Apprentice winner Sian Gabbidon regularly chats to Lord Sugar

FASHION designer Sian Gabbidon is flying high with a jet-set lifestyle.  She has a host of celebrity friends, and tycoon Alan Sugar is always a phone call away.

But The Apprentice 2018 winner’s success is grounded in her fashion degree study at the University of Huddersfield, where she learned a lot of what she knows about how to make it in a highly-competitive industry.

One year on from her TV victory, Sian has revealed that she remains in frequent contact with Lord Sugar, who named her winner of his show and promptly announced a £250,000 investment in her company Sian Marie Fashion.  The famous entrepreneur is still her business partner and mentor.

And Sian has taken a keen interest in the 2019 edition of The Apprentice, which also features a University of Huddersfield graduate.  Sian has launched a podcast titled The Wake Up Call in which she watches the episodes and comments on the competition, alongside celebrity guests.  It can be downloaded via iTunes.

The 2019 hopefuls include University of Huddersfield alumna Iasha Masood, a 27-year-old account manager from Manchester who graduated in 2015 with a BA in Fashion Design with Textiles.  She states that her “crazy, controversial, eccentric personality” will make her stand out.

Sian Gabbidon is bidding to be the most successful and highest-profile winner of The Apprentice since it first aired in the UK in 2005.  She models her bold and daring swimwear in exotic locations around the world and her Instagram account has 131,000 followers.  Her Sian Marie Fashion website has a celebrity section which features a roster of reality TV stars from shows such as Love Island besporting themselves in Sian’s creations.

But the success has been well-earned.  Leeds-born Sian worked hard at the University of Huddersfield in order to gain First Class Honours for her degree in Fashion Design with Marketing and Production.  Tutors have vivid memories Sian’s final-year collection of womenswear, which used bold colours and strong geometrical designs.

Sian also displayed excellence at the marketing component of her course, and ran a very impressive campaign to promote her collection.  These are lessons that have aided her rise to success as a businesswoman.