Introducing: Paris

Hello my name is Paris. I’m currently a graphic designer within the POP Creative team and have been for just over six months. Although I have an underlying strong passion for fashion illustration, working at Colosoul gives me the opportunity to be creative (in the area of graphic design) and the chance to connect with young, likeminded and passionate individuals. I find it is a good balance between my post-graduate studies (Honours in fashion illustration), another design internship and my weekend job. There are individuals from all walks of life with different goals and aspirations in the same room. The reason I enjoy coming to Colosoul is because it is a relaxed and inspiring environment with people who come and go and are here because they want to be. I don’t regret taking the leap and approaching Colosoul to get involved. So far I have met some amazing individuals who share similar passions and goals!

My Colosoul Experience

I started at Colosoul almost two months ago, and I remember the first day I stepped into the office. I was so excited to have my interview at Colosoul, it was the first job in the marketing and social media field i’d been interviewed for since I finished uni in July. When I got to the address of the Colosoul office I thought i’d come to the wrong place - squeezed in between a lingerie store and a Salvos store, I realised the office was in the basement. As I was walking down the stairs, I immediately saw all the decorations on the walls and the things hanging from the ceiling, I was shocked at how cool it was! I realised pretty much straight away that this is a place where people come to work but also chill out, there was music playing in the background, everyone was talking and having fun, and I felt really over dressed, I wasn’t expecting this at all! The interview went well and I started the next week at Colosoul. Some days the office can be really relaxed and easy going, and other days it can be a bit overwhelming, especially when everyone is in. I remember one day in particular I had to sit on the floor because there were so many people and not enough chairs!

I now run the Vashti Facebook and Instagram pages, the Colosoul blog, and I occasionally post on the Colosoul Facebook and Instagram pages as well. I’ve met so many great people and every time i’m in the office I learn something new, it’s more than just getting experience for my resume. 

By Lucy Richardson

Choose to be Brave!

My life is an adventure sometimes it's been a difficult road. Some have joined me on the journey, some stumble along the path and fall away. Some can see ahead with me and they fly above with with beautiful words like colourful balloons, others can't get out of bed! Life seems like it owes them something but rather we owe life to be grateful for the moment, for the challenge, for the people who have graciously lead us and showed a way that may lead to a glimpse of our own destiny. It's not easy to follow a leader sometimes blindly but in your heart if you listen carefully you will hear the winds whispering just like the leader does. The wind is ever moving, sometimes still it's waiting carefully for the next move. Sometimes the adventure is like a cool summer breeze easy flowing I can clearly see where I'm going. The adventure started in me when I followed carefully in the footsteps of someone else's I learnt many things, how to brave the storm, how to pick up the broken pieces after the storm how to listen to the direction the wind would blow. When to sit and wait and share by the campfire after we built it together. I learnt never to look at what wasn't but to trust, to believe, to look at what was. To walk, to run, to stumble and not give up and try again. To never look back only look forward to stand right beside my leader who took me on an adventure because I knew it would lead me eventually toward my own adventure which I would be brave enough to take and not give up! Everyday I wake up and make this choice because I choose to be brave.

Tricia Ray

Introducing: Isadora

Hey all! I’m a bit of a jack-of-all-trades around the Colosoul office. Whether it’s ad sales, office admin, occasional social media and marketing, copywriting, or writing and editing various articles for our magazines, I’ve been there and done all that and more! I’ve also photographed a bit here and there for Colosoul, but I prefer to leave that to our amazing photographers and contributors! I’m happy to lend a hand in any department I’m needed, one of the many great things about volunteering at a not-for-profit like Colosoul! You can also catch me at any of our events. Popping out of a Bachelor of Commerce a couple of years ago, Colosoul has since been a great outlet for me to pursue creative and community endeavours while still being able to focus on other things. Communications has always been a passion of mine, so Colosoul was a perfect fit. I love the people I work with in the office and the things we’ve achieved together, I’ve been part of the team for over a year now and have made so many great pals along the way.

Introducing: Leeanne

Hey everyone my name is Leeanne and in between choosing the music for our office and chit chatting with everyone I am the Coordinator of FoxFeet, the fashion agency run under the Colosoul Group. I organize events, regularly update our social media, organize photo shoots, create graphic material for promotional purposes, and in the process of setting up a Pop-up store, located within our Perth CBD office. Not only do I co run FoxFeet but at the same time I work on illustrations and other graphic design projects for POP Creative, Colosoul’s Design and Marketing department. On top of it all, I work very closely with the CEO of the Colosoul Group Tricia Ray and illustrate children’s books which she has written herself. As a graduate student in the Bachelor of Arts (Interior Architecture) at Curtin University of Technology I have utilized my design and management skills at Colosoul to help build up my portfolio. Initially starting out as an Interior Architect my passion towards illustration has increased within my time at Colosoul, and has opened up my career path towards Graphic Design. I have been apart of Colosoul since November 2014 and have grown so much as person and a designer. Colosoul is filled with so many like minded creative people and I love surrounding myself around people who share one common goal- let’s do what we love, and do lots of it! 

Colosoul Chats With: Laura Mosquera

Laura used to work with us here at Colosoul, so we thought we'd catch up with her to see what she's been up to! Have a read of what she had to say and check out some of the amazing work she did here.

How did you find out about Colosoul?

A friend told me about Colosoul when I was looking for an internship that could give me practical experience in design and improve my English skills. It’s quite hard to break into the industry without experience and when I saw the Colosoul website, I was excited to be a part of this amazing company. Without Tricia’s help, I would never have been able to share what I learnt at Colosoul.

What did you do when you worked with us?

Colosoul gave me the opportunity to explore different ways I could express myself as a designer. I created all the graphic design for Colosoul such as business cards, posters, and Christmas cards. I created publicity for the different events, illustrations of the first book Bird on a Wire, designed a “lookbook" in fashion retail and promoted Colosoul on the internet. I also had the opportunity to learn new skills in graphic design software.

What did you like most about working with Colosoul?

Oh my god where to begin?! The environment where you can create together makes Colosoul such an amazing place to explore your thoughts. It gives you the opportunity to work with people that can share their culture and similar experiences. I think it is such an inspiration for youth to get involved in a place where you can discover what you’re best at and work towards your professional pathway.

Do you feel like Colosoul helped you with your career path, and how?

Colosoul has been a great career opener for me. It is quite difficult to get job opportunities in Colombia – even if you’ve worked and studied overseas. By working at Colosoul, even though English isn’t my native language, I gained so much confidence as a designer to realize what I want to do and what my strengths are. My bilingual skills improved through Colosoul which made me much more competitive in the industry when I returned to Colombia. I would definitely love to join Colosoul again as a senior designer.

Client advertisements Laura worked on which featured in Colosoul Magazine

Abstract designed "snap cards" created to promote Colosoul photography

How I Got to Colosoul

By Josh Larsen

Born in 1989 in northern suburbs of Perth. I was brought up in a small house in Mirrabooka. I had a fairly typical upbringing.

In year 9 I was introduced to drugs and let my life spiral out of control. For 10 years I have been in and out of jobs, relationships and rehabs. My latest job and relationship fell through in June this year. I'd had enough. This time something shifted inside me. I remember thinking of the famous Einstein quote - "The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again, but expecting different results". It was time to try something new. I knew that working a mundane repetitive lifestyle just didn’t work for me. So I choose to pack my car up and live on the streets, giving away my possessions and the burdens that came with materialistic things. I eventually found what I loved, which is helping music and happiness. Problem is, it's hard to continue on with out money, especially if I wanted to continue attending gigs. I needed a way to attend gigs for free and get involved in the hip-hop scene. So I did what any man with nothing does. I asked the Universe. The very first job opportunity that caught my attention was a position at Colosoul under the magazine WordPlay as the hip-hop event writer. The perfect entry point for an aspiring mc/writer. The next day I applied and gained the position.

I have been with Colosoul for 2 and a half months now and life and my mental health is balancing out in a very definitive way. My challenges are still very real and I still take baby steps but they are definitely in the right direction.

Introducing: Selina

Hey everyone it’s Sel. I’ve only worked at Colosoul for about a month but I already love it! I’m a marketing assistant and I mainly work in social media by writing Facebook posts and uploading Instagram photos. I love working in such a creative environment that has paintings all over the walls and artwork hanging from the ceiling. I love exploring Perth city on my lunch break and discovering new shops and cafes, finding great tasting coffee makes “work” not really feel like work. Working with such a diverse and creative workforce gives me so much inspiration; so many people I work with have such interesting hobbies and skills. I don’t think I really do anything that interesting but I do enjoy discovering new interesting places to visit and take photos at, I’m interested in makeup and enjoy watching tutorials to learn new things.  I think working at Colosoul is helping me to discover who I really am and I’m starting to find things out about myself I didn’t know before. Being around so many designers and photographers has made me remember how much I used to love taking and editing photos – I wonder what else I’ll discover throughout my time here?

A post from Tricia

This is my everyday journey. Life is full of interesting turns, some are rough some are tough some are a good laugh. The dog is me getting ready for work, the grape is reminding myself not to take things too seriously, the world map is how I see our world and the paint brushes represent all our creatives showing their artistic self expression, the mixed head is where I'm at sometimes because I'm worrying so much, Cookie Monster is how I generally feel when I'm at work and I haven't stopped to eat lunch yet, the lamb is me very excited getting ready to go home to my my tent and when I'm laying awake for the whole night my imagination is running wild in all different places. I'm never bored! Just grateful to be surrounded by like mind people.  

Introducing: Ariel

Hey guys!

You’ll know me as Ariel, and I work as the assistant stylist for Foxfeet and occasionally you’d find me working what I can do around the fashion departments at Colosoul. I’m still a newbie still trying to find my around things. Recently I just completed my 3 year undergraduate degree in architecture and design at UWA.

Not only does Colosoul offer training but it gave me so many opportunities to work alongside industry experts and help get my foot in the door of the artistic network of the Perth fashion community, and even nationwide. I’ve only recently completed my first event – the Movember fashion show which raised awareness and funds for men’s health, which was a success. Not only that I had the fabulous opportunity to work alongside some talented artists, models, designers and stylists, and that’s what I love about working at Colosoul.

I used Colosoul as an opportunity to try and get into something that I’ve always been interested about and have a taste of what the fashion industry is like – though it has its ugly moments the fashion community is always ripe with opportunities, and it’s amazing to spend a new day doing something completely different. Not only that but the people I have met at Colosoul have been my rock and support system all the way, and I have no regrets here.

Introducing: Felix

How can I tell somebody about myself if they ask me to do so? It really takes sometime for me. On the other hand if you ask my mother she’ll gladly do that just in 2 minutes! I don’t think she will exaggerate though, she will just tell in a casual way, like talking to someone you just met. “Oh my boy just completed his military service, he also has a job thank goodness… He was a TV guy before but now he’s on a different job, internet, advertising, social media that kinda thing I don’t know it very well. If only he can get married now.. He’s a bit messy though, I wonder which girl would agree to marry him! He listens to music all day, in the morning from earphones, in the evening loudspeakers. He won’t notice if a car would honk nearby! But still he doesn’t care. His room is filled with books and CDs ‘Who will read/listen all these?’ I ask, ‘Don’t worry about that ma!’ he says. I ask him to take care when he goes out at night but again he says the same. Anyways that’s my boy, what can I do? Can’t kick him out can I?”

One of the best things about The Colosoul Group is that it allows young people to share their creativity and ideas with the world. Everybody can be their own person and express their personalities, whether it be through writing, photography, blogging or designing, and it shows in the projects that we do!

Happy Wednesday!

It's a full house in the Colosoul office today, with everyone working hard and getting things done. We've been super busy lately, especially because November is just around the corner - where has the year gone!?

November is particularly important because it means the start of Movember. We have joined forces with WAM (West Australian Music), and we are very excited and proud to present the 2015 Movember Fashion Show, an event to raise awareness of men’s mental health. This event is unique, as it will be female models strutting the catwalk in men’s clothing, showcasing nine designers.

There will be live DJ sets, including Base Kadet, Allira and Kid Tsunami, some of which have personally struggled with mental health issues and understand the value of such an important event. 

For more info, head to the Facebook page, tickets are $15 with part proceeds going to beyondblue. 

Don't miss out on this great event and the chance to show your support for men's mental health!

Let's Meet: Prince Rara

Aweh!, I’m Prince Rara, but you can call me.. well.. Prince Rara. I have come a long way from working in mental health as a Councillor in Sydney for the past 4 years. I tried my hardest to be in the media industry whilst living in Sydney, but needed to get qualified in the industry first as its very competitive. In order to survive I studied full-time, serviced my mortgage; my house being in Perth - dealt with unruly tenants and useless agents, paying extortionate amount for rent in a shared room in Sydney's trendy city dwelling neighbourhood… Surry Hills, all the while working full-time managing people with mental health issue! wooh!.... I’m tired thinking about it. I happened to be in Perth and landed an awesome opportunity to work with Colosoul. I got an Editor’s role, I love it. It’s very hectic and there’s a lot to incorporate throughout the day, for it to run smooth. Communication is crucial; being able to adapt to big and interesting personalities, and planning ahead especially with events. The night before I start work I have a list of things I have to achieve for the next day. Speaking with the (CEO) Tricia, she advised me to tackle big tasks first. I’m still working on implementing that into my days, but can be very distracting when you’re being pulled around the office and new tasks fall from the sky. I’m excited that one day I’ll look at my resume and discover all the great things I’ve accomplished, because at the end of the day it’s for personal and career development.

What does Colosoul Group mean for me?

My name is Paula Ruiz and I am from Colombia. I came to Australia to improve my English skills and professional knowledge. I started to work in Colosoul since July 2015 and this experience has meant for me a great opportunity to meet fantastic people who come from diverse countries as well as Australians. We all are there for different purposes but one of the main reasons is to share experiences no matter how old you are, where you come from or what you do ... Colosoul means an artistic connection for all of us since it produces a powerful synergy among team members.

If I describe a day at Colosoul I would say that it is a mixture up of feelings such as happiness, stress, responsibility as well as funny moments. Being part of Colosoul has represented a significant occasion that helps me to integrate my background experience with real Australian work environment. I love marketing and that is why I feel so lucky to keep doing it here and I would like to say thanks Colosoul for this brilliant idea which I have not seen before in any Latin-American countries.

I would be a deep supporter to all this kind of initiatives because I am convinced that Colosoul has been making the best for enhancing our professional future .