It Couldn't Have Been an Email 06.08.26

Anna-Lise: Thanks so much for joining us this evening. I'm Anna-Lise Sharma Lawson, and I am the Sales and Marketing Director at RUBY.

This evening I'm joined by 2 incredible women, 2 incredible Rubettes who are based in Hamilton. I spoke to them the other day, and these guys know hard work, and I'm sure you guys can all kind of attest to that. So first up is the lovely Chrissy.

Chrissy is always doing our sweet treats for those of you who come to our events often. And it's always such a breath of fresh air when I see Chrissy in store and get to have a chat to her. I love talking shop. I love talking business, I love talking work.

Then Brooklyn. So Brooklyn and I haven't worked together. We've worked together generally, but haven't worked as closely with you, Brooklyn. As everyone would all know, you've become really well known and loved for your content and you very clearly have a smart mind.

So, I'm the Sales and Marketing Director for RUBY. It is a family business, and for full disclosure, my working hours are whack. I have two, 2 year old twins, and then I have a 4-year-old. I'm in the office 3 days, but I kind of work 40 hours a week, with the work all around the edges of the day.

For you guys, what time does your working day start and end? What are your days of work? Get us into your mind, because I've seen those Instagram stories.

Chrissy: Well, I'm very lucky, when we first opened, I was working 6 days, and that's not sustainable, especially for your creative brain. Now Monday and Tuesday are my admin days for both parts of my life, and then Wednesday to Saturday I'm in the cafe. The time I start depends on how busy I am and how much I like myself. For example, if I want to have the most stressful morning ever, 6. If I want to set myself up well for the day, 5. If I've got a really busy day, 4. Then I usually finish around 2 or 3.

Sunday is my day off, and we're closed on Sundays. We'll never open Sundays because that gives everyone a guaranteed day off.

Anna-Lise: Then for you, Brooklyn, transport us to your world. What does it look like?

Brooklyn: I love a good routine. I think for the rest of my life, I'm always going to need a good routine to just set me in place. I work in the office 4 days a week, and I start at 8:30 am most days. My downtime isn't really downtime. It's kind of my time to create some content and I try to do that whenever I can. I do have a full day on Friday to get content stuff done, but often it overlaps into the weekend, depending on what events I've got on and things like that.

Sometimes it can be so easy to work all the time because I am filming my life and I end up mixing the two, but I think separating the two has been key this year. I'm just trying to create that balance.

Anna-Lise: Then how about dance teacher and master's? How did you fit that in?

Brooklyn: Looking back at it, I don't know. I've been working on my master's and have just finished up in February of this year. I was working fewer hours and I did one night a week of teaching dance. So it wasn't too bad to fit into the schedule, two nights a week. But I just love everything I do, and that's what makes it just so worth it.

Last year with my master's was definitely a struggle, but we got there.

Anna-Lise: Thinking about what we wear to work and we all have different jobs, I guess at RUBY, I remember when I first started working in Head Office and maybe some of you might remember, the Dove Shorts, which were really short and they had black and white spots on them, and I used to wear those to work, and my friends who were lawyers, they were like "you wear those shorts to work, how on earth?"

I really want to understand for you, Brooklyn, your working wardrobe ~ you clearly have a passion for that.

Brooklyn: Totally.

Anna-Lise: How do you approach it? Do you see that the working wardrobe is kind of where it should be today?

Brooklyn: I think I am really lucky to work in the design industry. I feel like it's a little bit less strict than your typical professional corporate jobs so I'm lucky that I can have a bit more fun. When you look good, you also feel great, and I feel like that can also influence how you work as well. I'm just a big believer in wearing what you love and just being confident in that, and then it will naturally flow into your working day.

I think after COVID, everyone's work wardrobe seems to be a bit more casual, and people are expressing themselves through fashion more. I think people are just wanting to push the corporate box boundaries. I guess my vision is for everyone to just feel confident in what they're wearing.

Anna-Lise: Chrissy, how do you want to feel in the kitchen whilst running around? And how does that work?

Chrissy: Comfortable. One thing about hospitality that I think has changed is when I started, everyone wore black. That was it. I think now there's a lot more personality. Our team are allowed to wear whatever they want, except for activewear. That's one thing.

Anna-Lise: Touching on that a little bit more, Brooklyn, why do you think the content series that you started around what you wear to work really resonated with people?

Brooklyn: It's a funny one. I think it's actually portraying what people can wear in the day-to-day, because at the end of the day, we want to look good all the time, not just when we go out for dinner and whatnot. I think people want to dress up and have fun. It makes work fun.

Anna-Lise: And that's definitely what we're finding with like our Coco and our Carolyn Blazers. It's that thing that I kind of started with, about Overqualified and the collection.

And for you, Chrissy, thinking about modern work, what have you had to adapt or adjust over time since you opened? What's evolved? Is it flexibility? What they're expecting of you as an employer?

Chrissy: I think hospitality hasn't probably changed as much as a lot of other industries in terms of how the working week looks. It's not like an office where you can come and go. But I think how the team works together, and the expectations of a boss, and how you need to act and how you need to look after your people has changed a lot, and for the better. And that's a big one for hospitality as well. It's been known as a really hard industry full of many chefs and having to do crappy jobs, but it is changing, and that's really positive, I think.

We're really lucky that we have a really close knit team. We spend a lot of time doing social activities together, which is really fun and important for them. But it's also important that the social activities aren't- I don't know if you've heard the classic hospitality line, "We're going to pay you really shit, but we're going to throw a pizza party." That's the classic hospo joke. It's like you need to look after your people really well and, on top of that, be providing fun social activities and things to do together.

Anna-Lise: Yeah, that's cool. And for you, Brooklyn, having studied and done your master's. What are your hopes and dreams for modern work?

Brooklyn: I think we're kind of heading that way, but I think a good workplace environment is a place that really values your wellbeing, like what you're saying. I don't think work is just work. You're spending so much time there, almost your whole life. So I just think it should be more of a holistic view, I guess. You're looking into social things at work and how you can make work fun for people and show that you care about them more and give them a purpose.

Anna-Lise: And for anyone here tonight that's like, "I want to go back," whether it's your part-time job or your full-time job, because we all have to work in some shape or form, any tips to push something along, to ask for a better setup?

Chrissy: I think you could always, if you wanted to do more things, make that suggestion. Just say, "Does anyone want to go do this?" Maybe if you're in a smaller team, it might be easier to get your boss on board with that. I don't know about the corporate world so much.

During COVID, when we were in whatever level we were in that allowed us to all be together but not with everyone else, my team used to come to my house and we would do exercise videos on the driveway. It can be really random, but it was fun.

Anna-Lise: Love it. And as I touched on before, RUBY is a family business, so I know the idiosyncrasies of working with family. Over time, I've worked with my mum, my dad, my brother and my sister. There are bumps in the road, as there always are with any kind of working family relationship. Thinking about you, Chrissy, and clearly working with Luke, living with Luke, how do you roll that up?

Chrissy: So we have very defined roles at work. He's in charge of the kitchen, maintenance, and a lot of the blue jobs. I'm in charge of baking, people, and socials. We have our different things, we stick to them, and the decisions that need to be made together are made together. We both trust each other to stay in our lanes, and that's how we operate best. We know that we're empowered to make decisions in our area and just roll with it. And also having a separate day off from each other.

Anna-Lise: And do you carve out time to not talk about work?

Chrissy: Yeah. He doesn't like to talk about work at night. That's his time to go to sleep. Then he comes to me in the morning when I'm trying to make 17 cakes, and I'm like, "Not now." So we figure it out.

Anna-Lise: Love it. And then some of the things we should acknowledge in work and industries in New Zealand. The first being youth unemployment. Youth unemployment is the highest it's been in the past 30 years. That means young people in New Zealand are not able to find work when they come out of school. You might have seen some of the apprenticeship schemes being launched. How do you feel you could play a role in supporting that? Chrissy, maybe start with you.

Chrissy: Yeah. I think hospitality is one of the industries that will always have young people coming through. We have one apprentice who started with us part-time while she was at school. She was 15. She's nearly finished her apprenticeship. Then we've got another one who's 15. He'll probably start at the beginning of next year. We always have young people in front of house.

Anna-Lise: Yeah, I should say Jean down the back started as our intern. At RUBY, we run an internship programme. It's paid and you have to be school age. It's normally over the school holidays. Jean started with us when she was 16. Now she's worked in our stores and in Head Office. When you're looking at those numbers, it's about asking how we can support that number.

Brooklyn: I think from a content point of view, there are so many opportunities out there. You can use content in so many different ways. As the world evolves, you can totally use it as your portfolio. You hear this term going around that the influencer space is oversaturated, but I don't think it ever will be because there are just so many people out there. I always encourage people. If they're thinking about it, you've just got to do it. There's opportunity for everyone, and I truly think that.

Anna-Lise: And if someone wanted to start making content, how would they develop their angle, their approach, their voice?

Brooklyn: I think just figure out what makes you tick. What do you actually love talking about or showing? Maybe it's a hobby or your work. If it's something you're excited about and love, then naturally it's going to be fun and exciting. People can tell when you genuinely love something, and that resonates with an audience.

Anna-Lise: And can you make a decent living from it? We're not asking for revenue numbers, but is it a workable model?

Brooklyn: Totally. I kind of fell into it by accident. I never thought I'd be where I am today. I've always loved making videos and fashion, so it started as a creative outlet. There have been so many cool opportunities, and I've just kept riding the wave. There are so many brands out there and so many opportunities. You can definitely make a living from it.

Anna-Lise: So good.

And then Chrissy, and you guys have probably seen it. Thinking about work, it would be a miss of me not to talk about the fact that retail and hospitality. You've probably seen the numbers. There's a 49% year-on-year increase in liquidations in hospitality across the country. I guess, how does Cream keep delivering? What is the magic there?

Chrissy: I think part of it, before Cream, we actually started Winner Winner with a business partner, and we got out of there after about a year and a half. Burger Fuel bought our name and our brand, became a franchise. That wasn't as fun for us, so we exited, and Winner Winner is another one that went into liquidation last year, which was heartbreaking to see.

I think it's really easy to almost get caught in the weeds and not be on top of your admin, which is so important as a working owner. That can choke you so quickly. But also, I think we're in our business, and so it's much easier for us because we're really, really on top of things. Luke is in the kitchen, I'm in the kitchen, we're there with our team.

No one loves your business like you do. So we're there, and we're very much on top of the day-to-day.

Anna-Lise: Yeah. And thanks for sharing about that liquidation. That's the thing with business, right? It's up and down.

For you, Brooklyn, what is your biggest takeaway through your career journey so far?

Brooklyn: I think for me, and also going back to the advice piece, find out what makes you tick, I guess. What are you excited about, and just incorporate that into your life. It doesn't have to be your job, but if you incorporate that outside of your life, it could be a hobby or something after work, then it just makes it fun. And then it could turn into a job as well.

I feel like I've always had a path. I'm very Type A, and I had my career path planned out years ago.

Anna-Lise: What does Overqualified mean to you both? Chrissy, is there such a thing?

Chrissy: Yes, there is. I don't need my sous chef to be doing dishes every day. But should everyone be willing to muck in when they need to? Absolutely. I think that's really important. If you're in the workplace and maybe something is below your pay grade, but it's needed, that's a really important part of being a team. A lot of the people that I look up to in business have always spoken about that. One of my absolute heroes, Al Brown, always talks about how on his shift at Depot, the first thing he does is go and empty all the rubbish bins. You'd say, "Why would you do that?" But it's part of being a team player.

So I think you can be overqualified, but that doesn't mean you shouldn't help when you need to and be willing to get in amongst whatever's required for the team.

Brooklyn: Totally. I think you can definitely be overqualified, but you might love doing a job that you're overqualified for. If it's something you love, then I think that's great. You don't always have to have the right qualifications, I guess. Yeah, it's a tough question.

Anna-Lise: Questions? Yes!

Audience: What is your take on tall poppy syndrome? Do you think it's real, and if you do, how do you navigate it?

Brooklyn: I think it's interesting in social media. I feel like it gets talked about a lot, especially in New Zealand. But my personal experience, especially in the New Zealand scene, everyone's been so lovely but I'd have to think about that one.

Chrissy: Yeah, I think it exists. It just depends on whether you want to focus on it or not. Hospitality is quite competitive, but it also can be really collaborative if you choose for it to be that way. So you can be worried about what other people are doing, or you can be making friends and doing it together.

Brooklyn: Yeah, totally. I think that's the thing with social media as well. You kind of just have to focus on what you're doing and not let other people's opinions take away from that. It's so easy to start feeding into that, and then that's all you listen to. You kind of just have to block it out and keep going where you want to go.

Audience: About the youth unemployment stats. What age is that?

Anna-Lise: I think it's 16 plus up to 24. It is grim, basically. People cannot find work.

We were actually talking about this in our Head Office, and one of our team members was talking about all of her friends who are recent graduates. We're talking law graduates, architecture graduates, and they actually cannot find work.

If we're thinking about retaining that talent in New Zealand, how are we doing that? Creativity is what this business was founded on. So, yeah, how do we do that?

Before we finish up, I just want to say, I didn't say it at the start, but a very special thank you to all of our amazing Hamilton team. For those of you who come into the store often, I'm sure you're greeted by the most amazing team.

Jamie couldn't be here this evening, but is ably represented by Saskia, Maire, and Riley. Just a round of applause for you guys, and also for them.