Let's start here. A little
background about me.
I recently graduated from the University of Wisconsin - Madison
with degrees in both Communication Arts and French. It really is a strange
feeling. I can't believe it's over...I swear my first day of freshman year was yesterday...
While the majority of my friends are going back to school and
preparing for the semester, I am on a completely different path. I don't mean
to say this as though I'm any more superior than everyone else in
school at the moment, but I have definitely phased-out of the whole
"school" thing. Just can't do it anymore. Don't get me wrong, I
absolutely love to learn. But, if there's one thing I DID learn from college,
it's that test taking and paper writing aren't the best learning strategies for
me. I found myself disappointed at times that I was actually incapable of
sitting down and motivating myself to study and, to be honest, it was a little
discouraging.
Enter summer 2011. This past summer was definitely the
catalyst that helped me get to where I am today. For those of you who don't
know, I was interning in New York City for a boutique fashion and beauty PR
firm called C.I. Visions, Inc. I was living on the Upper West Side with my cousin and I could
not have been happier. Everything was perfect - my job, where I was living, who
I was living with, everything.
It was the best experience I could have ever asked for. I
learned an unbelievable amount about how the fashion industry works. Working at C.I. Visions completely solidified the idea that this is the industry that I want to
be a part of. Don't get me wrong, there were days that were challenging and, like any working person, there were days I wished would just end. But the good FAR outweighed the (little) bad, and I left New York at the end of the summer extremely sad that it was over.
Going back to school was difficult for me. To be honest, I hated it. I wanted nothing more than to be back in NYC doing something that I love in the city that I love. But my last semester as an undergrad went by faster than I could have ever imagined, and I've finally been reunited with the Big City.
---
As of this past Monday I started an internship for fashion designer
(and might I add, one of my absolute favorites) Nicole Miller in the retail and
merchandising department. I could not be more grateful for this
opportunity.
Ever since I bought my first Nicole Miller dress on Newbury
Street in Boston, Massachusetts [see picture below], I have taken it upon
myself to learn about Nicole and her style. I completely fell in love.
You might say that I took the easy way out by graduating early. But I see the next few months as a continuation of my education and, as glamorous or easy as you might think they'll be, I am going to take my work very seriously. I've seen how the industry works from the PR perspective, and now working in retail and merchandising will give me a holistic view of how brands like Nicole Miller become successful.
That being said, you just cannot live where I am living and not have an amazing time. There's no way I'm not going to go out and live it up in New York City :)
Hopefully there will be some good stories to come...
xo
