Liz Barber, even though she won’t admit it, is an Instagram sensation. She has nearly 170k followers on Insta alone, quietly showcasing her ‘little life’ in Slaithwaite, and all done while working for a hugely successful marketing agency and having 3 young children with her rugby playing husband Ed.
I have so much great stuff in my wardrobe thanks to Liz influencing me, she has incredible style, could be the Aussie mix with West Yorkshire cool? She is thoughtful and very generous with her time, one of those people who instantly makes you feel at ease and as though you’ve been friends for years!
We find out how she manages it all and, what the move from other side of the world was like (landing in Outlane in Winter…. not for the faint hearted), and all the great places she loves in Huddersfield.
So Liz – meeting you feels like meeting an actual celebrity, do you feel like one?
Absolutely not – Instagram has always just been a not very serious thing for me and – no!
You work, as well as doing all that you do online, wow….
Yes, I work 3 days a week for Picturesmiths, we’ve just moved down the road in Kirkburton and I’ve worked there for 3 years now.
My kids are at school on the other side of town so I love the drive over, listen to a podcast.
You’d be great on a podcast
But I waffle on too much, I talk way too fast And I say ‘like’ too much!
So yeah, I work at Picturesmiths 3 days a week and I actually worked at Acorn and Pip before that AND I’m a trained nursery nurse. So when I moved over from Australia I was working as a nursery nurse.
Why did you move over from Australia?
My husband is English – we met when he was over there playing rugby, like on a night out when we were 20. He had a 12 month working visa and was mowing golf courses and playing rugby. We met on a night out and he literally moved in the next day! I was living by myself and when you’re younger, you feel like you can do these things, so he was there with me for about 5 months, but then we broke up – and his visa ran out and so we probably spent a month broken up but in Australia, and I remember the day before he was meant to go back to England – I just had this feeling – if I don’t see him now before he goes, I’m going to regret that forever. I saw him the day before and then I dropped him off at the airport and then we spent 6 months doing long distance on again off again, it was SO dramatic! Then eventually he said – why don’t you take some holiday from work and I’ll pay for your flights, come and visit me and we’ll figure out what we’re doing.
So where was he living?
He’s always lived in Outlane.
Wow – Australia to Outlane – that’s quite the culture shock….
I know – when I first met him – I thought he had a fake accent and that everyone from England sounded like the Queen – I had no idea there were so many variations to the British accent.
I got 6 weeks off work – and I got pregnant while I was here!
Being 21 and pregnant and in England – I was like – its fine. I’ll just move to England and have a baby, and that’s what I did.
Because my grandfather was Scottish I could get an ancestry visa. I moved back home, sorted my visa out and then moved back when I was 20 weeks pregnant. Moved to Outlane, and I was like wow – there’s nothing here!
Our son was born the week before Christmas and I just remember having this baby – I had no family it was the middle of winter, Christmas was totally different because it was so cold and I was so used to warm Christmases. So I was like what am I doing here? Where am I? We were living with his mum and dad because he didn’t even have a proper job he was just playing rugby – which he still is – every year he says he’s going to retire and every year I’m still on the side of a rugby pitch!
We moved out of his mum and dads when our son was 3 months old and I went back to work!
I was 22 I’d had a baby and no one else my age had a baby – I didn’t have any friends.
So how did you make friends?
Through work. My best friend now is still Georgie who I met at the nursery – so it’s been 13 years, and she is the best thing ever. But yeah, I worked there for 8 years and left just after Covid, I knew it wasn’t what I wanted to do but I wasn’t qualified to do anything else…
So I just quit with nothing to do and I had the summer at home with the kids and it was the best summer. I’d been posting on Instagram since the dawn of Instagram, but then I started doing a bit of paid work, some photography for a small brand but that got me through and it was on my own terms. I invested in a camera and in myself!
I grew my Insta over that time and then Tim and Lucy at Acorn and Pip were looking for someone to help with their social media and I was like look I don’t know what I’m doing but I’ll make it up as I go and so I started there a couple of days a week. Then I met Anna from Curated by Anna, she was working at A & P too then Anna got me my job at Picturesmiths as she was friends with Alex (Brooke Smith – one of the owners) and knew he was looking for someone.
The next day I had a job. Picturesmiths is such a cool place, they are so open so understanding and they just have trust in me.
So working for them and on my own Instagram it just works really well – I love working with people and insta can be very inward facing and obviously, you’re by yourself a lot of the time, but now I do feel like I’m getting the best of both worlds. I have management now so I can just concentrate on the bits that I love doing. I still edit all my content but my management will deal with all the contracts and organisation.
Who have you really loved working with?
Beyond Nine I’ve worked with for years now , I love them and the team is really great. Ordanance Survey, I love walking, so being outdoors is a major plus for me. (I really love your Solomon walking boots).
We have a nearly one year old puppy now and that has just been just crazy like having a new born again.
I said this to a guy at work when you’ve got a newborn, just lower your expectations to the floor – expect the worst and expect all your plans to go out of the window and if they don’t – that’s a win – for the first five years just get through it.
Don’t be too precious.
What is your ideal day with no kids
Ed and I were talking about this and Ed was like ‘on a beach in Thailand BY MYSELF’ and I told him mine and it was totally different.
Like a summers day when you wake up and it’s warm and you know it’s going to be great all day. So wake up around 9 but you don’t have to get up and the kids are just happy and sorting themselves out….
Get Ed to make me really great breakfast, he’s amazing – does all the washing and he irons (wow) – and then we’d go for a walk and get lunch out and then home again for an early Sunday dinner – again Ed does a great roast and he’s so punctual if he says its ready at 4 it will be ready at 4.
Then we’d have an early night -maybe with a pizza party film night, make a mattress on the floor and watch a film with loads of treats and everyone would just be content there.
If you’re going out in Huddersfield where are you going?
We are so settled in the village so we’d come to Juno’s pretty much every weekend we’re here – we go to Anna’s and Anellos and then maybe over to O’Brien’s and Cooper’s Yard. Such a vibe.
Nowadays I want to go for dinner somewhere casual I don’t want to put on heels – Coopers is perfect for that.
The Shoulder of Mutton is great after a dog walk oh and Zapato is another one too so after a dog walk the kids can play and I can have a ready salted crisp.
So yeah stay really local and might venture to Marsden to Peel St and need to go to Oi Dumplings.
My mum and dad when they come over, they stay there and my mum gets so embedded in the culture she will go to yoga, my dad is friends with the Dr!
They go to Culture and chat to Alex.
Liz, I really think you have contributed in a major way to making Slaithwaite what it is. The Times’ best place to live….
Oh I don’t think so – it’s just the businesses like this (Juno) the guys who opened Anello and everyone dedicated to getting local ingredients and everything feels really considered and creative – everyone is just doing their best.
We really need Hudds town centre to get a similar vibe. The Light is helping massively though and the Cultural Heart and St Georges Square is going to make such a difference. I just miss the big shops, M&S, H&M, gone, and I love shopping in person – I love online as well but nothing beats real life.
So your work ethic has is that come from?
So my mum is a journalist – she’s technically retired but she used to be head of content for all the newspaper supplements in Australia, so in charge of all the content that went into those. She’s recently been working for a Uni in Oz doing a research paper on indigenous women in Australia and she also helped manage the local elections counting the votes so she’s a massive inspiration to me.
So, to end please can you give me 3 words to sum up Huddersfield
Creative
Evolving and Heritage
Liz – thank you!! x
