Keira Van Bogerijen

Managing a lot of the social media and being the ‘marketing executive’ at this brand, I gained skills such as marketing, photography, communication and organisational skills as I regularly communicated with micro influencers. I also conducted emails with managements of the influencers, participated in the shoots which prior to, required me to investigate suitable shoot locations and styles, and organised the order fulfillment. Furthermore, I researched into potential new influencers for the purposes of collaboration and endorsement for the brand. This required me to understand the business budget and search for those suitable for our clothing. In addition to this, I had to research into the fashion world and upcoming trends to create more ideas for the business and give them an insight on products that are big/becoming big in the fashion world.

I continue to work for Fradime and the CEO is keen to keep teaching me different roles within the company. For example, in the foreseeable future I will know how to conduct and design our weekly emails and campaigns for promotional offers and brand information as we currently have over 1000 clients subscribed and as a team, we are keen to keep our customer base involved and encourage more sales.

Overall, working with this company has enhanced my knowledge in many different areas and has given me a broad understanding of the fashion world, marketing and managing social media. The acquisition of these new skills will hopefully, one day, inspire me with my aspiration to start my own business.

I started work as a waitress for a family run business at Central Beach Café in Lytham. I would serve customers food, maintain the cleanliness of the tables, chat with the customers and as it was a dog friendly café, take pictures of the dogs for the cafes ‘picture wall’, which the customers loved.

After a year, the café was taken over by another family who were keen to retain the existing experienced staff. They encouraged me to progress and trained me to use the till, taking orders and becoming the ‘head runner’ on the café floor, managing the other team members who weren’t as experienced and guiding them in the right direction. The owners would include the team, informing them of the ‘takings’ for the day and whether it was better or worse than the previous year. It really helped encourage me to ask the customers if they would like any extras with their order and this required promotional skills of mine to get us extra sales. For example, asking customers if they would like cream with their cakes and any extras for the dog, in order to create small but significant add on sales as it was so rewarding to be given extra money for working hard on busy days.

I enjoy the friendliness and wholesome team spirit of the café as we work so well together as a team. The café, as a whole, over the past few years has significantly improved my communication, negotiation, time management, and interpersonal skills.

• Improved customer service by efficiently handling queries and complaints.
• Assisted customers with product selection for optimal satisfaction.
• Fostered a welcoming store environment by maintaining clean and well-organised displays.
• Offered personalised shopping advice to enhance customer experiences.
• Ensured stock replenishment in a timely manner to maintain product availability.
• Collaborated effectively with team members to meet sales targets.
• Utilised excellent communication skills to provide detailed product information.
• Handled cash transactions swiftly, ensuring accurate accounting at the end of each shift.