Fashion School: Georgia Southern University
Future Fashion Professional: Christen J.
Major: General Studies, Concentration: Fashion Merchandising, PR, Marketing
Graduation Year: 2011
Hometown: Savannah, GA
Fashion is my passion. It goes beyond matching heels with a dress. It is about creativity and expressing yourself.
I have over 7 years of retail experience and it never gets old. I first realized I had a passion for fashion at a young age when I was old enough to work everyone (manager, district manager, regional manager, and ext.) would love the way I merchandise the products and how I dress the manikin to the point where customers must have that outfit. My favorite element of the fashion industry would be mostly the Public Relation side of it and helping organize showrooms and fashion shows. My greatest accomplishment thus far would be getting my internship with a designer named Eva Danielle.
I attend Georgia Southern University in Statesboro, Ga. My major is General Studies with concentrations in Fashion Merchandising, Public Relations, and Marketing. My top 3 reasons for wanting to go to GSU is because it has 100s of options for majors so you can basically do what you really want to do instead of just doing what they only offer. Second, my older sister is an alumni and she is doing great in her career with her degree she got from GSU. Lastly, I love the campus. It is huge but it has a homely feeling to it. I would recommend this school to anyone looking to go into fashion. Our fashion majors do incredible things like design clothes for local fashion shows and get to send their designs to Atlanta or anywhere they want.
The courses I found most valuable in my major is Public Relations, Marketing, and Social Psych of clothing which let you know that fashion goes beyond matching a necklace with a pair of earrings. I expand my knowledge of fashion by doing the intern I mentioned earlier even though it is over now but I learned a lot. I also volunteer at local fashion shows on campus and around town. I also blog at cjenkins8.wordpress.com. Our school does help with internship connections, helping to find suitable internships, and offer credit for the internship. Students can go to the career section on the website or simply go to the William Center and get all the information they need.
Some advice I would give someone hoping to attend GSU with the same major as me is to make sure that you live it, breathe it, and it is your passion because if it is not you probably will hate it. It is a face pace industry and you to be prepared for whatever that can possibly happen. The best advice that I received about starting a career in this industry is that you have to think on your toes, have a lot of patients, and always give your best. Our school does host Fashion events but it mainly for the fashion design students to show what they got.
What is next for me is getting this degree. My ultimate dream career would be helping organize fashion shows or setting up show rooms for high end fashion lines. I’m a more behind the scene kind of person. I like to work directly with the designer or the clients.
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