The tales of Dark Moon 🌚

Hi there! My name is Millie, and I'm the artist behind Dark Moon Collective, a place where I can share all of my creations with everyone that wants to incorporate a little whimsy and magic into their lives ✨

I'm based in West Sussex and operating between my two office spaces (my bedroom and spare room in my parents house). I started Dark Moon Collective around January 2025, after I decided to put what felt like my entire future on the line and quit my marketing apprenticeship. Sounds dramatic, but I shall explain... 

My villain origin story 🧙🏻♀️ I had never known what I wanted to do with my life, and honestly, I still don't get how people had sorted out their life's plan before their frontal lobe developed. University didn't appeal to me, I wasn't getting into debt over something I didn't even know I wanted to do or would enjoy, and I didn't like school anyway. I wasn't bad, so don't get it twisted, I was just BORED, like I'm sure to a scientist, knowing the parts of an atom is very important, but I don't care. And the thought of being in a 9-5, 5 day a week office job stuck inside, at a computer (she says as she's sat at a computer typing this), being told what to do by some overpaid and underworked man who thinks he's better than me for the rest of my life, was, and still is, my absolute number 1, top spot, highest ranking, worse nightmare. (and don't even get me started on how outdated the 5 day work week is and if the standard was a 4 day work week, higher wage, tax the richest and have a cap on how much the highest paid employee is paid compared to the lowest paid, people would have more money, more free time, and would spend more into the economy resulting in the economy literally sorting itself out. And people would be happier too. But I digress)

Anyway. Back to my lore. 🏰

I was never concerned about my lack of a life plan, I always believed everything would sort itself out and what is meant for you will never pass you by. But then you watch everyone around you earning degrees, having good jobs, moving out, and you start feeling a bit 😒. It's not fun feeling left behind, even if you never wanted that life anyway, but you start to doubt yourself like... am I actually destined to live a life of mediocrity? Have I royally messed my entire life up?

Around this time (my early 20's) I started gaining a following on social media as an Equestrian Content Creator (weird side quest, I know). Now there was no part of me that thought that would be my future... BUT, as I was scrolling through indeed one day, I came across a job posting for a marketing apprentice for a marketing agency specialising in equestrian businesses, it all felt like it clicked. It was perfect. I applied, got a call from the recruiter, he was saying I was perfect, my background in social media was ideal, there wasn't anyone more fitting for this role. I was so excited, I had finally found something I wanted to do.

Then he emailed me a day later saying unfortunately they had already hired someone for the role. And I was bummed to put it lightly.

Now I know what you might be thinking... this is when I started Dark Moon Collective. You would be incorrect. For almost two years, I was put forward for interview, after interview, after interview, and what got me in the door was always my background in social media, because what company doesn't want a strong social media presence in this day and age? I was completing every free certification in digital marketing I could find to make my CV more appealing, but they were always interested in my social media the most. (May I just remind everyone, that these were all for apprenticeships. Y'know, half the national living wage, you don't need experience, I was probably the person with the most amount of experience out of anyone else that was being interviewed) Every recruiter I spoke to would tell me how quickly I would get snapped up, I wouldn't have a problem finding something. Unfortunately, I apparently like to prove people wrong.

Getting rejected for almost two years straight does tend to take a toll on someone. And what's worse is no one could tell me what I was doing wrong. Was I just extremely unlikeable? I choose to believe that the universe was pushing me toward something greater than the path I was trying to go down, but it still sucked.

Then, at the end of 2024, I got an offer! I think I screamed, honestly. Just as I was at the point of giving up, I had the carrot of hope dangled in front of my face. Then I cut the string myself. The job I was offered was by a woman who owned her own jewellery business, it seemed well-established, I thought we were going to get along, she seemed really nice, chill, it was completely remote, she basically said she trusted me to do what I thought was best, and I thought, great! Perfect! (spoiler alert: it wasn't great, nor perfect)

I want you to put yourself in my shoes for a second, you're being paid £6.70 an hour, completely new at this job, never done it before, and you basically get told in the first week "here's my passwords, shopify, email and email marketing app, find (minimum) 100 influencers that align with my brand, email them for a gifting collab, make and send marketing emails everyday to my existing customer base, oh and if you don't make me £3,000 a month I won't be able to afford to keep you on".

Girl, if I could make £3,000 a month do you think I would be working for you?

I was given basically 0 guidance, no support, no teaching, I taught myself how to use the email marketing app and shopify, and all I got from her would be a complaint at 7PM that the marketing email I had made didn't look right, needed to be changed, the colours and font wasn't right (I got them from her branding package), I wasn't doing enough, wasn't working fast enough. I think I cried like 6 times in 3 weeks.

It all came to a head one day 3 weeks in when she called me in the morning wanting to know how everything was going, how I was doing, and honestly at that point, as long as I didn't think about this £3,000 I had to make her or I'd lose my job, I thought I was doing pretty well (despite the crying). And then she asked how the influencer gifting program was going because she wanted to get out these gifted necklaces in the next like, week. So I told her I was still waiting for replies because, obviously, there is only so much I can do if people aren't replying. And she just kinda went off on one. She was never mean really, or yelled, but you know when things just don't sit right with you? I was learning, doing my best, no guidance, no support, just criticism, with this pressure over my head that I'm going to lose what I've been waiting for two years for. It was literally as if she had no idea how much she was asking from me and how little time she was giving me to pull it off. It was delusional.

So after I got off the phone, I went to my mum, told her what had happened, and had a breakdown. I didn't want to be doing this anymore, I was earning basically no money without the guarantee I was going to get my qualification at the end of it, week 2 of this job I thought "yeah, I can stick this out for a year and a half", then I couldn't even fully complete week 3. And my mum, like my biggest supporter she is, said to me "you are far too talented to be promoting someone else's creativity when you could be promoting your own" (she did also say a few other things about what she thought of this woman, but we won't go into that)

So I got my phone out, sent over my resignation effective immediately, instantly turned my phone off and didn't look at it for the rest of the day (because I felt like blew up my entire future), had a cry, went to my room and asked my tarot cards if I had done the right thing, they said absolutely don't even worry about it, and started designing my logo and website for Dark Moon Collective 🌙

I know now I was never meant to live that life (thank god), and maybe the next time I get rejected for two years and get headaches after every interview I go to, I'll listen to the universe saying that isn't my path BEFORE it sends a woman to me who filled me with so much anxiety I had breakdown.

So if you're someone who makes decisions based on tarot cards and astrology, talks to the moon, believes in magic and hates millennial grey...

Hi, I'm Millie, and this is Dark Moon Collective 🌙