From marketing assistant to brand manager in five years, Southern Cross Business graduate Carmel Smithers' career has progressed in leaps and bounds.
It all started with a conversation with the careers and employability team at Southern Cross University.
"I was considering where to apply for an internship while I was studying and made an appointment with a careers adviser at the University to talk about my options," Carmel said.
"I told them my goal after graduation was to work for a cosmetics company, so they put me in touch with the Sales and Marketing Director at ChemPro Chemist who had previously worked at Napoleon Perdis, the make-up brand. So, I got in touch with her and they set-up a marketing internship for me which contributed towards my degree."
During her internship, Carmel assisted in writing blog posts which complemented the company's paid marketing campaigns, developed a social media plan and assisted in local area marketing for ChemPro stores.
"The Sales and Marketing Director had only recently joined the company, so I was lucky to be working as an intern while they were building the foundation of the brand and strengthening their brand identity," Carmel said.
"I had the opportunity to continue working with the company after I graduated, but I decided to pursue another role in Sydney. I did however, stay in touch with the Sales and Marketing Director which helped me to land the role I am in today."
Since graduating from Southern Cross University in 2019, Carmel undertook a brief stint in hospitality marketing before the COVID pandemic hit the industry hard.
"I moved home to the Gold Coast and planned to apply for a customer service role at MooGoo Skincare as I wanted to find my way in to working for a skincare company," she said.
"I reached out to the Sales and Marketing Director at ChemPro as they stock MooGoo products in their store, and she was able to give me the name of their marketing manager. I contacted them only to find out that applications for the customer service role had closed, but they were on the lookout for a marketing assistant."
It was fate. Carmel interviewed for the role of marketing assistant and was the perfect fit. Since joining the company in 2020, Carmel has quickly worked her way up the ranks from Marketing Assistant at MooGoo Skincare, to Online Brand Manager of their sister companies A bit Hippy and Dr Zoo. Two years later, Carmel is working as Brand Manager across the two rapidly growing brands.
According to Carmel, both Dr Zoo and A bit Hippy are smashing their financial targets under her leadership.
Carmel's career highlight so far has been planning and executing a new direction for A bit Hippy. After working with her team to identify an exciting opportunity for growth in hair care, they are launching eight new products.
"This is our biggest launch yet and it's been really rewarding to lead this new strategic direction from conception to launch!"
"Another highlight has been managing a whole campaign photoshoot. There are a lot of eyes on a project like that, and our CEO likes to come along too. But it is me running the shoot and making sure we got all the content we need," Carmel said.
Carmel credits her Bachelor of Business with preparing her with foundational skills in business and marketing.
Carmel chose to study the Bachelor of Business due to the versatility of the degree and breadth of subject areas it covers.
"In your first year of the degree you cover all sorts of foundational subjects like accounting, economics and marketing. As soon as I did the marketing unit, I loved it and knew it was exactly what I wanted to do," she said.
"I will always be thankful to the University for giving me that first foot in the door with my internship, it has led me to a career that I absolutely love."
The friendships Carmel made at university also left a lasting impression.
"I met my best friend on my first day at Southern Cross. I think forming friendships is a really important part of going to uni. Many students are young and figuring it out and having mates you can lean on makes the experience a whole lot more fun."
