"I wanted a company that would support my ambition": Kelly Hunt, Head of DC and Operations, reflects on five exciting years at Showpo

From a design role to a spot on the leadership team, it's a career path certainly worth celebrating. As she heads off on maternity leave, Head of DC & Operations Kelly Hunt reflects on her Showpo journey - and the support that helped her grow and succeed.

When I joined Showpo I knew I was looking for a different opportunity. I'd worked in design for a number of years, and while I enjoyed it I wanted more. I wanted a company I could grow and develop in, that would support my ambition; five years on and that is exactly what I've found. When I first applied I saw Showpo as a growing young startup that was thinking differently to a lot of the more established businesses I'd worked in, and felt that it would be the right opportunity.?

We were quite a small team when I started here as a designer five years ago! I designed, fitted and ordered my own styles and was solely responsible for my sales. Coming from bigger businesses where sales figures weren't always shared, I loved this and found it fascinating to see what worked and didn't, and then apply this. As we grew, I hired a team of designers and then garment technicians to build our design and production teams.

This was a huge period of development for me, learning how to be a people leader and not just a contributor. These lessons have been so rewarding and continue to help shape my leadership style. From here I started to understand my passions more and focused on the more operational aspects of these teams and how we could optimise.

I've been lucky to have great managers during my time here who recognised my drive to grow

I've been lucky to have great managers during my time here who recognised my drive to grow and have helped guide me into new areas. Over time I realised that my passion was in a more operational role, not in product, so I've been supported to focus on production and supply chain, and now operations. Moving into my current role was a bigger stretch for me as I didn't have any experience in fulfilment, but this was something I'd shared my interest in and when the opportunity came up, Showpo was willing to offer me the chance.

My role is incredibly varied, and I love that I get to work with all departments of our business. My teams are responsible for our production, supply chain, warehouse, corporate social responsibility (CSR) and eComm operations. Collectively we have a huge impact on what our customer experiences when they shop with us and this is woven into everything we do. The main function of my role is to support my incredible leaders in each team, so a large part of my week is spent with them; my focus is on unblocking any challenges they may be having and ensuring our focus is aligned.

It's quite unusual for my role to manage so many departments, particularly eComm and CSR - they wouldn't traditionally live under an operations role. This works only because I have a great team of leaders underneath me, so I've been very lucky in that!?

We never settle, we are always looking for what's next

From my product days, the launches I'm most proud of are our bridal collection and the extension of our sizing from 4-20. Both of these initiatives are intrinsic to what we try to do at Showpo to make fashion accessible for everyone, and our customer feedback on both of these to this day makes me so happy. Launching our CSR page recently and submitting to the Baptist World Aid report for the first time was also a huge milestone. We've been working on this project over the last few years and to see it come to fruition was incredibly rewarding. We've only got more to come in this space, which I am so excited about.

But beyond all of the amazing achievements I've been a part of during my time here, what I've loved the most has been working with our distribution centre (DC) team! They are the most passionate and supportive team I've ever worked with, and it's been so incredibly rewarding to be able to support them to achieve our goals. It's been a tough couple of years with COVID restrictions affecting them the most, and the positivity and commitment they've all shown over this time is next to none.?

I often describe my experience at Showpo as a rollercoaster. With each new challenge I feel right at the top, out of my comfort zone, but over time that drops back down to a steady pace, before we try something new and shoot right back up again. We never settle, we are always looking for what's next. I've loved this as I've always felt challenged and always able to try something new.?

We're also a business that shares personal milestones as well as professional. Heading off onto maternity leave can feel a little scary after working so hard on my career to date, but the support and excitement I've felt from the business over this time has been fantastic.????

From all of us at Showpo, thank you Kelly, and all the best!

Pictured above from top down: Kelly at a Halloween party with the DC team; Kelly and team members celebrating Showpo's first submission to the Baptist World Aid (BWA) ethical fashion report; with the Showpo crew at her wedding