CAMILLE CHARRIERE Career Lore

Imagine being asked to shut down your own social accounts because you had more followers than the brand you were working for. That's what happened to Camille Charriere. Welcome to Career Lore, where we dig into the origin stories of the people shaping culture. Camille Charriere grew up in Paris and started her career in law, completing two degrees, including one in criminal justice. She got an internship in Paris, but moved to London to be with her English boyfriend at the time. Her law degree wasn't accepted in the UK, so instead she took a job at a hedge fund and absolutely hated it. In 2010, she started a blog called Camille Over The Rainbow, updating it on her lunch breaks so colleagues wouldn't find out. So, she posted on Instagram to promote the blog and both platforms grew fast. She was over being unhappy, so quit finance and used the blog like an interactive CV to get into fashion. She landed her first big break in fashion, an editorial role on the editorial team at Net-a-Porter. "I can credit Net-a-Porter for giving me my first big break in fashion," says Charriere, who applied for a role on the editorial team on a whim. "It was a really incredible place to start a career in fashion because Net-a-Porter was really the first break into the industry." From there, she gained momentum and about a year later got poached by Matchesfashion.com. After three months, they asked her to close down her Instagram because she had more followers than the company. She was already making more money from her blog than her job, so she decided to quit fully and went fully independent. For her, that looks like blogging, creating content, and writing for publications like Harper's Bazaar and British Vogue. Plus brand deals across her Instagram, like her long-term partnership with Mango, which resulted in a sold-out capsule collection. She also co-hosted the podcast Fashion No Filter and presented Paris Mode on the French Network, plus Canal+. By 2022, she was a contributing editor at LUK. Today, Kami is a creator with over 1.3 million followers, and also her first book, "Ashamed." And as a reporter at Air Mail. When asked for advice wanting to do the same, she said, "Work hard, speak to everyone around you about your hopes and dreams, do not write anything off as beneath you, be prepared to learn, change your mind, be wrong, but ultimately, trust your instincts and make a leap of faith."