Anne-Marie Wade, the CEO of Ally Fashion, has always been fiercely driven and decidedly independent.
So it was probably no surprise to those that loved her when she announced she was moving to London in her mid-twenties on a two-year working visa.
It was there that she fell in love, properly, with the magic of retail.
She'd known since she was about 19 that she wanted to be a visual merchandiser. She'd read about the vocation in the newspaper and felt drawn to it.
It was the perfect mix of creativity and organisation: her two biggest loves. So she'd ditched what she was doing, hospitality management, and changed gears.