Jes Egan is a go-getter who believes there is always a positive way to view a situation or a solution to a problem. For Jes, every bump in the road just opens up a new direction to follow - who knows what you may end up with if try a new path. She joins the CWC board this year to share her wealth of knowledge as Head of Strategy and Partnerships.

Tell us a bit about yourself…

I studied Bachelor of Design (Communication Design) + Diploma of Project Management (Swinburne). I worked in advertising / creative agencies for 15 years and have also lectured at Business by Design at Billie Blue, a design university, for 3.5 years

I love to experience new places and have worked overseas in the UK. I spent 2 years in London and London 4 in Manchester. Travelling is one of my favourite things, seeing how different cultures do different things. I like looking at how cultural differences impact the day to day and seeing how it can be applied to our daily life.

I also love the ocean, spend a lot of my time following ocean / water based photographers on instagram. 

What is your current business/creative pursuit/job?

Currently I am the Operations Director for Linktree and Bolster. It’s a great job, two days are never the same.  My creative outlet is paper cutting (free hand cutting with a scalpel to create images), I sold my paper cuts under Paper Chap for a few years and now save it as my creative outlet (when I get the time!).

What does a typical work day look like for you? 

I’m an early bird and function really well in the morning and not so well at in the evening! I’m often at my desk around 7am, its my planning and most productive time. I plan out my day and get most of my solid thinking time done first thing. I head out mid/late afternoon to pick up the kids and keep in touch with work until the end of their day. 

What have been some of the biggest challenges in your career? 

Having children! I was not prepared for the shift in your thinking that they bring. I would never change having them for the world, but I’d say I was not prepared for how that shifted my perspective on work, which was always so important to me. It still is important but I definitely have a much better balance with them in my life. 

What do you do in your ‘down time’ (and do you have a guilty pleasure)?

I hang out with my family as much as I can, any time we can make that near the beach even better. 

What are some of the things which inspires you?

I enjoying seeing people grow and progress, you learn a lot with experience and I enjoy mentoring / coaching people and giving them guidance or ideas to follow themselves. Seeing someone develop and give it all their best is so rewarding, we can all learn from each other, no matter what position, department or industry. 

Best creative memory?

I had a lot of fun at uni, I remember the late nights we’d pull come folio submission, meeting up at 7/11 at midnight for a slurpee to talk about the assignments or give each other tips on Mac short cuts (which I was always rubbish at, I’m much better now!).

A few years back I was at Supergraph, I did a few live paper cutting sessions that was great to show the process and make some mess.

What would you tell your younger self?

During my career there have been times when something happened at work and I really took it to heart, I’ve learnt to seperate work and personal a bit better now, I would’ve liked to have tried to think about it in that way when I was younger. Sometimes in business we need to learn to not take it personally. I think the adversity can be used to gain better insight, open up new paths, it’s not always fun at the time but can be seen as an opportunity. But I only now know that with in hindsight and with experience.