Sacha Strebe is the editorial director of EyeSwoon and skin enthusiast behind Skinlexicon. 

Sacha took us inside her home, we talk about her career and how it's evolved from her beginnings in Australia, her organisation must haves and desk essentials, and her goals for the next 12 months. 

Occupation?

Whether I’m putting words down on a page or configuring décor to weave a narrative in design, storytelling is at the heart of everything I do. At the moment, I am the editorial director of EyeSwoon where I’m responsible for the editorial vision, direction, and tone across content, partnerships, and commerce, while leading the brand into its next phase... stay tuned! 

How did your career begin in media?

I started out as a journalist on the Gold Coast in Queensland, Australia working at a newspaper. My foray began in the newsroom listening to the police scanner and chasing front page headlines, but it wasn’t the right fit for me and the paper heads eventually moved me to the features department. After a few years, I was promoted as the editor of their weekly fashion and beauty insert reporting on Australian fashion week in Sydney.

After a year or so into the role, my husband landed a senior design role at Nobody Denim in Melbourne so our little family (our son Neon was two years old at the time) moved to the Victorian capital to start a new life—for me, that also meant a new career path. But it was all for the best because this physical move forced a digital shift in my work which, if you can believe, was only just starting to gain traction— it was the year 2011! After several interviews at a sister paper, I was declined which was devastating at the time, but soon after I landed a role at an international trade show company leading their fashion and design blogs, newsletters, and social media accounts. Even though it wasn’t my dream job, I gained vital experience that helped prepare me for my next role.

After four years in Melbourne our creative spirits were getting restless so we planned our next big adventure: relocating to Los Angeles! With just a couple of suitcases and some savings in the bank, we landed in Arizona at the beginning of 2015 (where my husband’s family live) and started looking for work. Within two months, I landed the Lifestyle Editor role at MyDomaine (sister site to Who What Wear) at Clique Media and we moved to the hip suburb of Silver Lake. 

I spent four years at MyDomaine, working my way up from Lifestyle Editor to Managing Editor and eventually Editorial Director, and I credit my wide range of digital and social experience in my previous role for securing the gig. It was a big lesson for me and for anyone reading this: Every job sets you up with new skills that are vital for the next step in your career. You can’t always see it at the time, but believe me, no experience is ever wasted. 

MyDomaine was sold to digital media company, DotDash Merredish in 2019 and after helping them with the content migration, I left my baby behind to pursue a new role as the senior editorial director of Create & Cultivate. My role spanned multiple departments from the C&C blog, to branded content, panel & podcast scripts, event programming, C&C marketplace, while also moderating panel and keynote conversations with Miranda Kerr, Eva Mendes, Bobby Berk, Chriselle Lim, and more.

In the peak of covid, I decided to put my extensive experience into practice, leaving my full-time role behind to become an editorial consultant for Athena Calderone’s EyeSwoon and Camille Styles where I helped to triple the site traffic for Camillestyles.com and reach a record high of 15M page views in one month. After a year of success, Athena shared her plans for the next phase of EyeSwoon and asked me to lead their team as Editorial Director—it was a dream come true! I can’t wait to share more. 

What has been your biggest career highlight to date?

There have been SO many career highlights but one of the biggest was walking into the Clique Media office on La Cienega in West Hollywood for the first time as lifestyle editor of MyDomaine. I remember taking a photo of the logo on the doors and feeling like I had officially “arrived.” I was a fan of Who What Wear from the newsletter days and even though I knew they could never hire me from Australia, I would often apply for their job listings hoping that one day, when I was eligible, they’d remember my name from the sea of applications. It was a long shot, a pipe dream, but it was also a form of manifesting my dreams into reality. I would often tweet the co-founder, Hillary Kerr and being the kind-hearted soul she is, would often reply. It made me feel so special. I’ll never forget on that first day, Hillary spotted me at my desk and immediately invited me into her office for a chat. I couldn’t believe she remembered me let alone wanted to speak with me. Hearing her say “I am so excited you’re here” made my head spin in the best way and really put fuel to my creative fire. 

Plain or Lined paper?

I like my creative chaos in between the lines.

Top 3 ways you organise your life?

1. Process is king. I am a huge proponent of putting systems in place that streamline communication between teams, especially now that we are all remote so my number one way to stay organised is via the project management platform, Asana. It help teams organize, track, and manage their work efficiently and I cannot live without it. I have introduced and implemented Asana into the last three companies I’ve worked at and it’s been an absolute game-changer.

2. Outside of Asana, Slack is also an important tool for organising my life.I love the immediacy and the ability to create channels to focus communication between teams.

3. And then the third tool is my Google calendar. I LIVE by my calendar. Everything has to go on it, from my meetings to my facials! I also set up a team calendar so we can have a visual of what’s happening across Athena’s schedule, EyeSwoon.com, and the team.  

Must have desk essentials?

Definitely my An Organised Life A4 Weekly Notepad. I am obsessed with it. I am big on lists so every day, I make note of the unfinished tasks from the day before and create a new one in categories of immediacy. If I don’t write it down, it might never happen!  Outside of that, a couple of pens, my Apple airpods, reading glasses, lip balm, and eye masks! Sometimes I will even put on my Omnilux LED mask while I’m working for a quick skin pick-me-up!

What do you love most about your ‘office’ space?

The light! I am surrounded by windows and behind me is a door to our little balcony with an abundance of cacti and a view of our garden out the front. It brings me (and our French bulldog, Cosmo!) a lot of joy. The light changes with the seasons too and the time of day. The morning’s are usually moody, then the sun opens up and splays out across the table, shifting later in the day to a warmer hue, a signature of California sunsets! It’s heaven.

What are your goals for the next 12 months / what are you most looking forward to?

We are working on so many exciting projects at EyeSwoon, much of which I can’t reveal just yet, but it has definitely pushed me creatively and I feel very challenged as I navigate some uncharted territory. While some days I can feel out of my depth, I revel in the challenge, which is what I’ve been craving at this point in my career. I’m so grateful for the opportunity to collaborate with one of the industry’s icons but also my personal idol. Athena leads with integrity, honesty, and kindness—traits I have always sought after in a leader.

Outside of my career, I am looking forward to traveling and getting out into nature with my family. I started mountain biking with my husband and son this year which is a sport I never thought I would partake in but I am so glad I did. I can’t believe how much I love it. As I enter my 40s, I feel myself breaking free of so many self-limiting beliefs that I’ve held onto for too long. I’m daring myself to try new things and venture beyond my comfort zone which has been so rewarding, both physically and mentally.  I highly recommend it.

Feeling creative & want to put pen to paper yourself? Start HERE with our range of Notebooks & follow Sacha on Instagram HERE.

Photography by Teal Thomsen