There is something to be said for making your own way there, of opportunities created and chances taken. A thought you have as a child, which slowly takes form over the years, eventually becoming the goal you dedicate your working life to. In Sydney stylist Tiana Wallace's case that thought came while visiting the Sydney Morning Herald's newsroom on a school excursion in 1990.

'This was back when they still created all the layouts by hand. I saw them cutting up all the pieces, laying them together and was inspired by the work, the design,' Tiana informs me during our first meeting at one of Darlinghurst's much-frequented Italian trattorias.

Something about communicating a design to so many people struck a chord with the young Sydney school girl. Skip ahead a few years - after time spent completing an Arts degree at Sydney Uni and paying her dues as both the Work Experience Girl and as an often-gratis assistant – and Tiana was ready to move into phase one of her career; Market Editor at Australian Vogue. After two and a half years, plenty of working (and after) hours dedicated to the Vogue fashion cause, Tiana was offered the position of Beauty Editor - a role she dexterously filled until the call of the inner-freelancer became too strong for her to ignore.

At the risk of attempting to reinvent a dusty old cliché, today Tiana's résumé reads like a stylist's wet dream. What started in 2004 as often-pro-bono work for clients like Pages Online and Oyster has swiftly developed into an impressive portfolio of works. More recently, you'll find her signature (or, if you ask her, her ever-changing) look splashed across the pages of international publications season in, season out.

Tiana is no stranger to working with collections by Lacroix, Chloe, Louie Vuitton and Versace and traveling to locations in Morocco, Paris, St Petersburg, London, New York and even a castle in Wales. One of her more recent shoots in Queenstown, NZ, saw her spirited up the mountain in a jet-black helicopter, deposited atop of one of the local glaciers to work.

During the past three years, Tiana has collaborated with a fairly impressive list of photographers, including established locals Chris Colls, Paul Empson, Simon Lekis and David Mandelberg. She also jumps at the opportunity to work with some of our country's most exciting up-and-comers: Bec Parson, who has shot her fair share of stories for Oyster Magazine, and Jordon Graham who, along with recent story in Harpers featuring up-and-coming Australian actress Emma Booth (Clubland), is known for his adept ability to capture men's fashion.

The above-listed lengthy description is a rather abridged version of Tiana's CV… but you get the idea, right? Tiana always has her big eyes wide open, looking for the next sleep-depriving challenge. Currently her waking hours are consumed with the work she is doing with Colls for UK fashion magazine Grazia, her fashion styling for The Weekend Australian, the constant advertising work and, well, the myriad of personal projects.

As far as pushing her own creative boundaries, Tiana enjoys dabbling in a bit of free-shooting from time to time. For those not familiar with the industry term let me explain: free-shooting is the art of putting yourself into often-odd situations, working with what presents itself. The aim is to create something organic, resulting in final proofs that are as representative of the environment, tone and mood of the situation as possible. During the 2007 Australian Fashion Week Tiana submerged herself completely in a free-shoot. The client: Pages Online. The location: Gaybash at Gilligans.

The premise of the shoot - which featured Ksubi, Tina Kalivas, Karen Walker, American Apparel and Romance Was Born - required Tiana and Graham (with models in tow) to slink into the club mid-party and work amongst the melee that is Gaybash. In fitting with the organic nature of a free-shoot it turned out that some of the designers whose wares Tiana was utilising were already socializing on location and as such were able to observe the process first hand. Tiana even bumped into, and exchanged words with, Kalivas prior to shooting - an unnerving experience for any stylist.

‘I spent six hours hiding out in the toilet.' Tiana tells me, laughing at the recollection. The toilet doubled as the dressing room for the evening's shoot which, incidentally, did not wrap up until 5am the next day. It's a far cry from the snowy peaks of Queenstown but, according to Tiana, was just as fruitful.

As far as her decision to follow the solo route rather than tread the path of magazine staffer, freelancing allows Tiana more freedom to align with her artistic side. In turn, allowing her opportunity to play with that at-times commercially elusive fusion between fashion and art.

'That's what really excites me about my work,' she tells me. If the earnest look on her face is anything to go by, I am confident she means every word.

Thankfully, because of the communicably inclined nature ofthe Australian fashion industry, to work freelance does not always mean working alone or without the backing of a team. To use Tiana's graceful turn of phrase:

'It's almost like you [the Australian fashion industry talent] are the fashion army and everyone else is civilians. You're giving so much of yourself creatively that you feel a comradely with the people you are working with.'

Since Tiana joined the impressive talent agent Company 1 - shortly after leaving Vogue - she has filled many of her working hours collaborating with like-minded fashion passionists. Currently the young stylist is combining skills and visions with Graham and Sam Carrey on a soon to be released fashion-meets-contemporary-art project.

'The aim is to push the boundaries of art in Australia,' Tiana tells me. Hopefully (certainly) they will also inject a little of their inspired approach into mainstream fashion at the same time.

When providing a little insight into the nature of the styling game, Tiana is not so naive as to tell you it is not all about the contacts. But when it comes out of the mouth of one who has worked so hard, 'contacts' is not such a dirty word. From day one, she had a knack for remembering faces and identifying exactly who it was she needed to know. It came naturally; one of her hobbies when she was younger was tracking the movements of people within the industry by studying the master heads in Australian fashion magazines. Add to that a slight obsession with collecting vintage clothing (the resulting collection spreads out over the better part of a room and is the product of countless hours spent trawling markets across the globe) and you have found yourself someone so naturally suited for the role.

Tiana will also confirm, as does the tired look creeping onto her face by the time we finish our evening conversation, that styling takes a butt-load of hard work. You have to really want to be there, doing that, and loving it almost every second. So it's probably a good thing for our magazine's fashion pages that Tiana possesses an obvious wealth of dedication to the cause. That, and a heck of a lot of natural talent - the kind of flair for her craft that no amount of hard work can recreate.