Honorary HEADCASE | Angela Scanlon

To put a label on Angela as being and doing only one thing in life would do her an injustice. (Excuse the fashion pun, it’s my first.). We could call her a stylist, but then we forget about her TV presenting skills. We could call her a TV presenter, but then, what about her editorial contribution to fashion magazines such as Grazia and Tatler. International magazines at that too. Then what about her consulting to such global heavy weight brands like EBay, Diageo, A|Wear and TK Maxx.

Angela Scanlon is now one of the best known names in the Irish Fashion industry. Even I had heard of her. I know nothing about fashion like the average male my age. Recently my girlfriend was shocked that I didn’t know who Philip Tracy was. Sounds like an Irish cheese maker to me, “Philip Tracy’s Golden Cottage Cheese”, but apparently I’m very wrong. I’d heard of Angela and even knew she was involved in fashion in some way shape or form. She doesn’t make cheese either.

But how do you get from a small town in the middle of Meath, to writing for some of the leading fashion magazines in the world, alongside working for some of the top brands in the industry? It’s an interesting change to say the least.

In an industry renowned for materialistic bitchiness, how does one make their way to the top? How does one stand out from the crowd, make an impact and get noticed? Through more advanced levels of bitchiness? Maybe slicing up dresses and outfits? Maybe insulting people in such a demoralising way so that they just give up and let you walk all over them? They all sound like effective ways to make it.

Or maybe it’s something different.

What if the level of success that Angela has attained and continues to attain comes from something far simpler and far more effective? What is it behind the camera lights, the glossy articles and the shiny pictures that has driven Angela to succeed?

Maybe, it was magic beans. Maybe a stork flew down and handed her a career in fashion. Or maybe she had 3 wishes from an overweight genie years ago and instantly fell into career, into her success.

Maybe.

I remember a few years ago being on a quest to find out how David Blaine threw a card through a window and made it stick to the opposite side of the window. I was devastated to find out that the only way to do that trick was to have someone with an identical deck of cards the other side of the window to lick the chosen card and stick it to the window when no one was looking. No magic, just preparation.  It was like being told Santa had retired all over again. My reality was shattered – where were the magic powers that flew from his mind and broke the physical laws of time and space…

But when it comes to the magic behind Angela’s success, it comes down to this quote she gave me:

“I was constantly told “you get out of life what you put in to it”. That really built a steely work ethic in me and I genuinely believe that success at any level is only lasting when it’s backed by grafting. Less glamours than most people like to hear but true.”

What? Hard work? No beans? Strange…

I’ve found that time and time again people get seduced into thinking that successful people have it easy. Have it lucky and have it handed to them on a plate. This most certainly isn’t the case.

Angela told me about a brief job she took where she spent every single day crying. And they weren’t tears of joy or happiness. They weren’t even those happy tears you get from laughing too hard. They were tears of anger, frustration and regret of working a job she hated.

 

Getting a taste of a toxic environment helped Angela take the plunge and go it on her own – something she had always wanted to do, but often thought it was too overwhelming an idea. But she said she’d rather leave the money for a career in which she truly loved.

“I realised that it didn’t matter if you had a fat pay packet every month if you hate getting stuck in to work every day.”

How has Angela designed a successful career under the fashion umbrella? Take her addiction to fashion, her grafting and willingness to work hard, add to it an ability to communicate well with people, to inspire them and get the most out of them and we start to get a feel for it.

Angela has also completed a Business Degree which she feels gives her an understanding of what corporates are looking for. She seems to understand not only the people she is working with, but also the concerns from a business perspective, allowing her to mediate a solution that works creatively and financial so all can be happy. In many ways, Angela’s success is down to her concern and consideration for others and not her own self interests.

“I was allergic to that idea initially as I’m a bit impulsive and tend to have knee-jerk reactions! That’s not always good, so chilling and thinking of the bigger picture helps focus me.”

Angela draws on the support from friends and family and is willing to upgrade, adapt and change along the way. Having learned the value of hard work from her parents, Angela says her boyfriend is another vital source of  advice and inspiration. She comments that he has helped her to think in more strategic ways which goes against her naturally impulsive manners.

Driven by a desire to challenge herself (and also to get out of jail in Mexico), to put her hand to things many others wouldn’t, to listen and learn from those around her and to help get the best out of the people she meets has put Angela’s career on a wonderfully successful path.

Who knows, one day she may even entertain a cheese making career, but for now she is steadily focused on designing a successful career in a very fashionable industry.

Be sure to check out her newly launched site AngelaScanlon.com!

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