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Stephanie Ifrah is the founder of the brand The Rose. She moved to Australia from France where she was an architect. Her story provides some deep insights into the role that happendipity plays in career change.
Here are the key takeouts from the interview about her career change. Read the interview below.
Key Takeouts:
- Overcoming limiting beliefs: “I always thought that things were hard and difficult, and some things you couldn’t hope to achieve because you are not born from a rich family, or that sort of thing. And maybe since one or two years, I started to realise that I shouldn’t think like this.”
- Embracing chance and uncertainty: “I didn’t embrace chance but now I’m really ready to embrace it like 1,000% because really, I think before, I was full of fear.”
- Advice for embracing chance: “Get rid of the fear. And it’s easier to say than do but really try to get rid of the fear. Get rid of all those limiting beliefs.
- Recognising catalysts for change: “COVID made a big change in the way I do things, and it’s what pushed me to realise that maybe my mission was to reveal myself in the way, you know, and it’s exactly what I tell to my clients and my customers. So you are here to get to be yourself and to have faith that you can do what you want.”
- Rediscovering creative freedom: “So now I’m designing accessories and it’s completely different, because I’m back to being free about what I create.”
- Staying true to creative vision: “I don’t want to give in and start creating what I believe people will want. I’m trying not to go this way. I can feel that there are people who like what I put into my design, so I just know that I need to find more of those people, but not compromise on my design. I am very happy to be able to create in the way I want it.”
Stephanie’s journey demonstrates a willingness to embrace change and take risks. With a renewed sense of creative liberation, she now is more open about who she is and embraces that.
Read the full interview below.
Q: What is your career story and what have you done previously?
S: I’ve been an architect for more than 20 years, I met my husband, my future husband, at the architecture school at uni, and we started our own practice, just after school. So even before graduating, we had already one project. We’ve been lucky enough, and so we started our own business, and it was going quite well
Regarding the situation in France, it was very complicated. It’s very hard if you want to be an entrepreneur.
So basically, it’s really hard to raise money. And we were not the only ones. It’s like this many jobs in France. We are charged with so many things in France that it’s really become ridiculous. As the years pass, we also had more and more rules, but very hard to deal with it honestly, and some came to a point where we didn’t understand what they were about. We had to build houses that had 36 centimetres wide walls. I think it was good because it was for installation, but it’s very expensive for the clients, so you get less and less work because people can’t afford it.
And I realised, or I remembered, it’s supposed to be a creative job. So not only a lot of technical aspects (and many constraints that you have to deal with) but there’s also the creative part of it, which is really very important. Otherwise, it’s not architecture. It’s something else.
And I remember we had to design a great villa in the south of France, it was gorgeous. I was very lucky to have this project, because when I was in Paris, we wouldn’t have had that sort of project. But then we moved to the south, and I got this great thing, but with the new rules and everything, I was not happy to do it anymore. It was like the second or third version that I had to do because of the regulations changed, and after a while, stopped making sense. And the clients, you know, they’re angry at you because you have to change so many things, and they don’t understand why. So, you can’t really create anymore. It’s normal that you have all the other aspects, but the creation is very important. You can’t lose this. Otherwise, we don’t need architects anymore.
Q: And what are you doing now?
S: So now I’m designing accessories and it’s completely different, because I’m back to being free about what I create. And it’s very exciting as well because I don’t want to give in and start creating what I believe people will want. I’m trying not to go this way. I can feel that there are people who like what I put into my design, so I just know that I need to find more of those people, but not compromise on my design. I am very happy to be able to create in the way I want it.
Q: Why did you make this change?
S: At first I was in France, and I could feel that it was getting more and more complicated money wise. I could feel that we would have less because the taxes were raised.
And I love fashion, and it’s been really a way for me to have confidence, because I’m a very self-conscious person, and I could feel that I wouldn’t be able to buy the stuff I love anymore, and I’m a bit of a rebel. I was very upset to see that in the brands I used to buy when I was a student, the prices had raised significantly, but the quality had lowered. Also, it was nuts. The prices were crazy, but the quality was completely different. I don’t want to really blame some brands, because I know it’s very hard, but that’s why, I decided, Okay, someday I’m gonna design bags. I tried to launch the brand but then I had my visa to came to Australia, and at first I was not allowed to have my own business, but I didn’t know it when I left. But then, you know, because of the visa, I was supposed to remain employed. So I was doing architecture here, and then COVID hit, to make it short, pushed me to go back to this brand. Life taught me to go back to this so it was not completely my decision. All those things that happened pushed me to this direction.
Q: Does your business allow you to be creative in a way that you couldn’t be before?
S: Yes, so I’m not as creative as I would like yet, because I would need to sell more to be able to, because at the moment, I’m doing pretty much everything. Sometimes I have some help, but my goal is to be free and to be able to just do the design, because at the moment I do the design and check the quality, the manufacturing, everything. I also need to look at the finances which is really not my thing. because you do everything when you have a small brand. which is interesting, honestly, but it’s a lot of failing before you understand.
That’s also one thing that is different in France and in Australia: in France, when I did my studies, it was not about money at all, but in today’s economy, if you want to have an independent career like architects or whatever, you also have to be a businessman or woman. But we didn’t know anything about it. So when I started the brand, I didn’t know anything about it. Even though I have been learning as an architect in France for so many years, I was not dealing with the finances – my husband was. So I had to learn everything. I wish I learned a few things quicker. It’s very challenging and when you jump into this whole new thing, you learn.
Q: Tell me a little bit about your brand?
S: The name of the brand is The Rose. So I started by designing bags, and I really wanted them to be made in Italy, because I had this political view on how we have to perpetuate craftsmanship and I was very concerned about the future of small businesses in Europe.
Even for me to find a factory in Italy at first, it was so hard because they all work for very big brands now, so they’re not interested in producing small quantities, because they won’t make money. It’s not that they don’t want to, it’s all this problem about money and margins. So I started doing bags, and then I met the owner of jewelry factory at a fair in Milan, and it’s how I started to design jewellery. And as of today, I sell mostly rings. Not only rings, it’s inspired by architecture and there’s a nautical accent to it. It’s a mix of brutalism and romanticism. My products are resigned but not too sophisticated.
Q; What role has happendipity played in your career?
S: I really feel I’ve been coached to do this by life. I came here and it’s been very hard because my husband was supposed to follow, and he didn’t follow. So I was here alone, with my three children, trying to find my place. But everything that happened since then I interpreted as a way to tell me that I should really focus on this brand and realise that if other people can do it, I can do it. Before – because it’s also my personality – I always felt like I had to say: “Okay, it’s gonna be a small thing” and I didn’t allow myself to take it seriously.. So honestly, it’s still a small brand but now I take it seriously and I believe it can become something bigger. I want it to be bigger, and it’s really what life has been telling me.
At first I was really pushed because, you know, I was doing architecture, and then after COVID, there were no projects anymore. Everything started to become more complicated. I even moved during COVID because I was afraid of what was happening in France. And so it became harder and harder to do architecture, and I realised that I should really focus on the brand.
I’ve also become much more spiritual recently, and I have the feeling that I have to put all this spirituality even more into my brand. People tell me that they feel joy when they wear my product. So I really think it’s sort of a mission to go on in this way, and create a community around it.
Q: Are you someone who embraces or rejects happendipity?
S: I didn’t embrace chance but now I’m really ready to embrace it like 1,000% because really, I think before, I was full of fear. So yes, I would say that now I’m trying to surrender to let things come to me and try to
I’ve been doing this programme and it has got me to understand that I have to take my place. I’m 53 years old. I have two children, I have a career, I have everything, but I never did this before. So now I realise, I have the right to be here and also try to be more aligned to my true self again. So honestly, I was not careful at all before. I even hated all those words, before: let go, surrender. But now, yeah, I’m completely into it, and I really understand. And so what came up recently also that I have to be loyal to myself before being loyal to other people, like my parents, my children, whatever, you have to be loyal to yourself.
Q: Can you think of a chance event or events that changed your career?
S: COVID, pretty much was what made me realise many things and pushed me, because I really started to be very concerned about people’s sovereignty. In France and everywhere you hear about freedom and you know the – how do you call it in English – the declaration of the human rights and everything that you hear from the day you were born. But I realised that we are also afraid all the time, afraid of the government. I realise that those entities are here to help us, serve us, protect us, and not to control us and scare us and everything. COVID made a big change in the way I do things, and it’s what pushed me to realise that maybe my mission was to reveal myself in the way, you know, and it’s exactly what I tell to my clients and my customers. So you are here to get to be yourself and to have faith that you can do what you want.
At the end of COVID the big thing happened I had my permanent residency. So I was allowed to have my own business. I was in this situation where I could feel that it was what I had to do. It would be too complicated to go back to doing architecture again. It’s better. I gave up on architecture. I still love it but I could feel that it was my thing. I had the cards in my hands.
It also took me a bit more time to realise because France was hard. I always thought that things were hard and difficult, and some things you couldn’t hope to achieve because you are not born from a rich family, or that sort of thing. And maybe since one or two years, I started to realise that I shouldn’t think like this. I can succeed, even though I don’t come from a rich background or whatever I have to do with what I have, and what I have is this day I already have things. It’s not great yet, not what I want yet, but I have reason to believe in it. Yeah, everything is in my hands. Basically, I need internet. I need a bit of money that I could invest in
It was maybe a bit of anger also that pushed me to really stick to the idea that we can do what we want to do. It’s not easy, and for me, nothing has ever been really easy, and that’s what I’m trying to clear also, because I’m sure because of some thoughts or some memories or some whatever. I used to think that you have to suffer to resolve things. And I’m sure many people think like this, and I’m trying to really realise that it’s not the way it has to be.
Q: What have you learned about the process of changing careers.
S: The first thing that I’ve learned is about my selfie. When I was an architect, I always like to work in the shadow of my husband, if that makes sense. I didn’t want to be too forward, not that I really like it now. But first I was somebody’s child, then it was somebody’s wife, and somebody’s parents, you know, and now I am myself, and I’m doing my own thing, and I’m embracing this. Where before I was afraid of it, I always needed to hide. Now I’m not very comfortable at showing my face on Instagram because I don’t find it very interesting. So I’m still looking for a way to say what I have to say in a different way.
The Rose is my brand, and I should be proud of myself, you know? So that’s what I’ve learned, that I have a place here and a role to play, and I’m really trying to embrace it.
Q: What advice would you give to someone else who’s faced with a chance event that could change their career?
S: Get rid of the fear. And it’s easier to say than do but really try to get rid of the fear. Get rid of all those limiting beliefs, you know? Also do the work that goes with it. Because what I’ve learned also recently, sometimes you think something that you don’t really believe. It’s what makes it hard. When you listen to people who tell you about the law of attraction and everything, you can try and it won’t work, because you have to find a way to do for yourself and to really realise what you really think, what you really believe in, and change it. You have to realise what you think and replace it by something else. I think it’s really worth it, honestly
I really believe that people have to trust that they can do things and trust it deeply. So it’s not as easy as it sounds, that they can do and don’t think that society will block you. You have to focus on yourself and what you want to do.
Images: Liane Hurvitz
Check out my previous interviews on happendipity with:
- Agathé Kerr: an IT consultant turned pastry chef
- Sonia Singh: science communicator to Tree Change Dolls creator to speech pathologist
- Amit Turkenitz: software developer -> business owner and photographer -> entrepreneur and product creator -> UX consultant -> product manager -> data engineer
If you are interested in career storytelling coaching, find out more here.