Sisters Sara and Amy Chamberlain are co-founders of property styling company, The Real Estate Stylist (TRES). Hailing from Wagga Wagga, NSW, the duo eventually moved to Melbourne where they started their now widely successful styling business.
TRES styles more than 300 properties each year and has been featured on Realestate.com.au, Domain.com.au and The Sydney Morning Herald among others.
Amy and Sara were two of 10 Australian entrepreneurs to be featured in a stunning photoshoot for International Women’s Day 2019, organised by the founder of Australian fashion label Mastani, Kudrat Makkar. The photoshoot celebrates the rise of Australian female entrepreneurs and aims to inspire younger and older generations alike to discover and live out their true purpose.
The savvy sisters spoke to The CEO Magazine about their business journey and what International Women’s Day means to them.
Q. What is the best part of your job?
A. For us, it’s not just about the job, it’s about who we are doing it with. Being sisters, we are so blessed to work with each other every day. We adore our job and are very lucky to be successful doing something we love. However, the true joy is working together on an idea and watching it gain momentum and success.
Q. What career achievements are you most proud of?
A. Creating a powerful, well-known brand across all of our touch points.
Starting from a A$20,000 unsecured loan in a new city and within five years, turning over A$7 million. Creating content via workshops and soon-to-be-launched online tutorials that support and encourage other stylists in the industry, where little support exists. These are mostly women trying to get small businesses off the ground and we are gunning for them to make it!
Q. What do you wish someone had told you at the start of your career?
A. Revenue is vanity, profit is sanity.
Q. What are your top three tips for building a brand?
- Have consistency with everything: branding, font, imagery, social media posts and your website.
- Be authentic and support competitors. It will ultimately lift your brand in the industry. Be you. Be real.
- Actively participate in all things social media – we have not paid for advertising once. In 2019, it is not necessary.
Q. How do you overcome doubts?
A. Wine. Beer. Spreadsheets. Sleep.
Q. What does International Women’s Day mean to you? And will you be doing anything to mark the day?
A. International Women’s Day for us is not about shining a light on women who have been successful in their field, it is about shining a light on all those women who still don’t have the chance for their light to shine. We are coming a long way at the moment with female empowerment, however, that is for those who have a voice and the opportunity. International Women’s Day gives us a moment to reflect on how blessed we are while opening up discussions around our social responsibility to our fellow women.
Q. Why was it important for you to be involved in the Mastani shoot?
A. We adore and support anyone who is following a passion and actively driving a business towards a goal. We are individually inspired by all the women in the shoot for lots of different reasons, not just their business success.
Mastani International Women’s Day photoshoot credits:
Wearing Mastani Label AW19 collection – Edit 1 – available online Monday 4 March
Wardrobe – Mastani Label
Photographer – Liane Hurvitz
Stylist – Jessica Alizzi
HMU – Chantelle Baker
Location – Studio Gallery Melbourne
Artwork – Kerry Armstrong Art
Floral – Flowers Vasette
Jewellery – Fiorina
Furniture – Grazia & Co
For more women-in-business inspiration, check out our interview with Cherrie Miriklis-Pavlou, founder of one of Australia’s largest floral and events businesses.
