Dino

After studying graphic design and photography, I joined M&S as a Christmas temp. I’ve done so many jobs on the way to my present role, from coffee shop assistant to stylist, but now I run the visual merchandising team at our White City Store, with eight stylists and two managers.

Our job is to create journeys that inspire the customer. There’s a lot of work in each new seasonal launch, but when you stand back and see what you’ve created, it’s really satisfying. For example, the Christmas launch prepares us for ‘the golden quarter’ when sales go through the roof. There are so many things to think about: we’re given the components and the guidelines, but we’ve got to make the concept work in the architecture of our store – and it’s got to be right for our customer base.

There will often be a thematic crossover between the Christmas TV campaign and the experience we create for customers in store. Last year we created a starry, snowy atmosphere, balanced with a very strong colour palette of navy blue and fuchsia pink. It felt magical. 

We’re an Academy store, which means we set the benchmark for excellence at M&S. This is an iconic brand and expectations are high, but so is the job satisfaction. When Co-CEO Katie Bickerstaffe says she loves your work, you know you are doing OK. Customers told us that M&S was their favourite place to shop at Christmas in White City. And then the sales figures just proved the point. My background is creative, but I get such a kick out of the commercial impact of our work. I tell the team we are there to inspire the customer through visual presentation and styling. With a mantra of ‘best product, best space’, we are proud to be the silent salespeople.

We are also a family. Sometimes there are late nights, tight deadlines and plenty of challenges to overcome, but we are all there for the same reason, and we are there for each other. The great joy of my life as a manager is that I can coach people and help them grow. I had some fantastic line managers myself: they believed in me and would sometimes nudge me out of my comfort zone to see what I could achieve. I hope I do the same for my team.