CREATING AN LA CARTE CAREER

After our interview with an Italian jewellery maker-mother, we continue through the market and come across a funky shoe maker Shoe Embassy.Any traveller will recognise the craft of a well made shoe, so we stop and spoke to one of the traders there, Edita Tumasonyte, who you will discover through the interview is also a model and a budding teacher.Unlike the majority of people who’ve participated in our project, Edita does not strive for the stability of having a place she call her own, she loves moving from town to town and even from country to country, having moved from Vilnius, to Paris, Tokyo and Milan. About an eighth of the people we interviewed in our research value “travelling” as their number one ambition to help them make a living. But where she does reflect the majority of people we interviewed is her desire to learn and in particularly achieve qualifications to enable her to start a new profession, in this case to teach children.

Like a third of young people, she wants to do work that she enjoys and that she is good at – from being a model to becoming a teacher, while in the meantime discovering the joys and thrills of being a market trader. Over to Vincent, Noel and Maxime for their interview with Edita…

What is your business here?

I do three things. Modelling, I sell shoes here, and then I have a part-time job in office. And then I’m studying back in Lithuania.

What is your favorite job?

I guess modeling. Actually I am doing that for 8 years.

Here in London? Or you started somewhere else?

Yeah. I did everywhere, but I am in London now and have been for two years.

What made you come here?

It just, I don’t know, happened. And then I found this job, and started to sell shoes.

So how did you find this job?

It is my friend. I just help out. He was my ex-boyfriends friend.

And how is this business going for you?

It is hard, but it is good. We do all weekends.

So no parties, but you can earn money for your rent at least. Do you feel like you can easily make a living in a city like this?

No. It is hard. That is why I’ve got another job. But it is possible. If you want to. If you are going to sit at home and do nothing, you’re not going to get any money. But if you work hard, you can do it I think.

What are you planning to study when you go back?

I am studying already. I am in my second year. I am studying pre-school education.

Why children? Why do you want to teach?

I don’t know. I just feel like it. I just love kids.

Do you want to become a teacher?

Yeah, yeah, definitely. That’s my plan.

So you see these jobs as a means to becoming a teacher, and that is your goal for the future? 

Yeah. It’s going to take some time, but yeah.

And why did you move here in the first place? Was it that in Lithuania the perspective is…

No. I was traveling around the world. I stayed in like Milan, Paris, Tokyo. And it just was easiest to stay here for longer, because I know the language. And I got this job, so it was just easier for me. I think mainly because of the language. You’re going to find many young people here. Good luck!