Yentl Spiteri

Name:

Yentl Spiteri

Profession:

Founder and Creative at Von Peach

Industry:

Creative Services

Adjectives to describe yourself:

Quirky & Annoying

What do you like to do for fun?

Gastronomical experiences - both experimenting myself and eating other people’s creations. Skiing and being in the mountains and nature, reading, sunset swims in Gozo and Kayaking on Swiss lakes, Photography

Favourite Quote:

“Soul mates are muses. The people in your life you despise, disrespect and desire the most.”

Favourite Food:

Probably penne alla norma, a dish from my childhood my mother called ‘Fi(sh)fi(sh)o’ - which consists of noodles, butter, eggs and cheese and… anything chocolatey

A person you admire:

My grandfather Lewis Spiteri, an avid reader, tech savvy and keeps himself updated with current trends - apart from probably being the most patient person I know (a skill I would like to improve on)

Tell us more about your story, what kind of business do you run and how did it all start?

I together with Emma run a creative hub based in Switzerland serving clients from the pharmaceutical and Insurance Industries all over the world. I met Emma through a friend, who thought it would be cool to introduce us to each other during lunch. That lunch lasted 8 hours – ideas kept flowing and after months of long breakfasts, brunches, lunches, dinners and managers kicking us out of restaurants, we had to do something about our conversations.

We had realized there’s a niche in need of bespoke high level creative services and through Emma’s already activated corporate network and my own startup organizational experience we set up Von Peach in the midst of a pandemic in 2020.

What was your mission at the start of your business? Is it still the same or has it evolved?

Our mission was to make creative services available to anyone with the least amount of hurdles - we don’t offer a booklet of what one should do, but we actually bring the knowledge into the companies and assist teams to become self-sufficient. This mission still holds and we believe it separates us from other creative agencies / creative consultancies.

Throughout your journey so far, what were three of the most defining moments for your business?

1. When we hired our first two employees, Glenn and Michela. It felt like this is a serious thing and not just a fun project between Emma and I anymore.

2. The dopamine rush of when we got paid the first million.

3. Our first offsite in Sardegna, we worked together extensively for months on google hangouts - when we finally met it was magical.

Inspiration and motivation are essential, yet through the day-to-day struggles it’s not always as easy. What values do you hold at heart to keep you going especially when facing challenges or difficult times?

Emma and the team are my support system - also learning to look at the bigger picture and why we are doing what we are doing puts things in perspective and helps with the daily troubles.

What changes have you made to your business strategy over the past few years?

A lot, we change and adapt very quickly however the values we had setup our company on back in 2020 still hold. We would like to keep hiring creatives and fit the role around them - and not the other way round. We would also like to keep offering out of the box creative ideas and deliverables which shock and challenge both the pharmaceutical and insurance industries bringing them the best value possible.

What would be the key management competences for a successful business?

Ability to notice when you’re early or late to the market. Ability to learn from your clients and really address their needs. Ability to hire the right people, who have the right work ethic and are willing to grow the business with you. Ability to keep those people in the company, by nurturing their talents, help them grow and ultimately help them set their own thing and thrive in their own organizations. Ability to be able to put down a fire and not start it within a team.

If you could go back five years, what advice would you give your younger self?

Stop overthinking what people might think of you (even your close friends and family) and follow your gut, it is mostly right and when it is not, it is worth the lesson.

What are the failures that you most cherish?

Losing my identity almost completely as part of the journey one takes when they move to another land - which lead to me to re-find myself and love myself even more.

If you had to take a different career path, what would it be?

A crop farmer, botany, living sustainably of some land intrigues me a lot. I also like the medical field and could potentially imagine I could go that path as well.

What’s next? Are there any further dreams to be achieved?

Might sound cheesy, but at the moment what we have created at Von Peach is already a big part of my dream - I would like to keep on building on that, creating and working on projects with different people with multiple creative skills.