"After a long summer of searching for internships and interviewing with many companies, I chose Vanity Fair Corporation's Nautica, a men's sportswear company.
I'll be interning here for three months.
So far, my job has been assisting the merchandisers in their everyday tasks. I work a lot with the actual product.
We just finished Market, where our big customers like Macy's, Belk and Lord and Taylor come to buy their assortments, for the summer 2010 season.
Come December, I will graduate from Auburn. Hopefully (I will) find myself back in New York City with a full-time job.
I've found out a great way to enter the workforce, besides completing an internship is through a training program. Many companies have different types of training programs for recent graduates to help pinpoint their personal interests within a company.
So, while I am finishing my internship program at Nautica, I am also looking for full-time jobs and training programs.
Hopefully, something will work out. On the bright side, I have many contacts through the Fashion Scholarship Fund and many mentors to help guide me through the process.
FSF is a foundation that encourages the next generation of talented students to pursue a career in the fashion industry by awarding scholarships, internships and mentorships.
Many companies are affiliated with the program and seek FSF scholars for their internship programs.
I was contacted by Nautica shortly after receiving the internship. I kept the lines of communication open until I was ready to begin my internship search. It paid off.
FSF is a great networking tool because in the industry it is really all about who you know, and so many executives are connected with the program that the opportunities are abundant.
From experience, everyone I have met from FSF has been more than willing to bend over backwards to help me find a great internship. They are so passionate about FSF, the industry and what they do.
I had to submit a case study that required me to simulate a retail store of my choosing and come up with a marketing plan, buying plan and assortment place. This included who my target was, where I would place the store, what I would sell, what I would buy for the first six months and what styles I would have on hand.
I also had to write a personal essay on my personal professional goals and how I would spend the money.
Completing the case study in itself was the greatest reward because it really made me use everything I have ever learned in my courses at Auburn.
I saw how everything comes together from a marketing, design, merchandising and consumer's standpoint.
You go through college gaining knowledge from different courses that seem unrelated, but this project brought everything full circle.
Then it hits you that somehow everything you've studied is so interrelated you have no idea how you ever thought otherwise."
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