From cleaning toilets with toothbrushes to partying with P-Diddy, Melissa Phair has seen it all. The Fermanagh native has no shortage of tales to tell from her life working as a Head Chef on a SuperYacht, which has played a part in inspiring her latest venture, her very own sustainable fashion brand.
"So we did the whole course firefighting, sea survival, all the medicals, first aid the whole thing and then we did the dock walk. On my first day out dock walking I met a girl that used to be in the Alps as well and she asked if I could cook and I said 'yeah, well my dad's a chef and a baker, how hard could it be?' So she asked me back the next day for a trial.
"One day I was cleaning toilet bowls with toothbrushes and cue tips and I thought, what are you doing? I have just done a Masters degree for four years and I am upside down in this toilet with a cotton bud, and I was like this isn't the life for me. I did a year there and really put the graft in but I did fall in love with cooking."
Having loved fashion and art since her school days the 35-year-old was then inspired to create her own clothing line, which would focus on timeless capsule pieces, rather than fast fashion. "So you know that dress in your wardrobe that you've had a while and you look amazing in, I want to encourage people to wear and wear again, be seen in it again and again and just change the narartive that you always need to be seen in something different."
I find it disgusting how the rich treat working classes. There would be a snowball's chance in hell of me cleaning a toilet for them.