"What’s In Your Wardrobe Has The Power To Transform Lives" - Anne-Marie Tomchak

Photo: Joanne Warren Moore / Instagram @joannewarrenmoore

Longford journalist Anne-Marie Tomchak has worked at the very top of news, technology and fashion. Now the former VOGUE digital director is on a mission to use clothes and social media with purpose. She tells the Sunday Independent’s LIFE magazine about her new initiative ShareJoy which is about giving away something you love from your wardrobe in order to support youth mental health in Ireland

Last year changed my relationship with my clothes and my phone. The pandemic meant that I was wearing less of my wardrobe and spending more time online. But while my use of social media was up, my consumption of the latest must-have handbag had more or less ground to a halt. Doomscrolling (aimlessly using social media) left me strung out. It’s like a sugar hangover, where you wake up the next day with a film of plaque in your mouth, lethargic and discombobulated. I had temporarily fallen out of love with the two things that had been significant pillars of my career - fashion and technology. 

Like many people, the pandemic had given me an opportunity to re-evaluate what was important to me. After years of being on a work treadmill, I finally had the chance to reset how I really wanted to spend my time - and it wasn’t on the latest luxury fashion item or sharing my every waking moment on Instagram. 

However, when I received a call from my dear friend Maeve McMahon in Autumn 2020 telling me about the impact that lockdown had had on Marie Sullivan it stopped me in my tracks…

Read the full article on the story behind ShareJoy in LIFE magazine in the Sunday Independent. On newsstands 17 January 2021.