She’s an Aussie designer who has attracted fans like Gigi Hadid and Kylie Jenner, and who cites opening a store on New York’s Bleeker Street as her career highlight. Despite her enormous success Alyce Tran of The Daily Edited offered a candid, down-to-earth insight into getting a job in fashion at the recent Virgin Australia Melbourne Fashion Week Career Code Talk.

Tran spoke with Allison Rice, the group publisher of Women’s Lifestyle at Allure Media, and spent the afternoon of International Women’s Day, reminiscing in Melbourne Museum’s Treetops event space on her passage through the industry.

Tran is the co-founder of The Daily Edited, a brand specialising in personalised accessories that cater to an audience who are seeking sleek design at an accessible price point. She and her business partner Tania Liu met when they were both working as lawyers, and while they loved dressing up like the characters of Suits, the pair wanted a space to pursue their artistic passion.

That hobby has now become an accessory label that turned over 30 million dollars last year. The Daily Edited now has thirteen stores, including two in the US and another in Singapore, while Liu currently resides in China to bring the brand to overseas markets.

She explained how she and Lui had to build up a buffer in the lead-up to taking leave from law, pointing out she was a similar age to women taking leave to start a family.

“I just left to start a business,” she giggled self-deprecatingly with her largely female audience.

Tran’s everyday life in the business is far removed from the glamour of the fashion festival. “It keeps you grounded,” she explains of the everyday realities of running a business.

Claire Worboys, a food and lifestyle blogger at fooditorial loved the honesty of Tran’s advice. “It was very honest, addressed real issues and went through her real experiences,” she said. Stylist Catherine Garlick similarly praised the candid insights, “I loved the stories of her pathway, from where she started to now.”

“You definitely need to make sacrifices,” Tran advises, speaking of the effort required to build a brand from the ground, “but I think everyone gets their moment in the sun if you work hard.”

A perceptive response to a final question from a nervous young girl displayed Tran’s kindness, which Rice had already highlighted saying Tran had donated allocated flight money to charity and paid out of her own pocket.

Discussing digital and brand strategy could have been dry, but Rice and Tran managed to make the topic fresh, and an experience that spoke of the impact women can have in the fashion industry, while building and lifting up future generations of fashion lovers.