Stacey Bendet Launches New Job Search App for Creatives

by Eddie Roche
Stacey Bendet

Alice + Olivia’s Stacey Bendet was one of the many who struggled with the right channel to find fashion creatives to hire. She just took her frustrations a little further and created an App to solve the problem herself. She recently launched Creatively, a free networking platform for people in creative industries to connect and find job opportunities. Bendet tells us how it works!

Congrats on the app and new company. Can you explain how the Creatively app will work?
Think of a cross between LinkedIn and Instagram but with incredibly visual portfolio tools! Creatively is a place for creatives to post detailed projects and portfolios and their resumes, and it’s a place for companies to search and discover new talent! Companies can create freelance searches and full-time searches. Creatives have a place where their work can be seen, for them it is like the most beautiful online gallery for free!

Did you come up with this idea? What was the inspiration?
Yes! I was frustrated with the limited tools available to companies when hiring, and I also felt that existing social media channels didn’t allow for sharing work in a way that was satisfactory for the art many creatives create. Creatively allows for hi-res images, incredible nested albums and the ability to move around the order of your images.

When were you originally planning to launch? Presumably you pushed the launched earlier because of the Coronavirus pandemic.
We originally wanted to launch in September, but we pushed up the launch to help the many students graduating without job options and the many creatives who haven’t had work in the past two months.

Why did you want to launch the app with creatives?
The platform was built by creatives for creatives. I think LinkedIn is great for accountants and other corporate jobs. Creatives needed a visual tool to show their work and creatives live a more mobile life. Creatively is meant to allow people to find new work opportunities anywhere and everywhere.

What kind of level jobs are on the app?
It will have all levels. Full-time, freelance, etc.

There are so many people losing their jobs.  Are there actually places looking for talent right now?  
Companies still have openings in their digital departments and we all still need to create content for Ecomm, social media etc., so there will be a lot of job opportunities. Maybe more day jobs and freelance, but there will be work!

How do you think talent can really stand out on your particular app?
The app is built around collaboration so when you tag people who you worked with on a project or they tag you the project gains more exposure. We will also feature talent and create a badging system for talent. We are implementing an ability to share content to other social channels and we are creating a system of likes that will also effect the feed algorithm.

What’s your advice for people looking for work right now?
Be open to a different way of working and be willing to try things part time or on a project basis, and just stay positive. The world will not be like this forever!

Where have you been during quarantine and how have you been holding up?
I’ve been in Malibu. My days as a 3rd grade math teacher were a low, it seems I would not graduate elementary school if I was a student today, and while work is challenging, I’ve enjoyed the family time and quiet and calm of my life in quarantine.

What do you think the fashion world will look like when we come out of this?
I think about this every day—Masks are the “it” item of 2020!! I think for the rest of the year clothes will be more casual, event dressing is just not going to be an option because there won’t be big events. I think women will want to look chic at home, they will dress up for small dinners and dates etc…They will be traveling less and going out less. Retail will have a tough time for the next 6 months or so, people are nervous, but maybe this is also a moment where retail needs to change, digital comes first, we need to catch up to the rest of the world and truly be more high tech. I believe in the resilience of women and I believe in the power of the fashion community to come out of this stronger than before!

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