Alumni Spotlight
Briefly outline your career path to date. As a Summer student, I spent years as
a waitress and bartender, gaining valuable experience in the service industry that to this day helps me see our business as a service. I started my career at Newstead Hotel, then moved to Tuckers Point, working my way up from Receptionist to Membership, then Marketing and Events Coordinator for the Club.
Career Creativity
F
or Alexandra Mosher ’97, developing a career has been more of a process than a plan, an act of creativity. From “dabbling” in jewellery making in 2005 to opening the Alexander Mosher Flagship Store and Studio on Front Street this Summer, she has pursued her dreams with passion and determination, qualities she says she earned at BHS. Torchbearer spoke with Alexandra about her unique career path and insights into being an entrepreneur.
What was your biggest ‘takeaway’ from your time at BHS? I believe the all-girls environment at BHS led to fewer distractions and developed empowered women from a very young age. However, my biggest takeaway was the constant positive support and heartfelt acknowledgment from peers when someone achieved success. Rather than down-playing our triumphs, we celebrated them together. That sentiment has stuck with me for life.
What post-BHS education have you attained?
I was a Rotary Exchange Student in Brussels in 1997/98, after which I attended The College of the Holy Cross from 1998- 2002; majoring in Studio Art, minoring in French. After college, I studied painting at the Marchutz School of Art in Aix en Provence, France, for six months. I have been studying jewellery design and fabrication actively since 2008, and have recently completed the BEDC’s “Streetwise MBA” Programme.
28 Torchbearer Fall 2017
In 2005, I started dabbling with making gemstone jewellery in my spare time and selling my work at Harbour Nights, and at Rock Island Coffee on Saturdays. I opened my Kaleidoscope Arts Foundation studio in 2009, was a resident artist at the Bermuda Art Centre in Dockyard in 2010, and focused on selling my work through local retailers. I opened a boutique under my own brand in March 2012. We expanded operations into a small studio on Park Road in 2014, where I made everything with a small team of artisans. This
Summer, we opened our new
Flagship Store and Studio on Front Street and now have 20 staff. This space is truly a dream come true for me and I am so grateful to have our team all under one roof. I can meet with clients for custom designs, and sculpt at my jewellery bench, all in one bright and beautiful space.
What was the motivation or initial idea you had to start your business? Sometimes I feel it is as if my hands have a will of their own. The business came out of a need to create tiny beautiful things, a dash of drive and perseverance, and a mild case of people-pleasing. A series of thousands of tiny decisions have led to this business of “creating happiness in a wearable form”.
How do you feel your BHS education prepared you for your career? During my time at BHS, there was an expectation of discipline and follow-through placed on every student. There were no gold stars for participation. I remember excelling in French, but was told in no uncertain terms that I was not able to move into the advanced Math class. I studied my way into that Math class, and developed an “I’ll prove it to you” tenacity if ever I was challenged.
“Rather than down- playing our triumphs, we celebrated them together. That sentiment has stuck with me for life. ”
What are some of the most valuable skills you need in your business/industry? Creativity, marketing and branding, customer service, a certain level of grace, a passion for Bermuda, a can-do attitude, countless industry-specific technical skills and the ability to break from traditional methodologies and think outside the box.
You have participated in BHS STEAM week, how does STEAM apply to your business? We had a brilliant group of students join us for STEAM Week last year. They came in expecting to be mere artists for those few days, but quickly realised that in our business we apply Science, Technology, Engineering and Math to almost every project, not just Art and Design. Our studio is really a laboratory!
If you could share one piece of career advice with BHS students and alumni what would it be? When you are doing something you love
and are surrounded with healthy, supportive people, you have the best circumstances to grow as a person. BHS provided that environment for me in a rare and special way, and I have endeavoured to create that same environment in my own business. Creating something and putting it out into the world is a scary proposition. I believe that with the right kind of support, all kinds of creativity can be unleashed. Also, you do not need to have everything figured out when you are in school. I didn’t even take my Art GCSE at BHS and found Art again halfway through college, and jewellery design six years after that. It doesn’t matter what you study, as long as you do it with all your heart and listen to it along the way!
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