Sasha Bruce has 12 years' experience in the wholesale and retail industry. Her proven commercial success at Debenhams as Senior Buyer on Gifts was achieved through excellent relationship building and motivating those around her. Previous to her 4 plus years at Debenhams, Sasha was UK Buyer at Present Time Ltd, a design-led gift and homeware company who has seen huge growth in the last decade. Sasha joined Present Time straight from University, and continued to study Marketing during her career there.
A critical part of Sasha's experience is achieving strategic growth and gaining the co-operation of colleagues - prominent themes, proven throughout her career, in PR and marketing, Internet and international, store operations, planning, and dealing with store staff. Supplier support was critical, and gaining their trust enabled the flexibility required for success. Sasha has managed diverse supply bases of over 100 companies from numerous direct manufacturers, UK design companies to large toy marketing machines.
Spending 6 months based Hong Kong as Product Sourcing Manager in 2001, Sasha visited factories in China and Taiwan, learning how to undergo factory inspections and work with them on improvements. The experience was invaluable and has given her complete insight into the Product Life Cycle.
Sasha is well known in the Design and Gift industry and has spent many years nurturing companies through their infancy in order to see them progress. She is passionate about good ideas, innovation and realising opportunity. Sasha has more recently become known for training designer-makers and product designers in subjects such as How to reach Buyers, Routes to Market, Planning your Trade Show and Market Research.
