ROBERTA BENTELER, 32,
spent her early career in finance. At 26 she quit to intern for independent designer Saloni and started Avenue 32, a luxury e-commerce website of emerging
design talent and established brands.
People think that designer clothes, travel and fashion shows are what make me happy, but I would give them all up for my team. My happiest moments aren’t being snapped by photographers, which is quite stressful, but during our monthly company breakfasts when we all eat together. We’ve grown to 40 people in the six years since I started Avenue 32. The average age of people who work for me is under 30, so I feel like I’m mother to a second family.
The first thing I do when I arrive at our open-plan office is go around and chat with everyone, maybe ask how a business trip went or check on the interns who sit next to the directors. I know that even if I’m having a hard time in my personal life, the positivity of my team will cheer me up.
I have workaholic tendencies and used to wake up in the night to check emails. I have to make a conscious effort to take time for myself. I don’t get up at 5.30am anymore but I still like to exercise, have a long bath or cook an omelette and read the news. I take my mornings slowly so that when I arrive at the office around 9.30am I’m happy and balanced.
I knew nothing about e-commerce when I started Avenue 32. My naivety was a blessing; had I known how much
money and work it would take, I would have been terrified. The business is 100% family financed, which is a doubleedged sword; I’m lucky to have their mentoring but it’s a lot of responsibility. We relaunched the website recently and faced some big challenges. It has made the team stronger though – we all pulled together and introduced new reporting structures as a result. Back when I was working in finance I was well paid but isolated; I wouldn’t do it again for the world.
WORK IT Roberta’s philosophy for
enjoying each day
Keep your team happy. Everyone contributes to our internal newsletter – even if only to mention their new haircut, birthday party or holiday.
It’s just a job.
While this is my dream job, I don’t let work make me unhappy.
Crisis is necessary. Overcoming challenges makes work fun. If you don’t have any problems it can become routine.