The last year of my life has been a weird and wonderful rollercoaster. You may not know that it was little over a year ago that I graduated from my law degree and ventured down the well-trodden path of working as a corporate lawyer. After the better part of a year missing daylight, cooped in a fluorescent white office, drafting terms and conditions, I felt somewhat disenchanted with my career path. So I wanted to look for something I could create, something that would fuel my passions and creativity, and something that I could share with the world (because I was well aware no one was riveted by my terms and conditions). And so, partnering with my creative mastermind boyfriend, we created SLINKII Athletic. We made unique eco-friendly yoga mats and worked evenings and weekends to sell, promote, and fulfill orders.

Looking back nearly a year later, one of the biggest challenges we faced was trying to market our products. It was so tough in this saturated and fast paced online community to compete against large companies, gain exposure and connect with people who cared about our story and products.

So I know from personal experience how tough it can be once you’ve created a product to try and sell it. And I recently met someone who noticed this problem and is actually doing something about it.

 

Shauna Mei created AHALife. It is literally the coolest, most addictive and diverse online marketplace for unique artisan products around the globe. After meeting Shauna I was completely blown away by her attitude and her mission. She has created the infrastructure that allows artists and creators to sell their products to a huge community. There’s no room for the big corporates, but rather, every product has a distinctive story and origin. It’s an incredible business because it empowers independent artists and promotes creativity while bringing all these amazing unique products to consumers. And let’s be honest. No one likes it when someone else rocks up in the same outfit. So why are we all buying the same things from the same big companies? It’s like we’ve become little robot consumers. But the true beauty behind an object is the story behind its people, creative process and inspiration. Owning different things is part of our self expression and style.

After getting progressively more excited about this discussion with Shauna, I told her about my journey with SLINKII and we agreed to work together. Not only will SLINKII now be available on AHALife, but I have also been invited to come on board as a curator. I can’t even express how excited I am about this role. Basically, I get to contribute to the collection of products and designers that are featured on the marketplace. I’ll be keeping an eye out for Australian artists and creators looking to expand their business and help them on board with the AHALife community. I’ll be working alongside absolute icons like Bobbi Brown, Tim Gunn, Olivia Palermo, Donna Karan and Iman to help curatethe AHALife marketplace and track down those magical, whimsical, and unapologetically unique products.

Each month I’ll be selecting and sharing my favourite pieces from AHALife as well as curating my own collection of products from new talent that I discover along the way. If you are an artist or creator, or you know of anyone doing cool, different things, please do reach out as I’d love to hear from you.

I’ll admit, it took me a good couple of hours to browse the store and narrow it down to this months ‘lust list’ but here are some of my top picks!