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Founder@ Interview
Interview with Charlotte Hamilton
“Believe in yourself and your work and give yourself permission to go out and get the opportunities that you want. Not everyone is going to understand what you do and people won’t know that you exist unless you tell them, so be ready to shout about yourself from the rooftops..” – Charlotte Hamilton
Today we feature Charlotte Hamilton, the founder at Sugar Storm Studio. We hear their story in their own words, their successes, their challenges and their insights.
Let’s start by getting to know you. Can you please tell us a little bit about you and what you do?
I am a multi-disciplinary artist and founder of Sugar Storm Studio, a creative studio that exists to empower the wild, the weird, and the rebels through alternative fashion, creative community, and tarot. I am passionate about the openness of the art industry, community involvement, and building supportive networks through workshops and skill sharing.
A great introduction and start to this interview. Can you please tell us, how did you start, from what age, and what made you decide to change direction and start?
In 2018 I launched a fashion brand because I was fed up with being unable to find clothes that felt like me that were fun, affordable and full of personality. I wanted to be excited about fashion again, like I was as a teenager. I taught myself digital illustration, screen printing and the basics of business and created a project which would grow into much more than a fashion brand.
I had no intention of starting a fashion brand, or even my own business at all, but I fell in love with it every step of the way. I wanted better control over what I was designing so I taught myself to screen print early on, starting as DIY as I possibly could and progressing from there. I didn’t know the first thing about starting a brand but I knew how I felt when I found something that helped me express myself and embrace the things that I thought made me weird, and I wanted a way to share that with others.
Thank you for that insight. So can you tell us…What does your business do and where is your company based?
Sugar Storm Studio is a creative brand that is composed of a collection of sustainable alternative fashion and accessories, DIY workshops such as screen printing and fashion customisation and online tarot readings. I do an eclectic mix of work that has the common threads of empowerment, self-expression and creativity. I am based in Westcliff in Essex and send products worldwide.
What’s the story behind your success? What led to your aha moment? how did you get to where you are now?
Sugar Storm has evolved with me as I’ve learnt, failed, experimented, struggled balancing working three jobs and running a business, supported my mental health, (and not supported my mental health) but at the heart of it has always been a love of the alternative, an encouragement of self-expression and a desire to be a little bit different.
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I was running Sugar Storm for a little more than a year before I realised it wasn’t suppose it be just a fashion brand, and as I planned to scale the business, it wasn’t fashion that I was particularly passionate about.
I went back to the reasons I started the business in the first place and created a vision for what impact I wanted to have, and it was became clear that I wanted to help people feel more like themselves, and to feel confident in their weird and wild sides, and fashion was just one element of that.
During the summer of 2020, while I was unable to work in my usual part time jobs, I took the opportunity to completely rebrand and build from a clearer foundation what would become the business I’m running now. Empowerment, self-expression and creativity take centre stage and every product or service supports this mission.
Thank you for sharing that. What’s been your life’s biggest lesson so far?
When you’re self-employed, creative or doing a job that you really enjoy, it can be difficult to separate work and life, and on more than one occasion I’ve found myself overworked, feeling guilty for taking time off and letting hobbies or self care slip.
I’ve had to learn to give myself a routine and take regular breaks and make sure I carve out time for my non-work related hobbies, socialising and down time because it’s so important for my mental health.
How to do anything to do with tax and finance. I think a lot of people go into business without really understanding how tax and finance work and all the things you need to be on top of from the beginning, so knowing that from the beginning would have been super helpful.
If you were to go back in time, what piece of advice would you give to your younger self?
It doesn’t matter whether anyone else ‘gets it’, you don’t have to convince anyone to believe in your work. Stay focused on making something that matters to you and finding the people that need it.
We’re nearly halfway through our interview so it’s a great time to ask how does your business run. What three tools make your business run better?
I use Asana for my calendar and to-do lists, after I finally switched from a paper to-do list. It’s the easiest one I’ve found to use. I still do most things myself and there’s definitely more efficient ways of doing things but for now it works. Being able to add photos of my receipts to my banking app was a total game changer though!
What do you know now that you wished you had known before?
How to do anything to do with tax and finance. I think a lot of people go into business without really understanding how tax and finance work and all the things you need to be on top of from the beginning, so knowing that from the beginning would have been super helpful.
What has been your greatest or proudest achievement or moment?
In the last two years I have been invited to present about my work or talk on panel discussions and podcasts. I always considered this impossible as I was incredibly shy and the idea of public speaking terrified me for most of my life, so the fact that that is part of my job now makes me feel very proud.
What future life goals do you want to achieve and why?
I want to expand my workshops and events to work on large scale events that connect with many people and work towards building a supportive and inclusive atmosphere and community. I’d love to collaborate with more brands and venues to create these events that celebrate creativity and self-expression.
To finish our inspire questions…”We believe that sharing inspiring words can inspire others.” If there was one positive thing you would say to someone to inspire and empower them what would it be and why?
Believe in yourself and your work and give yourself permission to go out and get the opportunities that you want. Not everyone is going to understand what you do and people won’t know that you exist unless you tell them, so be ready to shout about yourself from the rooftops.
“Thank you it has been great learning more about your founder story and Sugar Storm Studio”
To learn more about Sugar Storm Studio Visit www.sugarstormstudio.com
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