We might be halfwalf through March but really, the fun is only just beginning.

After spending the first week in Paris, and the second recovering from Paris, I am this weekend taking it easy before the L’Oreal Melboune Fashion Festival kicks off on Tuesday, and is followed quickly by Easter and April. It’s hard to believe we are already a quarter of the way through the year.

Maybe it’s just me, but time sure does fly as you get older – as the saying goes, ‘time flies when you’re having fun’, and I am definitely having fun!

Sarah from StyleMelbourne commented recently that 2013 would be her tenth LMFF (pause for WOW). I remember my first LMFF, about the same time while I was at Uni, attending the Target parade in the very depths of Docklands and thinking how incredibly amazing a fashion show it was. Little did I know that for the following years I would try to be a volunteer, and fail, before finally getting my chance to prove just how passionate I was about the festival.

It’s crazy how ten years can go by just like that. From the Target parade, to fashion week in Paris, my fashion journey has shown me just how much hard work and effort can be truly rewarding.

Yes, I started as a volunteer, but next week I will work as a (paid) project assistant for the Business Series of events, working with some of the most amazing speakers LMFF has bought out to date. And after my shift is done for the day, I’ll have a quick wardrobe change and head to Docklands (again) to sit with the fashion writing royalty of Melbourne in my role as Fashion Editor for Onya Magazine.

It’s hard to see the light when you are a fashion festival vollie, lugging magazines and giftbags or sweating it out backstage while the models get all the attention. It’s easy to listen to the speaker they bring in at the start of the festival to inspire you and think ‘oh, that will never happen for me’. But I am here to tell you – it’s not meant to be easy, and that’s why only the dedicated ones make it.

Get to your shift early. Wear your uniform. Smile. Offer to help. Offer to do a double shift. Offer to bring your manager coffee. Give them your business card at the end of the week. Speak up, don’t be shy and shine.

My (paid) roles at LMFF, MSFW, the Spring Racing Carnival and the Autumn Racing Carnival have all stemmed from my volunteer days with the fashion festivals. You know when people say, ‘Imagine getting paid for doing something you love’? 

Imagine no more. Just work hard and dream big.

Pictures from top: Sarah from StyleMelbourne and I at the Spring Racing Carnival, November 2011; Volunteering at the LMFF Target Show, March 2010; Volunteering at Rosemount Australian Fashion Week in Sydney May 2010; Frocking up for Paris Fashion Week March 2013.