BEAUTYDIRECTORY was a lightbulb moment back in 1999 and in a marvellous stroke of fate, it was the right idea at the right time. To have started a digital business back then was a huge leap of faith not only for Jackie Maxted and I but also for all the lovely beauty brands and supportive media that believed in the idea as much as we did. It was exciting to see the site grow and develop as media, brands, beauty PRs and retailers embraced BD as the hub and resource that made it easier to connect, and tell their stories and latest news, in Australia and then in New Zealand.
BEAUTYDIRECTORY will turn the grand age of 20 in 2019 – and if we hadn’t been so ahead of ourselves we would have been turning 20 in 2020 which actually sounds far more cool! The team here has great ideas and plans to develop the site even further as the ultimate resource...and I will be stepping back to focus on personal projects.
To say that creating and growing BD has been fun sounds trite and it also masks all the hard, hard, hard work and all-nighters that were crammed into these past 19 years with our fantastically loyal and smart teams. But it really has been impossibly great fun with all the wonderful opportunities making the last, almost two decades, an incredible learning and developing experience on a professional and personal level. I will be forever grateful to the brilliant and beautiful people I have met and had the good fortune to work with and with whom I have forged what I know are lifelong friendships – you know who you are! Thank you for this great period of working life and I look forward to sharing my new projects with you as they happen.
I will continue to consult with BEAUTYDIRECTORY however, if you would like to keep in touch (I would love you to!) you can find me on LinkedIn or please email on janethayward01@gmail.com.