My mother sewed and as a young girl I loved to accompany her to Fabric and haberdashery stores where I would play amongst the rolls of fabric. These were a wonder of beautiful colours and textures and instantly elevated me to new heights of imagination. Baskets of fabric bundles, braids and discarded buttons and gems caught my eye. I later learned these glorious bundles were ends of rolls and off cuts, but at the time they were all I wanted in the whole world. I could sit for hours and study the pattern books with their intricate illustrations and made characters of each sketch, telling their stories as I turned the pages as if it were a family photo album. When I was finally be pulled away, we'd head home with my few spectacular bundles wrapped in paper and tied with string, my head swimming with ideas, my stomach in butterflies with excitement and my universe of design altered forever. I was around seven years of age.

I'd manually turn the wheel on my mother's machine to sew together wonderful creations for my sister and my Barbies. Most holidays and weekends our Barbies attended the most spectacular affairs and were married multiple times, taking turns in wearing a new gown and bridesmaid outfit to match. Ours were the best dressed Barbies on the block!

Looking back I see the moments that have steered me towards this choice of career. I am from a large family and my mother often made my cousins bridal gowns and team of bridesmaids...so wedding finery and the fairytale that encompasses the title 'bride' subconsciously resonated throughout my head over the years. As a teenager the illustrations of the pattern books resonated with me. These characters were always so beautifully attired and accessorized. I worked at being able to replicate this art and then be able to make the creations I drew. I was inspired by the illustrations of Dior, Balenciaga, Chanel, Balmain, Lanvin etc, sketches that revealed femininity through classical cuts, minimising and emphasising a woman's shape. These formed the most striking ladies I had ever seen, I was like a moth to a flame and my creative senses were enlightened.

I spent much of my spare time and all holidays drawing and sewing, honing my skill (even taking the sewing machine on camping holidays, where my father would run the generator all day, for it to work). After entering a competition to Design a Formal gown at high school, I knew I needed to do something where my creativity could be fulfilled into a dimensional object, to be admired and appreciated. From that moment I knew that Fashion Design and Illustration was my path.

On graduating high school I delved into three all-consuming years of Design and the many facets that accompany this, such as Patternmaking, production and marketing. I was rewarded throughout these years, reaching finalists status in a number of national competitions, which just spurned my enthusiasm. Like most students I had jobs along my journey that were completely unglamorous (packing meat in a meat works) however honed other character traits the long hours and perseverance to work in the fashion industry require?all means are necessary if one is to reach their goal.

My road turned to the former fanciful days of bridal with my Barbies, when a high end bridal boutique required my illustrating skills. I learnt much about the bridal retail industry customising sketches for individual brides and eventually designing ranges for the boutique; it wasn't long before my skills were recognised within the industry.

My journey changed again. Newly married I was invited to work for Australia's oldest bridal Design house 93 Collections. Here I discovered a different aspect to the bridal industry, the ever evolving world of bridal wholesaling. In 1999 my husband and I bought the company and embarked on a journey of a lifetime.

As the new owner of one of Australia's Iconic bridal houses, it was important to me to maintain the company's heritage with the 93 bridal label. This range reflected my youth and being in touch with my brides, whilst maintaining traditional elements. I was excited to be launching my very first collection under our ownership. It was a personal moment of great joy.

However my elusive creative 'Barbie' days still haunted me and there was a need to release a collection of sexy, fanciful gowns. In 2000 we launched Roz la Kelin and instantly had stockists throughout Australia and New Zealand keen to add this new collection to their stores. Now my dreams had come to fruition, many hours at my drawing board and sewing machine, all those years of hard work in the industry had resulted in a namesake collection. I was overjoyed to say the least.

Throughout the years I entered many bridal Awards, making finalist and winning many times over. I have always known bridal to be one of the highest forms of Fashion, as its wearable art appreciated in its highest form. Awards encouraged and enabled me to push the realms of my bridal designs to new heights, enabling me to be free of the constraints of commercialism.

In 2004 I was invited to attend Hong Kong Fashion Week. It was the flame that ignited me to take my labels global. From here I attended Bridal shows in the UK making my gowns now available to brides all over the globe.

On one of my visits to our stockists in the UK another inspirational flame was ignited. My husband and I appreciate various architecture and the stone buildings on the cobbled streets of London inspired us to renovate and expand our Brisbane boutique Bridal Couture on our return. Bridal Couture is located amongst the Heritage listed buildings of the Stamford Plaza in Brisbane. This exquisite boutique with ornate finishes not only encapsulates the sumptuous surroundings but reflects the company's rich heritage in the bridal industry. Our unique setting has become very popular, with work spreading quickly and brides travelling from far a field.

In 2006 when the oldest bridal boutique in Sydney CBD (also located in a heritage listed Building) was for sale, my husband and I knew it was meant to be. We wanted to re-establish the beauty of a boutique in the 1920's décor that epitomises the Dymocks building. My husband carved away at the space and created our 2nd flagship store that sweeps you back to this classic era, in luscious surrounds where brides receive personalised service with their very own stylist.

Having now reached most of my objectives, I again challenged myself to reveal yet another layer of my talent. I had succeeded in designing ranges of creative, beautiful, feminine, affordable bridal gowns that visually minimised and emphasised all different body shapes, but something was still missing a range that I'm very proud of as it truly celebrates my love of working with the female form in all shapes and sizes in 2008 Glamour Plus was launched. These are glamorous gowns for Plus size women, ready made off the rack, that emphasise the best features of the many different Plus size body shapes and give these 'real women' unique, sexy and fashionable gowns. This has been truly rewarding in recognition for my design abilities but also from the overwhelming feedback of our brides who have desired a range like this for so long.

I'm now busy visiting stores and meeting brides at Designer Days around the country, so who knows what I might see or who I'll meet that will inspire my next yet unawakened dream....