Aussie model Danielle Collis is living proof that there’s no ‘right path’ to landing your dream career in the fashion industry.
At just 23-years-old, she’s modelled for some of the country’s biggest brands, interviewed celebrities like Timomatic, Alli Simpson and Reigan Derry for the ARIA Awards and clocked up 13K followers on Insta. Now, to cap it off (much like this year’s baker boy hat trend), she’s gone and earned herself a business degree from Swinburne University of Technology to help her style her many talents into a self-sustained career. In fact, you could say she’s building a bloody pop culture empire!
But like many of us, Danielle didn’t graduate high school with any solid clue about what she wanted to do with her life. In fact, homegirl started out over in WA with her career headed in a very different direction — animal science. But, after much umming and ahhing, she decided she wanted to steer her life in a different direction, towards her PASHUN 4 FASHUN. So she switched up unis and degrees, but something still wasn’t right…
See, much like a pair of denim skinnies, a uni degree needs to be ~just the right fit~ if you want to be able to walk out the door with the confidence to kick life goals.
(or.. you know.. at all)
But, as Danielle’s story proves, it’s totally OK to try a few on before you settle on the choice that’s right for you.
For Danielle, that was a business degree with a PR major from Melbourne’s Swinburne University of Technology, which allowed her to keep studying online despite being abroad for a year on a presenting contract in Budapest. And it’s now helping her turn her beauty, talent and passion into a bonafide business that she runs herself.
As of RN, she’s taking her modelling and presenting work to new heights, but she’s also using her tertiary business savvy to branch out and tackle everything from fashion collabs to social media blogging to influencer work all while attends big, swanky events every week and making bank doing it.
So we thought we’d hit her up to share some work #inspo with all of you budding young fashionistas, who might be feeling a bit stuck on how to turn your passion into a bonafide career (also for added reassurance that it’s totally OK to change your mind about what you want to do with your life — sometimes more than once!)
There’s rarely a solid roadmap to forging a career in fashion, especially in the brave new social media-soaked world of 2017, but as Danielle’s story shows, you can get yourself there by following your stylish yet affordably booted feet (and having the right uni degree definitely doesn’t hurt, either).
