'Fashion isn't for the faint of heart': Shelly Corkery, fashion buying director Brown Thomas/ Arnotts

Brown Thomas' Shelly Corkery on her Cork upbringing, love of travel, and never forgetting a sense of humour in business

'When you love what you do, it never feels like work.' Picture: Kieran Harnett

I was definitely built to work in the fashion industry. I grew up in Cork and was in school in the 80s, where we had our denim jeans and our puffer jackets. I always had the coolest Levi jeans and bright coloured sneakers. I was quite particular. I always loved fabrics and prints and style. After school, I left to live in Paris for a year to study French. That really gave me a huge insight into my passion for fashion and the travel bug. When I came back I went to work in the Design Centre in Dublin.

I work across Brown Thomas now through all divisions: marketing, creative, all the buying teams, innovation teams, and online. You have to be so energetic to work in fashion. It's a competitive business and you have to think on your heels, but that keeps you engaged and it's so invigorating. No two days are ever the same.

Every day there's a challenge: you're running in and out of countries seven months of the year and have to find new up and coming brands and be ahead of your customers at all times, buying the right collections and getting the right mix. You're on flights early in the mornings, you're at buying appointments all day, and you're on the phone delegating and multitasking. Running a fashion business as buying director through a year of lockdowns also wasn't easy. This job isn't for the faint of heart, but when you love what you do, it never feels like work. It's not really a job to me, it's just part of me.

My proudest achievement is my daughter, she's 19 and in her first year of college, so she missed all the milestones last year. It was so hard on that age group. But she got through it. She has her head on her shoulders.

One of my earliest memories is my communion. Going shopping for that dress was the biggest excitement of my life. We spent weeks looking for the outfit and it was so beautiful. I had little socks that my grandmother crocheted for me and the most stunning shoes and bag and lace gloves. It's a beautiful memory. It was a big milestone in my life, I still have the photograph. Preparing for my daughter's communion was so special then. I couldn't find a dress so I got one made by a wonderful dressmaker. All the bits were so cute: the shoes and the handbag and the veil. The whole preparation and celebration is another big memory.

I'd like to be remembered for being kind, confident, and happy. Kindness is a very important thing for me. I'm also a very positive person and I would have a very clear view on life. I went through a huge loss at a very young age and it taught me how to live in joy every day and not to waste time sweating the small stuff. It's one of the most important things we have to understand about life. Keeping positive is hard in this world but if you can look at things in a more positive measure, you'll sail through life easier.

The greatest advice I've been given is that 'less is more' and to 'think before you jump'. Also to always have a sense of humour and I think that's really important in business. A lot of people forget that and get very serious but we’ve had meetings where that’s happened and if you just crack a joke everyone will break into laughter and that’s needed sometimes.

The lesson I would always pass on would be to have great self-belief and be self-aware. I think it's really important in life. Being a good communicator with good clarity is also very important and remembering that there are always other options to be explored. People always say I never take no for an answer.

What surprised me so much this year was how people adapted to what we've gone through. Never did we think in our lives this big pandemic would happen. But the flexibility of people and how we transformed overnight shocked me. We managed to run our business without travelling and doing all the things we were used to doing.

But once the regulations are lifted I'm on the first flight. That was the hardest part of the pandemic for me. I love being immersed in the world of fashion: travelling to all these countries, seeing all the shows, learning about brands and walking through showrooms. You just learn so much from that. I miss it incredibly.

If I wasn't in this world, I would probably be working in the world of art. I studied the history of art after school and I look for art museums in every country I go to. I love visiting galleries and sculpture so maybe I would be selling art. I was also always drawing houses as a kid so maybe it would be architecture. That whole world of art and architecture and fashion has always been in me.