Growing up on a farm taught me a lot of things.

“Just a small town girl…”

My brother and I was fortunate to grow up on a farm with so much exploring to do. Every day.

We (yes, him included) played with my barbies in the mud, discovered our own little hiking trails in the farm’s beautiful mountains and spend most afternoons on our bicycles looking for new adventures.

I had no idea what the freeway was and that it even existed! #SHOCKINGBUTTRUE

Although I was quite the tomboy, I lived for family events over weekends when my mom dressed me up in the most adorable dresses with an overload of bows and sparkle.

We hardly ever went to the city and on the rare occasion it happened, my brother and I would always stare at all the city lights and dream about one day…

Being from the countryside taught me to always be humble and treat everyone with respect and most importantly, you have to work hard if you want to make something out of your life. There’s no other way around it.

People are always shocked when I tell them where I am from and how I actually love spending time outdoors. It’s just who I am.

Never judge a book by its cover. Pick it up and read the first chapter at least.

Always, Anne

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PHOTOS: Michelle Lategan Photography

CLOTHING: Angel Jersey (R760), Hannah Collection available at CONVOY | Clutch, Ted Baker | Barret, Foschini

MAKE UP: La’eeqa Yunus (Celebrity MUA/MUA lecturer)

Fake it till you make it.

“I learned to give. Not because I have much, but because I know what it feels like to have nothing.”

When I was 7 years old my first article got published in a magazine and the rest is history.

You need to have a super thick skin to make it in the media industry. Outsiders think it’s the dream job with an overload of perks, but oh boy, if only they knew what really goes down behind closed doors.

I always say ‘oh but you’re welcome to give it a go’ which usually are received with awkward silences. There’s nothing more disrespectful to get judged on your career choice which was a choice indeed they chose not to pursue.

I remind myself of the girl in Devil Wears Prada with my 4 year media degree who turned a 5 day internship of one of our countries best selling magazines into a full time job. I was scared and intimidated by the senior editorial team who walked about with Louis Vutton clutches without blinking when they plan their next trips to Paris, New York and Milan.

I did not earn a salary. I carried boxes a size 32 person really should not be carrying, spend days cutting and pasting old article archives (manually, with scissors) and based on all the cappuccinos, flat whites and filter coffees I had to make in my lifetime I could have pursued a career as a coffee barista and be extremely successful. Not to mention washing the dishes on the odd occasions and driving around in cities without Google Maps and getting lost in the most dodgiest places weekly. All this went down while eating two-minute-noodles and baked beans for dinner on a regular basis for dinner…

4 Years later and I still carry boxes, get coffee for co-workes and work over weekends, because no matter what your working status is, ego will kill your talent. If you think I’VE ARRIVED or ‘made it’, your due for an epic fail.

Work in silence and your success will make the noise.

I guess what made me stood out from the other interns was my ambition and strong willpower to succeed. I will never forget how I took my coffee mug on my first day on interning and told me mom ‘that this cup is staying and so am I’.

Stop worry about what others might think, because really… who cares? Do your thing, be kind and treat everyone (and I mean everyone!) with the same respect you want to be treated with.

People should judge less and encourage more. I love it when other fashion editors and bloggers are rooting for each other. Imagine how life would be if we start supporting our own friends and local communities and stop comparing ourselves to the next person?

Let’s be the change, we are the millennials after all.

Okay, got to run, I have a bucket list to tick off.

Always, Anne