Why My Colleagues’ Blogs Made Me Cry

How ‘SEO’ changed my ‘POV’.

You often hear people say; ‘you should do what you love’.

But I think the far more important question is: ‘do you do what you do with love?’

After reading my colleagues’ blogs this past weekend, I can unequivocally confirm that every single one of them does.

Let’s go back to the beginning.

As my fellow marketers will know, our jobs are often the persistent pursuit of content. 

And sometimes we are not quite content with the level of content that we need to contend with. 

So, inspired by a particularly poignant PowerPoint slide about “dividing and conquering,” I decided to outsource. 

I tasked our team with a variety of topics from which they could choose, to write a monthly blog on. From their unique perspectives… or ‘POV’ as the cool kids are calling it.

I know what you’re thinking..

“S E O my word, that’s genius.”

And honestly? It was.

But not only because it optimized our search engine.

Because somewhere between the headings, hyperlinks, and carefully chosen keywords, these blogs optimized something else entirely.

Me.

Through every paragraph, every perspective, and every story, I realised something that feels increasingly rare in today’s world: the people around me genuinely care about what they do.

Not performatively. Not for applause. 

Not for a LinkedIn announcement with a carousel post and the words “humbled and honoured.”

They care in the quiet, consistent, deeply human kind of way.

You could see it in the way Lizzy (hyperlink Lizzy blog) wrote about fast fashion and our responsibility to challenge it. Not from a place of judgment, but from a place of hope and sincerity. 

You could feel it in Tracey’s (hyperlink Trace blog) perspective on the uncomfortable but necessary role profit plays in purpose-led business. Because as inspiring as change sounds, somebody still has to keep the lights on while trying to create it.

There was Diante’s (hyperlink) product-first perspective too. The understanding that making second-hand clothing the first choice requires intention, curation, creativity, and care. That sustainability isn’t just about selling clothes. It’s about reshaping perception.

And then there were Debbie and Kathy. The kind of people whose stories don’t just tell you about a brand, but about years of intertwined purpose, loyalty, friendship, and showing up. The kind of people who remind you that meaningful work is rarely built overnight. It’s built slowly, lovingly, over time.

Somewhere between all these stories, I realised something else too.

We’ve replaced building our legacy with building our LinkedIn. 

We’ve become obsessed with appearing successful instead of being impactful.

We curate. We optimise. 

We network. We announce.

But how many of us can genuinely say we leave the world better than we found it?

And I think part of the problem is that we live in a world striving for perfection while offering very little direction. 

Everybody wants to help. 

Everybody wants to make a difference. 

But most people are overwhelmed by the idea that changing the world has to be grand or revolutionary.

It doesn’t.

Sometimes it looks like donating a dress.

Sometimes it looks like volunteering your Tuesday mornings.

Sometimes it looks like choosing to shop differently.

Sometimes it looks like simply showing up consistently for something bigger than yourself.

That’s what makes Vintage with Love so special to me. 

It’s an accessible way to care. 

A tangible way to contribute. 

A reminder that purpose doesn’t always have to be loud to be meaningful.

And the truth is, every single person who walks through our doors does what they do with love.

It’s not just wording on a logo.

It’s not a slogan we stick on a website.

It’s not branding.

It’s embedded into every decision we make.

From the moment someone unlocks the store in the morning to the final “kind regards” sent at the end of the day, there is intention behind what we do. 

There is care behind what we build. 

There is love woven into every rack, every donation, every event, every campaign, every conversation.

What we do is with love.

And with all that said and done, I couldn’t let the words that moved me so deeply simply live and die on a blog page, hidden somewhere behind search engine rankings and Google analytics dashboards.

These stories deserved more than clicks.

They deserved connection.

And so, the With Love Letters are born.

A digital diary series documenting what it really means and what it really takes to do what we do with love.

Not the polished version.

Not the pitch deck version.

The real version.

The hopeful version.

The exhausting version.

The beautiful version.

Because maybe the most meaningful thing any of us can do, isn’t just finding work that we love.

Maybe it’s choosing, every single day, to do our work with love instead.

With love

Tay