The moment you know you picked the right co-op!

Going through the beginning stages of the co-op process was crazy! I took co-op 101 (learning about the co-op process and tip/tricks to use when on co-op), I got my resume together, and finally began applying for positions. Along with that process, the interviews (back and forth from Philadelphia to NYC), and waiting to hear back, I finally got to choose. I found myself making Pros and Cons lists between working at Elie Tahari and another company, asking myself where would I get the most out of  my six months of unpaid experience? Would I just be getting coffee and making copies or would I be learning how this industry runs and works. Well as you know I made the decision to work for Elie Tahari.

More and more, I have been doing a variety of small projects for Vice President of Sales, Debbie Elmore. This includes pulling samples for Top 10 meetings (to show Elie Tahair and Bob Galvin [CEO of Elie Tahari] the top 10 garments by season, that are doing the best), pulling a variety of reports to see how the company is doing, etc. That moment when I knew I had made the right choice was when I was going over a report with Debbie. Debbie said to me that in order to get the most out of my experience here at Elie Tahari I needed to learn and understand (key word: understand). You can do so much, but not really understand what you are doing. What's the point of that? We then sat down together and she taught me how to read and understand the reports that I was pulling. Even though I was about to ask her what all of it meant and its purpose, I was so taken back that a VP would be so invested in my understanding of the company. Being only an intern, you would think I would just be expected to do this or that (hearing all those horror intern stories). But by investing your time (unpaid time) with a company, you better be taking advantage of everything and anything. So far I've learned not to be afraid to ask anything, especially asking how to learn and understand new things. Also do not be afraid or think higher up employees will ignore you. They might just turn out to be a mentor and help you learn and understand, just like Debbie Elmore. Who by the way wears the fiercest stilettos everyday!