Tiny In Toronto

Hey everyone! As promised, I’m here to update you on some big changes and what has been currently going on in my life. It’s quite a bit to unpack so I advise you make a coffee or tea, or something, and relax. Here we go.

I want to start by sharing some really tough news. It definitely has kept me away from creating content and from a lot of things in general lately. I had to say goodbye to one of my bestest friends almost two weeks ago. My dog that I’ve had since I was 10 years-old had to be put down. She had a heart condition and a really infected eye. The eye needed to be removed, there was no question about it. The surgery would have cost us $2,000. There obviously is no price on the amount of love that we have for Abby but we thought it would be best to put her down because with her heart condition, she may not have survived the surgery anyway. I never expected to hurt so much and to be so sad over a dog and to be honest, I’m not sure if I have the emotional strength to love and own a dog again. She was there for me through everything in the last 15 years. I felt like I could always depend on her to be there and pick me up when I’m down. She was a light in my life and I miss her so much. However, I know we did the right thing and I know it would have only gotten worse. I’ll always miss her but I think I’m finally starting to get back to focusing on everyday things. We ordered a mould with her paw print embedded in it, so we’ll always have a bit of Abby with us.

While this was going on, I also accepted a new position! I have a new job! It was such a difficult time trying to figure out what to do with Abby while also trying to figure out whether or not to accept this job offer. I have been with TOPSHOP TOPMAN since I was in college. I have been with the brand for 5 years and it became really comfortable being there. My position as Personal Shopper at Yorkdale was not fulfilling me in the way I wanted it to. There was no way for me to grow. I felt like I had stopped learning. Things were becoming stale and the job is really stressful. As a personal shopper, your responsibility is to create a clientele, a relationship with a bunch of different customers so that they keep coming back to shop with you. I also had really huge sales goals that I was struggling to meet. I lost the passion and I lost the reason I wanted to become a personal shopper to begin with. It just wasn’t fun anymore and I love styling. I love helping people put together outfits and I love when they leave confident and happy with their purchases. Although I was still doing that, I was always haunted by the fact that I had this huge sales goal and what I was doing wasn’t enough. To say that I gave up really upsets me, but I just feel like the job was demoralizing me as a whole. I was feeling like a failure and I feel like this new job creates growth and opportunity for me. I am happy to announce that I will be the Senior Stylist at Free People in the Eaton Centre! You can now shop with me downtown!! This position allows me to do the same thing I was doing at TOPSHOP TOPMAN but it doesn’t have the same amount of pressure. There’s also so many avenues to take with this job. I can become a part of management. I can consider visual merchandising. Free People is also one of three brands under the URBN Inc. company. I could also work for Urban Outfitters or Anthropology! Maybe I’ll work my way into a position in their head office? I’m feeling super optimistic and really happy with my choice. I’m really excited to work for Free People because I have always been in love with their aesthetic and their merchandise. Their products have always been outside of my budget but now I get a discount so I’m excited about that, too! Change is good. I feel like this move will open plenty of other doors for me. Just by being located downtown might even open some doors! The amount of traffic and the types of people that you can meet downtown Toronto are great! Who knows who I’ll meet! To everyone that I have met while working at TOPSHOP TOPMAN, thank you for contributing to my growth and to who I am today. Whether you’re a co-worker, a manager or a client, it was a pleasure working with you. I will always remember my time there but I am now moving on to bigger and better things.

Now that I have accepted a position that does not require me to basically run my own business, I feel like I have the capacity to work on more content! I was constantly stressing at TOPSHOP TOPMAN to find ways to make my sales goals, or ways to get clients to come back and shop some more, that I was too exhausted to be creative. I love to be creative and content creating has become one of my favourite things to do! Now that I’ll be styling at Free People with less pressure, I think I’m going to focus more on creating fresh and original content. I want to put more heart and soul into my blog, I want to be more consistent with posting new YouTube videos, and I want to partner with more brands! I also want to take more photos of my outfits. Hopefully I can get more comfortable and good at taking photos with a self timer. I’ve got a lot that I want to accomplish. This fresh start has made me very optimistic, happy and motivated to do more with my life! I just pray that I don’t get stuck feeling the same things I felt at TOPSHOP. But I don’t want to think negatively! I’m only hoping for the best!

I hope you enjoyed reading this post. I want you guys to know that you can’t grow when you’re comfortable! You only grow from uncomfortable situations and therefore I’m an advocate for trying new things. Don’t settle. If it doesn’t make you happy, why are you doing it? We only have one life so you gotta make the best of it, right?

Until next time!

– Tiny ❤