Around October of 2016 I moved from China to London for university, this being the first time I had ever moved homes in my 18 years of life. I had always been raised to not be bothered by what people think of you, hence what people called my ‘unique’ style. People would look at me with strange looks which I always took as admiration, not out of self-obsession but because it was the only way I didn’t let myself be insecure. Moving to London, I felt a new sense of home where everyone had their ‘unique’ style and where people had real admiration for self-expression.

During my first walk down brick lane, a very friendly and stylish face approached me handing a flyer saying “20% off at BLITZ”. Being broke and desperate to shop I obviously accepted and went directly to the store. I immediately adored every single item I laid my eyes on in the store, it was love at first sight. I proceeded to go on a shopping spree I could not afford to pay for, thus began the love story.

Fast forward to the beginning of this summer, the end to my second summer of university. I had my family, friends and professors asking me “what internships are you looking for this summer?” to which I aspired to have a laid out, detailed as hell, 3-point plan so they wouldn’t have to bother me with any more questions. Let’s emphasise the “aspired” part, I had no possible options. At this point I had been following ATIKA for two years now, visiting the store frequently, and spreading the word about my favorite vintage/concept store in London. I opened my Instagram one night as my routine usually goes, and I saw a post from ATIKA saying “Looking for social media/PR intern”, the love story continues.

I sent my CV in earlier in the summer, and had gotten no reply for quite some time. I had begun to lose faith, and then an angel sent from heaven named Leanne emailed me to set up an interview.

Say hello to ATIKA’s new social media/PR intern and she couldn’t be happier.

Me deciding what to wear on my first day of work to make a good impression was absolutely tragic. My friends were attempting to encouraging me saying “you’ll fit right in”, yet I still couldn’t stop fussing about my outfits. I walked into the store and I immediately felt so welcome. Every person I met was so sweet, stylish, cool and knowledgeable, I had felt so intimidated in the best way possible. My experience here (being very limited) has been amazing, I’ve learned so much in just one day and I can’t wait for what else I will learn from being here.