Name: Zoe Twitt
Age: 32
Job Title and Description: Founder of Shop Zoe Life, an online health and wellness shop and blog.
College Name/Major: Columbia University/Theater and Creative Writing
Website: www.shopzoelife.com
Twitter Handle:@shopzoelife
What does your current job entail?
Zoe Twitt: Working with brands, collaborating with designers and writers and chatting to customers. I research and test every brand thoroughly before deciding to bring them on. Then I whittle the collection down to my favorite bare basics and pick up only those SKUs.
We design all our website assets and social media posts in-house, so I work with my PR guru and/or designers to create artwork that is in keeping with our objectives.
We run our own blog, also, because we find it helps elevate our SEO rating. I have freelance writers who help with this; I assign the topics and serve as an editor. The last part of my job is customer service. I do skin consultations via phone and answer emails detailing products that would suit my clients with problem skin.
Is there such a thing as a typical day?
ZT: Most days are fairly similar. We have a schedule set for updating the blog, social media, creating forecasts and PR.
What is the best part of your job?
ZT: Imparting beauty and health wisdom to people who want it and need it. I love it when clients write in to me with their success stories!
What was your first entry-level job in your field and how did you get it?
ZT: I worked as an intern in the film industry. There were a lot of sleepless nights and a fair amount of grit involved. I found it through friends and I applied, followed up three times and got it. I worked for a European film director who owned an indie film company in Italy but was casting in NYC.
Who is one person who changed your professional life for the better?
ZT: Trish McEvoy. I had a makeup lesson with her in my early 20s and she was strong, inspiring and impressive. She runs a centi-million dollar business but still finds plenty of time for one-on-one time with her fan base. She's very approachable and modest and dedicated to building her brand from the most trivial tiny details and up.
What has been the most surreal moment of your career thus far?
ZT: Every success has been enjoyed and celebrated from being featured in Vogue to winning awards. I think that it's important to consider it all a journey, and to relish any successes—great and small—along the way.
What do you look for when considering hiring someone?
ZT: I look for someone tenacious who gets the job done. My ideal candidate is smart, informed, self-motivated and takes initiative. You don't need to know what you're doing, just be motivated enough to figure it out—pick up the phone, ask as many people as necessary, self-inform.
Of course, one must be passionate about the subject matter, too. So, pursue what you love and aggressively make it happen!
