Big Brother, Come Dine with Me etc so this was second nature to Catherine. Her attitude kept me calm too because, although I have worked on live events before, I hadn't worked on something as big as ITV so the nerves were there, but like I say, Catherine's attitude influenced mine and I just easily did the job I needed to do.

At around 10am all the crew made there way to the first game location, I should point out that the shooting of 'Red or Black' was in beautiful Roundhay Park in Leeds, West Yorkshire. So our first location was set on the great green cricket field. We firstly walked down a huge hill towards a giant bingo set up and after watching Ant and Dec introduce the game (which was surreal in itself: they're usually on my TV set, not stood right in front of me!) the fun then began! The first game got the adrenaline flowing- there were parachute jumpers, a very energetic and animated crowd and real, massive excitement in the air. I won't give out any spoilers of the game (which will be aired in august) but I will tell you that this was the first time I had seen a parachute jump and it really was incredible. When you see a small body jump from a plane and come down that quickly it kinda blew my mind, it just looked like so much fun, and after seeing that, I would love to do it!

So, after this 1st game the real work began.

My job for the day was a logger for my PSC crew, which is quite an important role as I needed to be very observant at every interview (we did around 40 in the day). I had to write down a detailed but edited description of any fab thing that the interviewee says and at what time,exactly. That way when the editors edit this part of the show they can filter through the things that aren't needed and get the best bits. At the first couple of interviews, I was just really getting the hang of editing the interview, experiencing working with a PSC and taking direction, and obviously I was new so my first few interviews I might not have been at my best but towards the end of the day I really got the hang of TV- the technical words, the best positions to be in etc and by the end of the day I did the job without any questions and real confidence.

After these interviews we then watched the next game: this was the general set up for the day, with 4 games in total. So yes, there is a lot of waiting around but it really is so much fun and you meet some great people.

After spending the day with the crew at ITV, Catherine asked if I could do the manchester filming with her, which of course I can! I need to grab any opportunity I come across. The filming in manchester is in a weeks time, but yes, after yesterday's day, I really would love to work in TV, in fashion still as maybe a stylist to TV presenters, or a celebrity stylist. Talking of which I saw Ant and Dec's make up artist and stylist, prepping the guys for there camera shots, and I thought that would be great if that would be me one day! I going to be in touch with them ladies in the near future and I'm seeing them again at Manchester, so I better get my business cards at the ready :)

I don't want to bore you with what I did ALL day, because it was a very long day and this post would be longer than it already is (and no one wants that) but I just wanted to give you guys a snippet into working in TV and working as a logger, because when I was younger I found it great to read about peoples' experiences to learn from them and understand whether it would be something I would like to do.

So watch this space for 'Red or Black' on ITV in August: the games are insane and fun, the contestants are mad and the team behind the show are hard working and incredible.

If you want to see a little of yesterdays happenings see here.

See the twitter feed at RedOrBlack

Diary Talk.

Although I have now finished my Fashion Promotion with Styling course, a little work has followed my exit, which is always fab!

I am attending Graduate Fashion Week on the 5th June, I have my exhibition private view on the 10th June, on the 11th June and the 12th June I am involved in 'The Stylist's Closet' at the Trafford Centre where I will offer personal style advise to the male customer and then to finish off, I am a costume assistant for London based artist & filmmaker, Shezad Dawood's new feature length science fiction film, Piercing Brightness, so over these next couple of months i'm busy busy busy which is really great, after my last hand in yesterday I didn't want my schedule to become stale, and with all this ahead it looks like it's getting busier.

I will keep you guys updated of my whereabouts over these two months, I will try and post as many photos as possible to show you a glimpse into my world right now.

So with all this ahead of me something tells me I need to brush up a little on my sci fi film knowledge, I might start with Blade Runner or 1930's classic Metropolis: i'm planning on posting my ideas and thoughts of each film I watch into the run up on here, kind of giving a little review. I'm excited about these next couple of months, meeting new people, making new contacts and getting into the industry.

New faces, new places

I go away this weekend for two weeks for a yummy rest, but when I get back I want to do more projects for university, maybe change my work experience for a bit.

Before we finished for our summer holidays, we did a group photoshoot based on the film, 'American Gigolo' (which, some time this week I will upload the photos of) and whilst being a team leader, I began to realise how much work really goes into a photoshoot, and how much networking one can do just through one photoshoot. So with this in mind, for some work experience over summer I began to look at Model agencies to see if I could work alongside the casting for models, or even just be in the environment and just see how things work when casting models. I think when I get back from my jollies I will contact some agencies in Leeds to get some more work experience.....

Oh also, in my email the other day, I saw part of an article showcasing new faces in the model/fashion world and I came across this stunning model, Marthe Flatmo.

She is naturally beautiful. I love her long hair, her innocent face and her striking eyes.

FOUND styling

These are some outfits I have put together at FOUND.








Some displays I have styled at FOUND. My brief? Jumble Sale...

Summer Work

Designer Ringlit, sold at FOUND, Leeds or visit website here :)





So this week I began my summer volunteer work. Working in the British Heart Foundation, primarily dressing the window displays and visual merchandising, and also working at FOUND, a gorgeous and very spacious charity/boutique in Leeds.

I have really enjoyed my first week, the hours are brilliant and not very hefty, I have enough time to dress the two windows and four mannequins at BHF in my shift and at FOUND I have more than enough creative time and space to style up plenty of apparel, and may I say the clothing here is yummy and very good quality.

At BHF the process of working there is much more formal and it seems there’s more admin to be sort, the people at BHF are really nice and helpful which is good, and at FOUND it feels quite relaxed and my boss, Vicky is very sweet, kind and helpful.


I started the week at BHF and my first job was to dress our main window, which was hidden behind a huge rail of clothing which, every single time I left the window I had to come through, it kinda felt after the 8th time, that I really was in C.S.Lewis’ famous novel, except it wasn’t as cold as the snowy forest that Lucy finds at the back of the wardrobe.

My aim was to dress the window in summer attire and with the theme of the world cup, yes, that’s right the world cup. So with this I grabbed whatever red and white clothing I could find, I looked for pieces that would suit the BHF audience, specifically in Wakefield were I’m based, the target audience being mainly elderly women. So, I picked a look that a stylish, elderly lady would wear to the pub, maybe for a pub lunch before the match?? I dressed the misbehaving mannequin in a red jersey evening top, short sleeved with red ruffles running along the neckline, some white chinos, an earthy coloured necklace and then simply threw on quite non-chalant, a white blouse (you can’t really trust the weather in the UK so I needed a back up). I gave the outfit a dark brown, wicker material handbag to bring in a natural feeling to the outfit and something light for the summer. I must have done a good job because my shift was only 3 hours and within that time all the mannequins I dressed I sold something from, which is a good sign.

I also had the chance to play with menswear which I haven’t really done before, I rather enjoyed it but womenswear is much more fun to style. For my final mannequin I wanted the look to be aimed at the more younger customer and I styled the look however I wanted, I didn’t really stick to the world cup theme but I’m glad really because I think my final look was my best. I chose a floral blue and orange dress, with a loose denim shirt for cover up, rolled up the sleeves and gave the look some polka-dot wedge sandals and added another wicker bag (BHF had plenty) then whilst having a little look at the books, I came across a really nice looking cover of a book about enhancing your femininity so I put this with my mannequin- the look overall worked quite well, and when I visited the shop today the dress had sold so I definatley seem to be doing something right.

At FOUND, the clothing and the whole atmosphere of the shop feels much more stylish and modern. The music is much better (plenty of 80’s) and the clothing is much more on trend and fashionable than those at BHF, which it should be because FOUND are aiming at a different customer.

I dressed my first mannequin in a festival look- denim frayed edged, shorts, a faux snakeskin creamy brown patent belt, a vintage triangle sweater, short sleeved with a faint pattern on the front and finished the look with a vintage purple and bronze scarf. This is defiantly my favourite look of the week. I will upload pictures of these next week. The other looks included a summer dress with plenty of cute t- party necklaces, an evening look, quite trashy, with a designer made dress, red block bottom and floral top and to this, I added a load of trashy necklaces this looked quite cool; another look was a summer evening look- chiffon peach/ochre shorts with a blue blouse with a neckbow this look however didn’t make it on the shop floor because a customer snagged the gorgeous shorts before they even got a look in from anyone else; and my final look, looked at the trend of underwear as outerwear so I styled a black lace top with white lacing collar with a floral bodice, black and pink, and put silk polka dot shorts to really mix and match the look and give it an edge.

I’ve had a great time so far volunteering; before I started I thought that I might feel a little disheartened with my work because I’m not getting paid, but its something I love; I have free rain of clothes, shoes, accessories, I can use this time to experiment with looks and I basically play dress up for hours.