Trust Your Hobbies: How the side hustle lead to the real hustle

By: Peyton Bowen

If you would have told me eight years ago that I’d be returning from a month-long work trip that included curating beauty products with a merchandising team from London, planning an event with a luxury jewelry brand in Copenhagen during Men’s Fashion Week, and gallivanting around showrooms in Paris

solely for the purpose of creating content, there’s not a chance in the world I would have believed you.

Seriously.

The plan I’d originally set in place for myself involved graduating from Hillsdale, moving to Washington

D.C. and working in political fundraising. It was a great plan until I found myself dreading going to work everyday and hardly making enough money to sustain the J. Crew and Açaí Bowl addiction I had gotten myself into. I only lasted about eight months before I left politics, moved back to our favorite little town, Hillsdale, and became an Admissions Counselor.  This job made me feel like I was exactly where I was supposed to be, filling me up with such fulfilling conversations on a daily basis. I also started traveling regularly, which was something I never really experienced before.

Living in Hillsdale as a single young professional, however, left me with a lot more time on my hands. I started really exploring my hobbies; they went through so many iterations of what they are today but I now look back at how important this period of time was. I learned that most of the time after a long day of work, all I wanted was to go home and create something. I would collage the brick walls of my room, create content, plan outfits for every occasion I could think of, and then thrift the missing pieces online. Somewhere in the middle of all this, I started an online thrift store called PeyBaez Closet which developed into a resale business with weekly drops, stylized content, and even full photoshoots. I made a little bit of money but more than anything, I loved that I had something of my own to pour my creativity into.

My work eventually took me back to Washington D.C. and then to Hillsdale once more. These were difficult years. Like most in their mid-twenties, I was trying to navigate my career, my relationships, and more than anything, my purpose. I had moved into another role at work that began to really foster the analytical and strategic side of me but while I loved my job, it didn’t allow for the creativity I was able to let run free when I was working on my side hustle. I knew that the next step had to involve equal parts creativity and strategy. I was also feeling the pressure of time and comparison. Shouldn’t I know more about what I want than I do right now?

They say with great risk comes great reward, right? I actually quit my job without anything lined up and moved back home to start working on the next chapter. I knew what I liked: fashion, skincare, beauty, trends, travel, and media. I did not, however, know how I was going to get there. About three weeks later, I got connected to my now boss, Kate Cervini, a fellow Hillsdale alumni living in London and working in the fashion industry. She was in the beginning stages of creating her own brand, a wellness concierge service designed to simplify skincare and beauty routines during travel. The concept allows for travelers to order a complete travel-sized luxury routine before leaving for a trip only to have it waiting at the destination upon arrival.

In June 2022, I accepted a part-time assistant role to help with administrative tasks leading up to

launching the brand. If I’m being honest, my excitement and hesitation were at about the same level. I was in shock to have seemingly found what I was looking for so quickly but hesitant to accept something below where I viewed myself in my career. I’m so grateful I decided to jump. Now, eight months later, we’ve launched 100mL and I now lead the strategy for all brand partnerships and work with the marketing and merchandising teams to align our strategies and drive our sales.

If I can encourage you to do anything, invest in your hobbies and trust when they take on new forms. Had it not been for the era where I collaged everything in sight, I wouldn’t have built up the creative interest in developing a side hustle. Going even further back, had I not admitted that a life in politics simply wasn’t for me, I wouldn’t be traveling through London, Copenhagen, and Paris for work a mere five years later.

Trust your hobbies. They will probably reveal something very important to you.