Danielle Mastro, Founding Partner and Director of Lights Lights Lights, literally radiates whenever she talks about her passion towards her business. “We have a retail showroom, but we also do consultations for clients. We are nearly 12 years old. We work mostly with architects, designers and end-users to facilitate designing the lighting for their space. Our mission is to tell the story of the build with light. We help integrate lighting into homes, restaurants, cafes, retail stores, and apartments. We give clients an option to achieve an aesthetically pleasing result that's sustainable as well,” Danielle professed.
Working in the lighting industry was not something she grew up aspiring to do, yet she entered this space, became enthralled by it and found herself loving the world of lights. Since then, there’s no turning back for her as she took the entrepreneurial journey that led her to something she loves doing.
Seeing the light: finding her spot under the sun
For someone who had not held a light bulb in her hands, never changed one, and never did anything with light except flick a switch, Danielle got into lighting and found the challenge of learning about this industry exhilarating. “Honestly, it’s one of the scariest but most exciting times of my life,” she recounted.
She studied organisational psychology and worked in fashion for a long time. When she met and worked with one of her current business partners in the lighting trade, she became obsessed with it and found it something that she’s passionate about. “I knew that I would be in this industry forever,” she realised. Danielle recalled one speaker at EO ignite who said, “You can work in something that has always been your passion or you can find your passion with your work.” She attests that it is exactly what happened to her when she fell into lighting.
Light bulb moments: honing her creativity and craft
“The thing about lighting was that it gave me an opportunity to explore my creativity,” Danielle remarked. “I loved the opportunity to see the fashion in lighting, to see the creative element to it and to think of what I could offer creatively. I think in our business journey, we want to work in our zone of genius.”
While others may just see light bulb as a product in a box that they buy from stores, bring home and install in their respective spaces, Danielle saw so much more than that. She saw an opportunity to have a creative vision come to life. Moreover, the industry has helped her recognise the need to invest in herself by upskilling herself, learning new expertise and increasing her competencies.
Having that light feeling: deepening connections and relationships
What she also loves in her work is that she is able to collaborate with a team to come up with something creative. Being able to share the glow of happiness with other people brings a sense of fulfilment to Danielle. “I can see the emotional impact it's had on my clients and the emotional impact it's had on me because it's come to fruition.”
As a person who regards herself as emotionally driven, she found that the biggest tools that helped her in her journey are the people around her – her mentor, business partners, colleagues, peers and family. “I learn from everyone that I’m around every day. I’m very vulnerable to that. And I love that about how I grow. It's making me feel really positive and optimistic about the future because that's what life's all about. It's about human connections and interactions.”
Ignite the light: taking a step forward
Fresh from the EO Ignite events, Danielle was flowing with ideas and enthusiasm on how to take her business and her journey further. “My biggest challenge is right now and what direction to take, scaling and strategising, and how to do that but not losing our ethos and the idea that we are this humble, warm-loving family that wants to give to the people around us. It's a balancing act of this need and desire to continue growing.”
She keeps learning about new technologies in the lighting industry, reads books that can add to her knowledge, and immerses herself listening to experts talk. Acknowledging the physiological impact of having a physically fit body to her mental health and vice versa, she makes a concerted effort to train and keep herself fit. Not only that, but she also finds great value in joining EO Melbourne where she finds several tools that can help her improve on herself and her business.
“I came back from EO Ignite with this feeling of going through A to Z. I just wanted to make everything happen and everything to change. I have a lot of things in my mind at the moment, particularly after Ignite. I'm desperate to get to my first Forum. I'm itching to go because I want to get down to business and figure out the next steps,” she excitedly said.
A guiding light to others: inspiring people through her business
With a goal to educate the community that lighting is more than just a product, Danielle takes it a step further by spreading the light and imparting her passion and learnings with others. “I love sharing that knowledge. I've spent a lot of time sharing that not only with our lighting community but also with my peers, my team, my family. Sharing that knowledge with them empowers me. Giving meaning to them gives meaning to me. I'm driven by giving people meaning around me. Recognising that by supporting the people around me actually feeds me,” she stated.
Entering in an industry that was unfamiliar to her, absorbing all the new information she could get, honing her skills and capabilities, and overcoming the challenges along her way have helped Danielle grow as a person and an entrepreneur. “One of my biggest learnings was adaptability. Adaptability has been something that I was not genetically predisposed to do. Change is just not something I was born to understand. But being in business for the last 12 years, I've come to understand that perfection is an evolution of ideas. It's not this one visual image that I have to stick to. My idea and vision of success are changing every day,” Danielle quipped.
Most of all, doing something that brings her happiness makes her illuminate her passion to others. “I want to encourage us to be driven by what we love because the fruits of our labour come shining in when we work and share from that really happy place.” Furthermore, she adds, “I want my daughter to see me as a mom who continues to love what she does. Somebody that doesn't just love it, but one who lives and breathes the idea of a positive journey. I guess I want that optimism to not just be a word. I want it to be something that travels through all parts of my life.”