st moments of her career so far, and what she hopes to achieve in the years ahead. Inside Retail: Can you share some of the proudest moments of your career so far? Kiran Flynn: As SEO and performance marketing manager at Taking Shape, I’m proud to have produced some fantastic results for the business. Taking Shape as a whole had our biggest peak trading day ever last November and it was great to have contributed to this. Other highlights include increasing the number of organic keywords ranking in Australia by 97 per cent year on year and increasing combined paid revenue by 28 per cent year on year in the first few months of this year. I was super proud to be a part of Taking Shape’s first-ever collaboration with a First Nations artist, Elverina Johnson, which launched last year. It was a privilege to promote Elverina and the collection, generating some fab coverage. We actually launched our second Elverina Johnson collection earlier this year! Working in travel prior to moving over to Australia, I was always proud to have successfully organised press trips for key UK media to top European beach holiday destinations. I worked with internal teams and tourist board contacts to ensure no stone was left unturned, potential crises were averted and the journalists had the best experiences. These trips resulted in fantastic national online and print coverage for the brand. One of my proudest moments from earlier in my career was being taken on a familiarisation trip to India with a UK-based luxury travel agent where I was able to experience the tourism and get lost in the magic of the country. I was then able to write reviews and marketing collateral for the brand – which was also some of my best writing – to drive enquiries and sales to the key destinations. IR: What are some of your long-term career goals? KF: Being a true leader of innovation within the digital marketing space, unifying inspiring human stories with the data and strategy required to propel them to the right audiences to drive real revenue results. In the future, I would love to lead businesses to leave an impact on consumers in new and unexpected ways.  Having dipped my toes into the world of women’s fashion and retail with Taking Shape over the last two years, I’m intrigued to see where retail can take me, and everything I can learn along the way. I’m a passionate advocate for fairness, equality and diversity, so it has been fabulous to work at Taking Shape with our mission to help every curvier lady (and non-binary, trans, etc) “find their fabulous” and feel great –no matter the occasion!  I can see this continuing long into my career as I choose to work for brands that align with my values, seeking to make a real, positive impact. I also can’t wait to build a team and be a people manager – I love to teach and would relish the challenge of inspiring teams to produce work they’re proud of. IR: What do you love most about working in the retail industry? KF: Taking Shape is my first role in retail. Prior to that I was at a performance marketing agency and prior to that I worked in travel. It has been a refreshing change moving back to working directly in a brand, which I much prefer.  Retail is so fast-paced and I’m learning so much every day (even two years into my role), and the scope for further learning and development seems huge! Being in digital for all of my career, it has been so nice to be able to actually go out and visit in-store, meet the store staff, see/feel the product.  My first day at Taking Shape I was so impressed to see the warehouse and learn about the behind-the-scenes workings of e-commerce. There’s a lot that goes on in the background that most consumers aren’t aware of and there are always new strategies the teams is employing to improve the process and customer experience.