Progressions

Working with the middle school has been very unpredictable. Last Tuesday, the coordinator and I met to go over the visual designs for The Bicycle Coalition of Greater Philadelphia’s Sneaker Project. Once we gathered our materials, we headed towards the classroom and were told that there would be no Visual Arts that day. Some of the kids were really disappointed. It was nice to see that some of the students were beginning to be more appreciative of art and design. Today, I received a call and was informed that the school is going through a transition phase and will not be having Visual Arts until next week.

I am taking this time off to figure out what future projects we can work on for the next couple of months. Last week, the students were thrilled when they saw examples of famous installations for inspiration. As of now, the projects we have completed have been pretty simple and straightforward due to the time constraints. I really want to strive for more intricate and interactive installations. One thing that I have to keep in mind is I have to give them a variety of project/designs for them to select from. I learned that it is vital for them to have an opinion and further improve on my project. Some students voice their opinions more than others but a few have started to become more comfortable around me. Currently, I am thinking about interactive installations for the hallways. There are two major hurdles that I have to keep in mind and that is the time constraint and the use of the materials. I believe that a colorful and fun hallway may affect the way the students feel about the school and I will try my best to fulfill that.   

(Almost) Surviving the Cold

My faith in Vitamin C is gone. Just as the workflow turned hectic, I get a cold. Maybe it wasn't the best idea to be trekking through the city for an appointment at 8 PM the other night in the middle of a blizzard. At first I found it enjoyable walking through the snow but now I am regretful. I am hoping all of this tea and honey will do the trick. I can handle a full workweek, but definitely not while fighting off this cold. If anyone has some home remedies please send them my way!

Unfortunately this freezing weather is not helping my immune system anytime soon. I have been trying to be optimistic, but I don't think I can handle this weather much longer. I do not recall a time when I have been this cold during the winter. Unfortunately when you are living in New York or any major city, it is almost impossible to avoid what mother nature throws at you. Especially as a fashion intern, I have quickly learned how important it is to bundle up before work. One of my major duties at MJ entails going on runs to factories and various locations throughout Midtown. Even in the midst of a snow storm, fashion never stops. Investing in a good pair of gloves and coat has helped me survive the polar vortex while running all over Midtown. Keeping my fingers crossed for higher temps next week!

Aside from my hatred for the cold, I hope everyone else is staying warm and happy this week.

xx

Culture

Throughout the many discussions about the job hunt I’ve had in the past few years, one of the most prevalent points made is to examine the company’s corporate culture. I think culture is something especially important to my millennial generation. While I have been working for free people since Freshman year of college at the retail level, stepping up to corporate level for co-op proved to be a big change. URBN is a company often recognized for its corporate culture, but the fact is you really only get a taste of this at the retail level. When I worked at the store on Walnut St I really did enjoy it. The girls I worked with became a second family and that always made work fun. However, the hours, annoying tasks, and customer difficulties were not what I would call “pros” to the job. When I moved up to the showroom in September, everything changed. The environment here is very relaxed. Rather than list everything out I thought I’d compare some of the main differences.

Store:	Showroom:
No cell phone usage on the clock	Allowed to use my phone whenever
No wearing of the clothes (unless for store instagram pictures)	I can pretty much wear whatever I want from the sample room as long as I ask/return it
Occasional free food and drinks	Often comped meals, fully stocked kitchen, and frequent office lunches/birthday treats
Timed lunch breaks at dictated time	I take lunch whenever I want for how long I want ( obviously within reason)

It is important to also mention things like sample sales, traveling, and the offices pet fish. It took me a while to adjust to such a relaxed and rule-free environment. The ability to sit, relax and drink some cocoa on the job is still amazing to me. And the free clothes...those I’ll never get use to.

While my job definitely has its perks, I find they come with a price. The relaxed environment sometimes feels just too relaxed for me. The office is made up of mostly 20-30 something year old women. Sometimes I feel like everyone is phone obsessed and gossip hungry. I really don’t feel the need to check my phone all the time or know about so-so’s drama. But I will take this any day over silently typing away in a cubicle, no music, no laughing, and no fun.

BCBGed OUT

For the first few weeks of being in NYC I was interning at BCBGMAXAZRIA Monday through Wednesday and going to Washington DC pretty much every weekend to visit my boyfriend since I had nothing else to do. I’m the type of person who can’t just sit around doing nothing and I actually enjoy working and feeling accomplished. My parents were starting to get annoyed that I wasn’t utilizing New York and that I was going out more than I was working. It was pretty clear that I needed a job like yesterday or I would not be going out and enjoying New York City.

One of my favorite parts about interning with PR was pulling for studio loans. I’m not sure how it came about it, but organizing the studio loans became my starring role as a PR intern. We would occasionally receive stylist request for celebrities such as Michelle Obama and Cameron Diaz. However, sometimes stylist would request items from Herve Leger and BCBGMAXAZRIA that we did not have samples of so it became my job and mission to call every retail store in NYC and hunt down the merchandise. I was also constantly running back and forth between corporate and the flagship to assist the stylist with their pulls or to return the studio loans so the store wouldn’t lose out on inventory and sales. Once I was acquainted with all the managers and stock guys at the flagship store on 40^th and 5^th I started to feel like I was a part of their team as well. One day the operations manager said to me, “I feel like you work for our store, you’re here more than at the office!” On my walk back to the office I started to think how fun and beneficial it would be to work at the store. I could learn both sides of the industry, familiarize myself with the merchandise, and best of all make money and stay in New York, which would make my parents happy.

chandeliers from the BCBGMAXAZRIA flagship on 40th and 5th Ave.

Before I knew it my boss had emailed my resume over to the hiring manager and by mid-October I was working part-time at BCBGMAXAZRIA’s NYC Flagship. I quickly fell in love with the retail world and all of the merchandise. I felt like I was truly part of a team and making use of my free days. My role started off as a cashier and now I assist with administrative paperwork and other small tasks the managers need help with. Although my closet has changed from solely all black to all black and long asymmetrical silk BCBG shirts, I sometimes feel BCBGed out and like my life revolves around nothing else. Though it seems overwhelming I am actually extremely grateful for the opportunity I was given to work with all different ends of the company. I really feel that I am learning so much more than I ever bargained for and I have a much bigger appreciation for BCBGMAXAZRIA as a corporation.

A Commuter's Nighmare: Part II

The weather gods have not been kind to me over the past several weeks. Whatever has settled over the east coast is making this one of the coldest winters I can recall in recent years, and it looks like it's here to stay. When last week's forecast called for snow on Tuesday, I felt a knot of worry form in my gut. I made a series of rather fruitless calls to BoltBus customer service on Monday, asking if they planned to cancel any of their buses, but the woman I spoke to was rude and provided no helpful information. I woke up Tuesday morning (on time!) and prepared myself for the worst. I got on the bus at the Philadelphia departure point without seeing a single flurry. However, within half an hour the sky was grey and the roads were dusty with a layer of snow.

My already normally frigid walk to the office now presented me with slippery sidewalks and a wind that blew snowy bits directly into my face. Hailing a cab in this weather was futile, and traffic was already slowing to a more cautious speed. I noted the covering on cars, stoops and street corners and knew this didn't bode well for my commute home. At 9:38 a.m., an email confirmed that my bus going home had been canceled. At lunch, another intern asked how I planned to get home, and I explained how I would take an NJ Transit train to the Trenton Transportation Center, at which point I would transfer to the SEPTA Trenton Line that would take me into Philadelphia. She raised her eyebrows and wished me luck.

Much to the surprise of everyone else in the office, an email sent to all of corporate announced a 4 p.m. office-wide early dismissal. Even though the rest of the PR team appeared to be staying, the press assistant urged us to be on our way. A shuttle waiting to take employees first to the Port Authority Bus Terminal, then to Grand Central Station, was waiting outside. It would have been convenient had there not been bumper-to-bumper traffic, which made what should have been a short trip about 45 minutes long. Making it out of the city in a snowstorm would be no easy feat.

A short subway ride from Port Authority took me to Penn Station (and forced me to buy a Metro card) where a train to Trenton was patiently waiting on the tracks. For once! A lucky break! I hopped right on the train and with virtually no delays, made it to my transfer location. When I arrived in Trenton, a SEPTA train was also waiting to go to Philadelphia, which made me feel seriously relieved. However, due to some indiscernible emergency announcement made over the speaker, our train was destined to sit on the platform for another half an hour. When we did finally begin to travel any significant distance, the train would slow to a stop, where it would sit for another ten minutes. I arrived at 30th Street Station after over 3 hours spent on the train, and to be honest, little feeling in my behind. After a slippery walk over snow-covered sidewalks, I finally made it to my apartment where I promptly curled up in bed, too tired to even think about making dinner.

I knew that commuting in the winter would come with its challenges, but I never expected them to be this exhausting.

Roll with the Punches

As I went to the Middle School in West Philly today, I was prepared to show them my ideas as inspiration for the next project. I had planned for them to create installations regarding the upcoming holidays, such as, Valentine’s Day and President’s Day. I met with the coordinator to discuss our classroom activities for the day. However, all of my plans came to a halt when the Physical Education teacher approached us. She wanted the Visual Arts team to help her display images of sneakers that her kindergarten through elementary students had to color as they partnered with The Bicycle Coalition of Greater Philadelphia. This was a wonderful opportunity for the students to learn how to work with a “client”. I was very excited that the Physical Education teacher had seen our projects and installations and wanted our help. Hopefully now the students would have a better understanding of Visual Arts. For the last couple of weeks the students and I worked alongside with the Student Council. The coordinator and I explained and emphasized to the students that the Visual Team always takes art to the next level and we may work through seasonal changes, holidays, events, and clients.

In class, we tried to discuss some potential ideas and found inspiration from previous projects. It was difficult to try to get everyone to participate and listen because I was never trained to do so. Some of the kids feel as if they are not good enough at drawing and would rather sit. I try to engage with them as much as possible. For example, one student told me he was a bad sketcher but together we came up with a good idea about incorporating sports into the installation. As of now, the students and I are thinking about collecting and placing all of the colored sneakers into a shape of a giant sneaker. Next class we will further our design by creating elements such as texture and color. This sneaker project will be installed at either the facade/entrance of the school or near the gymnasium.

I was really scared when I realized that the coordinator and I would have to improvise to move onto the sneaker project instead of sticking to our original plan. In the end, I believe that everything happens for a reason. I am excited to work with the students to represent the partnership with the school and The Bicycle Coalition of Greater Philadelphia. I think that this will be a great opportunity for the 8th graders to help and give back to the community as they are preparing to apply to High School.  

Seeing the Future

   Each week it becomes increasingly harder for me to find things to blog about.  I am not allowed to disclose ANY information about my company, not even its name!  As I see everyone posting these great pictures of new campaigns and new things they're doing, I have to come up with a work- related post that isn't actually talking about my job.  To add to this handicap, I had two days off this week because of the snow which gives me even less to write about (although I am not complaining).

   A week ago, our office had their quarterly trend forecasting meeting. These have by far been my favorite meetings to attend.  Not only is our head stylist a complete diva ( the good kind), but she engages everyone and it is so easy to see how genuinely excited she is about the upcoming collections.  I also think it's so crazy how they plan for a year in the future; this past collection was for Holiday 2015! After working in the marketing department for four months, I have realized that I am much more interested in the merchandising aspect of things. I do like my job, but I would love to be more up close and personal with the artistic and visual said of fashion.

A Commuter's Nightmare: Part I

When I accepted a part-time internship in New York City, I was aware of the complications that would come with commuting. In order to save money, I opted to travel my bus rather than by a direct train, a more costly but time-saving method. A friend of mine warned me of the temperamental nature of BoltBuses in inclement weather, but being me, I convinced myself I wouldn't have a problem. Lo and behold, the Northeast was struck by a Polar Vortex.

The first week of my internship coincided with my first week of classes, so making the adjustment from my winter break sleep schedule was a challenge in itself. In order to make it to work by 9 a.m., I have to catch a 6:30 a.m. BoltBus. That's right, 6:30. This mean's I'm awake at 5:30 three days a week. If you know me at all (or have ever had a morning class with me) you're probably aware I'm not a morning person in the least.

My first week as an intern was coming to a close and it had being going incredibly smoothly. The only problem I had was an ongoing fight with my off-kilter sleep schedule. My internal clock was keeping me up until way past midnight each night, giving me little time to rest. An early wake-up call on work days coupled with two 9 a.m. class periods and freezing morning temperatures caught up with me rather quickly, and by Thursday night I was feeling massively fatigued. On Friday morning, my alarm woke me up from a dream-inducing sleep, so I gave in and pressed the snooze button. Five minutes later, I turned off the second alarm and lay back in bed, thinking about what I would wear that day and promising myself I would get up in a minute or two. What a mistake. After what seemed like no more than 10 or 15 conscious minutes, I finally got out of bed and saw that my clock read...8:39.

This was a stress dream come to life. I had nervously dreamt about what would happen if I slept through my alarm or missed my bus. I was plagued by imaginary scenarios where I would try to run down the sidewalk, but my legs felt like they were wading through molasses, or weighed down by some imaginary force. And now, it was coming true.

Expletives flew out of my mouth like automatic fire from a machine gun. I jumped out of bed and threw on whatever clean clothes were closest to me. I ran to the sink to put in my contact lenses, briefly considering just wearing my glasses, and threw some essential makeup items in my purse. I grabbed my coat, slipped into my boots, snatched up my keys and was out the door in five minutes, hoping to catch the 9 o'clock. Much to my dismay, when I reached the lobby of my building, I saw that I was about to walk into freezing rain. There was no way I would be able to make it to the bus, let alone walk the 20 blocks from my bus stop to the office without an umbrella. So I returned to my apartment, where I ate a quick breakfast and made myself look slightly more presentable, before I went to catch the 9:30 bus.

Upon arriving at the departure location, I along with the other people in line, were informed that all buses were running 15 minutes late due to icy road conditions. The bus coming in to get us was late, and our trip to New York was running about 20 minutes behind schedule, so by the time I made it to the city it was noon. My only lucky break of the day was when I hopped off the bus, ran around the corner and found a taxi sitting on the corner. I knocked on the window and he said he was on duty, so I made it work in a matter of minutes and didn't even have to hail a cab.

Showing up to work 3 hours late was enough to scare me into setting a second and third alarm. I may resort to sleep aids, or perhaps I'll get so tired my body will force me to go to bed at a reasonable hour. Until then, I'll just continue my struggle to wake up on time.

P.S. I fell asleep again this morning and didn't get out of bed until 6. My future doesn't look so bright.

A Change of Pace

As I sit in the hotel room at the Sheraton, the few remaining hours left spent with my parents are approaching. I do crave the independence that living on my own and having to 'answer to no one' brings, however, I cannot say that I won't miss the warmth and comfort of being surrounded in an environment with family and familiarity over winter break. 

Though I have had a break from Drexel for the past couple of weeks, I still have projects to do as my responsibility for my job never stops. This keeps my brain active, alert and on top of things. Though I am staying in the hotel room tonight with my parents, it is no vacation, there is work that needs to be done. As funny as it seems, sitting at the desk with my dad by my side and my mom snoring in the background, I could not envision a better way to end our last night together. My mom got to watch her favorite shows on television while my father and I sit staring away at our own screens and consumed in our own working worlds. While I have been at home for a couple weeks I have had a bedroom to myself where I do all my graphics for Alex and Ani Entertainment, and as I sit next to my father I realize that it is nice to have company even when you are sitting in your own world fulfilling your individual responsibilities. It is nice to be proximal to real people while I am consumed with my online life! 

I have never been one to resort to the library as my place to do work. To be honest, it provides more of a distraction than concentration. With all the people walking by, having conversations at various voice levels, typing away on their keyboards, running into familiar faces, I usually end up wanting to leave not shortly after I get there. I prefer the atmosphere of my bedroom where I can stay in my pajamas and my own natural habitat. Sitting next to my father typing away, however, reminds me of my work atmosphere while I was on Co-op. I shared a desk with my co-worker Gina, and though we were next to each other proximally, much time was spent in our individual focused states trying to be efficient as possible with the time we have in our work day. We both got along so well and had great conversations however we just as easily could resort to our own positions in our shared quarters and focus on our tasks for the day. This balance is extremely necessary and I appreciate our working dynamic. It is nice to be taken back to an old memory by one that is sitting right next to you at the present moment. Maybe next time I have a project to do I will venture elsewhere in new surroundings versus locking myself up in my bedroom! 

Gettin' Crafty

3/4ths of my awesome team!

For the past few months I have been working as a Display/Merchandising intern at the Free People showroom. The showroom, located in NYC, handles all wholesale aspects of the company, meaning our focus is mostly dedicated on trade shows, specialty stores, and department stores. As the display and merchandising intern this means I do a large variety of projects related to these different segments. My team is relatively small, consisting of four people ( 2 merch. and 2 display).  I work closely with Mallory (center) developing and assembling display. In the background of the picture you can actually see the project I was working on at the time, a three wall Buti print string art display for the entrance to the showroom. In December we took on a 2nd floor in the building so I spent a lot of the month doing displays on both floors and getting everything in its place.  Since my job involves a lot of "arts n crafts" I find myself often running out for supplies. I have grown surprisingly comfortable in stores like Home Depot, Mood Fabrics, and various trim and plant stores.

Swatch: the mascot of Mood

Everyday brings on a new project which is something I love about my job. One day I'm doing visuals at Bloomies 59th and the next day I'm sewing tapestries on a japanese sewing machine for an intimates display. Its so exciting never knowing what I'll get to do next. All in all, I love my job and will relish these last few months working there. Here are some other projects I've done. *There are much better photos on the Freepeopleshowroom instagram account*
Until next time!  -Erin

A string art display I made for Bloomies KOP

In-process of making the Coterie booth display

Playing with glitter for the dress display in the showroom.

Beyond the Manhattan Bubble

When my boss told me that I didn't have to come into work this Saturday, I made it my mission to make the most out of my weekend. With fashion week just around the corner, my only form of a social life will be watching a 20-minute episode of New Girl accompanied by my favorite chopped salad. Working straight seven days a week is going to be tiring. However, I have upped my vitamin intake to ward off anything getting in my way. Vitamin C anyone?

Street Art in Williamsburg

To make up for my upcoming hectic schedule, I spent the weekend with my work friends and boyfriend exploring various spots in New York and Brooklyn. Williamsburg has quickly become one of my favorite new hang out spots. I enjoyed checking out the funky vintage shops and passing along the beautiful street art. Brooklyn truly feels like it's own little world. I was happy to venture beyond the bubble of Manhattan for the day.

Joakim at Glasslands Gallery

My favorite part of the weekend was accompanying my boyfriend to his first photography gig shooting for Rolling Tuff, a music focused website. The scene was located at Glasslands Gallery, a rustic yet artistic warehouse in Williamsburg. Once arriving inside, we were overcome with disco fever as the DJ spun classic 80s and 90s tracks. You wouldn't typically hear this type of music anymore, especially in this day and age at a New York club, which is why I loved it. As the DJ spun his last track, the main act Joakim took his place on stage. I would classify this artist under the indie/electronic category. His music was upbeat with a unique blend of instrumental and electronic synthesizers. Overall I really enjoyed the night. It is always fun to explore new artists for the first time, as well as new scenes in New York. This weekend showed me how easy it is to get caught up in the bubble of New York, but also how easy it is to escape it. Exploring new territory opened my eyes to new locations and spots I will definitely be frequenting in the weeks to come.

Bright Lights, Bigger City

“In New York your always looking for a job, a boyfriend, or an apartment,” couldn’t have said it better myself Carrie. I got the job, I have a boyfriend, but an apartment, well, that’s a whole different story. When I was offered the job to intern at BCBGMAXAZRIA in June I took it right away, not even thinking about where I was going to live.

I thought living downtown in The Village would be the perfect place to live so I could surround myself by other college students and old friends. However, when I began my search I found most places to be ridiculously small and expensive. The biggest problem was that no one was offering a short-term lease. So when the opportunity came to rent my family friends apartment from October through December on the Upper West Side my parents were thrilled, I however was more than displeased. Though the apartment was massive, down the street from my cousins, and had a washer and dryer a few feet from my bedroom (this is a huge deal in Manhattan), I felt like I was going to be bored and not experience New York since I was so far away from all my friends. But, the terms were right so for the first three months I was meant to be living on 97^th and Central Park West. Instead, two, not three, months later I ended up moving out for the month of December because my grandpa was in Florida, so free rent meant moving to his studio by Lincoln Center. When January 1 finally came I was able to move into, what better be my last destination, my best friend’s apartment in Murray Hill.

From the beginning Murray Hill was always the spot I wanted to live and what I was looking forward too. I thought this was the location to have the time of my life, explore the city, and meet tons of people. But after living in three different apartments in the past four months I realized all the benefits of living so many places. The ability to live in various neighborhoods has really allowed me to see how big this city truley is. I also saw the benefits of the different areas and looking back at the different locations, my grandpa’s apartment was my favorite. Lincoln Center has everything, Trader Joes one block to the left and Zara one block to the right. Best of all I was able to get to work in ten minutes via the 1 train. I learned that the Upper West Side in general has the best public transportation system. There were so many different subway lines available and I knew I could go from 97^th and Central Park to Soho in thirty minutes. Now that I’m on the East Side I find myself doing a lot more walking and waking up earlier each morning. Though I am having more fun living with my best friend on the East Side, I realized I would have had even more fun with her if we lived on the West Side. My advice to anyone going out on co-op would be to not look for the swankiest location or most college friendly town, but to look for an awesome roommate and for the location that will be most convenient to get to work and just around the city in general. Because remember, New York is full of bright lights, but its an even bigger city and you want to be able to explore every part of it.

Letting Go

This New Year might mean new opportunities, new beginnings, and new places for myself and others. Diving into a new environment for my Independent Study in a middle school in West Philly was not as difficult as I thought it was going to be. Certainly, there were some instances where I had to take some time to adjust. I am thankful that all the staff were so kind and most of the students were fairly behaved. Some days only 8 students attend the class while other days up to 20 students attend the class making it a little difficult to plan and prepare materials.

A sense of relief overwhelmed me when I lead the visual arts class to finish the project today just in time for Martin Luther King Jr. Day. We finished up making DIY paper pom poms and their personal dream drawings in the beginning of class and began actually installing the designs to form a peace sign. I ended up staying almost 2 hours later than usual to help the students complete the project but time always flies while working with them.

Since Freshman year, D&M majors have always learned about deriving a design which includes finding inspiration, planning, and timing. While working with these middle schoolers, I have learned that no matter how much planning and preparation you put into the projects it will never go 100% as planned and that is alright. With 20 other students, they each have their own opinions which betters the project. The final project turned out even more creative because of the students and some have even solved some design issues that may have occurred during the process.

Something To Look Forward Too

Being in fashion allows for a non-existant winter break. As all my home friends and non- coop friends made their way home for their month long breaks, I was stuck sitting at my desk in gloomy, cold Bensalem. Luckily for me, although my office was only closed Christmas Day and New Years Day, my boss understood that I needed to spend some time at home and I managed to have an entire week off.  Being home felt like a vacation. There is seriously nothing better than driving around the suburbs to see Christmas decorations, catching up with home friends, and having your mom make your favorite treats.

Coming back to work after such an enjoyable break is a little bit of a drag, but it has taught me to always give myself something to look forward too.  This past weekend my friends and I finally book our spring break vacation; a cruise around Centeal America. Now I just think I am one day closer to being on a beach in the Caribbean sun!  As well as this cruise I have decided that I want to spend the summer in Prague on study abroad.   I am really excited for all the adventures that await me in 2014.

New Year, New Chapter

I am well into my third month at Marc Jacobs International. I began as a Design intern at the start of coop, and I have now transitioned over to a new position as a Sample Room intern. It worked out in my favor that I was able to gain two different experiences all under the same roof. I have learned so much about the design end while working for the MJ team, and it has been awesome to move over to the sample room to gain another perspective. Already within my first week I have seen how much the design and sample room relate. I have grown to appreciate and love each position. I was a little sad to be leaving the design team at first, but I can tell right away that I am going to enjoy being a part of the sample room. It is inspiring to be around so much activity with all of the sewers, pattern makers and cutters. I already feel part of the family.

In the sample room, I work with a large number of hand sewing projects for production. I am always using my hands to sew, make zippers, or perfect a large number of projects. At first I found it to be overwhelming to duplicate a task after being instructed for only a brief minute, but in time I have picked the techniques up rather quickly. Similar to my design position, I feel accomplished leaving work each day knowing I am given and trusted with a lot of responsibility. It has been a great experience so far in 2013, and I am eager to further my knowledge and skills in my remaining months. At the moment, we are preparing for our fall collection. The workflow in the sample room has significantly picked up since the show is just weeks away. My fellow interns have warned me how hectic it gets before the show, and I am ready to be thrown into the chaos.

Marc Jacobs' New Campaign

Also, if you have seen Marcs' new campaign I would love to hear your thoughts! Hope everyone had a great week. xx

Life After Co-op

Hello! I’m no stranger to the D&M media hub (this past summer I blogged about my study abroad experience at d&mAbroad, and in the spring I made a couple of videos for our new Youtube channel), but allow me to introduce myself. My name is Courtney Denton and I’m a senior design & merchandising student. Along with graduating in June 2014 with a bachelor’s of science, I’ll have a minor in art history and a concentration in fashion product promotion and special events.

While most of the students here are writing about their co-op experiences, my position is a little different. I completed my co-op in the fall and winter of my junior year as a merchandising intern at A Pea in the Pod in Philadelphia. I had a great experience, learned more than I ever expected and was even able to stay on as a part-time intern once I started classes again. Despite having such a positive experience, I was ready to try something new once I returned to school this year.

I used to speculate about interning in New York, perhaps pursuing my likely unattainable dream of working for a fashion publication, but for some reason I decided that was an impossible goal. I think my pragmatism got the best of me, and I settled for some more accessible opportunities here at school. Without any industry connections or a dozen internships already under my belt, I didn't have a chance. Who was I kidding? Somewhere along the line this term my mindset changed pretty drastically. I completely redesigned my resume and started applying for internships like it was my job. I sent out no less than 20 applications, and even though I only got one interview request, somehow everything worked out.

I’m incredibly lucky to have gotten the position I did. I’ll be working as a public relations intern at the e U.S. headquarters of Prada! This means I will be commuting to New York from Philadelphia three days a week, while still taking a full load of courses. Wish me luck! I think I’ll really need it.

Dress to Impress?

My first day of work at BCBGMAXAZRIA, four long and overwhelming months ago, almost feels like a distant blur. I remember opening my all black closet, yes, as an intern I have to wear all black, and wondering what was I going to wear for my first day? How was I going to sparkle in black? I decided to start with business casual, a simple black dress with a structured black peplum blazer. I felt confident and professional with a touch of personal style. Walking into the showroom, however, I immediately knew I was overdressed. In PR we work long hours and when they say you work a 9:00a.m. – 5:00p.m. job, they’re lying, which is why everyone else in the office was in colored jeans and fashionable over-sized sweaters. So much for “dress to impress”.

When I arrived at BCBGMAXAZRIA’s NYC showroom my biggest fear was that my bosses and the other interns would be stuck up and not willing to teach me anything. I learned that the other six PR interns had already been working for about three weeks and being that fashion week had just ended the office was crazy and they didn’t have much time to show me the ropes. I soon figured everything out myself and learned that as a PR intern my main task is to check samples in and out by creating write-ups, which consisted of photographing the samples, logging it, and the best part, ripping up the printed pictures when the samples were all returned. Once all the fashion week craziness settled down, I finally got to know and bond with the other interns, usually while searching for missing write-ups, and I soon realized interning with these girls was going to be so much more fun than I thought...