Welcome to the new blancspace co. online interview series ~ 6 minute power check-ins with some of the most smart, beautiful and authentic women in Australia who happen to know a thing or two about what it takes to be successful. I hope that sharing a snippet of their stories inspires all of us to listen, learn and then lead fulfilling and successful lives of our own.

My first interview is with a very dear friend of mine, Andree Baxter. Andree and I have known each other for over twenty years and she has been a constant source of inspiration and delight for this entire time. A natural born leader, she has worked incredibly hard to achieve the success she enjoys today and so it is only fitting that she be my first guest to share her words of wisdom. It was a fate sealed long ago that Andree should work in shoes. Like any young girl, an affection for fabulous footwear developed throughout her teenage years, but, unlike the rest of us, Andree turned her passion into her profession and now as National Marketing Manager for footwear giant WM Ritchie, she of course has the most enviable collection of shoes of anyone I know.

What do you do and what does a typical day involve?

My role sees me manage the marketing activities across all our distribution channels for our women’s footwear brands Sandler, Easy Steps, Jane Debster & Alan Pinkus. A typical day for me is analysing campaign sales data, working with our agencies across design, media and digital on current & future campaigns and working with my team on marketing plans for the current and next seasons. As we are a wholesale business as well, a big part of my job is working with our key customers MYER & David Jones on our joint marketing plans for each season.

What sense do you use most in your role? Describe how you use it.

As our business is a product based business in my younger years as a marketer I would have said that sight was the sense I couldn’t live without in my role and one that I would need to utilise every day. However I have found the sense that has become the key to success in this role is hearing. And an extension to that, listening. Listening to what our customers are saying about our brands, listening to the needs (and wants) of our B2B customers and listening to what our internal stakeholders require. The more I can listen and understand requirements the more successful any marketing executions become throughout any of our channels.

What does your morning routine look like?

A morning gym session is important to me as it gives me a bit of a boost to start the day (plus then after a long day I don’t have to worry about persuading myself to get to the gym!) Then half an hour is spent going through our social media sites with my team, discussing engagements for the day and also what are competitors are doing. Spending time with my team is important to me in the morning as the rest of my day can have me in meetings all day and this morning time allows us to touch base on where everyone is up to and connect as a team. Then coffee!! And that’s the only predictable part of my day. Depending on where we are in a season we could be planning our campaign shoots for the next season, working on development product, developing budgets & strategies or developing content. With a multi-channel, multi customer, seasonal business like ours, the days are varied and unpredictable!

Who or what inspires you?

Passion. I crave working with people who have a passion for anything, for life, for what they do and for what they want to do. Surround yourself with people like that and you can’t help but want to find the same level of passion for yourself! It’s infectious.

How do you stay on top of trends in your industry?

A lot of web searching! As a business we also travel overseas four times a year which gives us a really good picture of what is happening in the market the following season. We are quite fortunate from a development point of view being in the Southern Hemisphere in that we can see what trends are getting traction overseas in future seasons.

What is your no. 1 piece of advice?

Invest in relationships. A major factor in succeeding in my role is through the relationships I have developed with stakeholders across all areas of my role and career. Spend time investing in and nurturing your business relationships and they will reward you.