“How do you prepare your portfolio? What do you think goes into a good portfolio? How do you decide what to include? What are your goals for the future and how do you plan to achieve them? What colleges are you thinking about? Where do you see yourself in 5, 10, 20 years? What advice do you have for students preparing for college?”
After considering how I can possibly answer the questions for this week’s blog topic in a small post of a couple hundred words, I discovered that I could not. As a sophomore in high school, I can barely pick my classes for my junior year, let alone the school that will ultimately shape my future. Just a year ago I was sure FIT was the right school for me, but a year is a long time and many things have changed for me since then. For an example; my career aspiration, once a hopeful stylist, now an aspiring fashion magazine editor. With such a drastic change, I had to consider what type of school would better suit my long time goals. As of now I’m still dealing with the difficult choice between whether to follow my sister’s footsteps and go to a great Liberal Arts college in Atlanta (Spelman College) or live out my long time dream of attending The Fashion Institute of Technology.
Both schools are highly recognized worldwide, and offer great programs that would prepare me for the type of work I would love to do. However, Spelman has a great academic reputation and their Journalism and English programs would further my writing ability enabling me to grow as a writer. Though FIT does offer academic classes, a respected honors program, holds an amazing reputation, plenty of student-industry connections, and the perfect location to further my fashion knowledge (NYC)- I feel that a more academically based college would give me more leverage when it comes to being taken seriously as a journalist and aspiring editor. As you can tell, I have put much thought into this, college and my future is one thing that I constantly talk about with my family and my friends. I have already begun preparing for the admissions process: I have talked to my FIT professor and my high school counselors to assure myself that my academic career is not over because of my of my poor academic standings during my freshman year.
Though I have yet to put together a portfolio, I have many writing pieces completed during my high school career, and in addition to that, a blog (www.bobbieaustinscloset.blogspot.com) full off my witty thoughts, interviews, and insights on some of the hottest topics in the fashion industry today. My blog is a great learning experience when it comes to discovering what is appealing to fellow fashion bloggers and readers, and what type of content has really been attracting the most responses. But in reality, I do need to begin a more structured and organize portfolio on paper if I am really serious about becoming a great writer, but it shouldn’t be too hard, especially since this upcoming school year I will be taking A.P. English, and hopefully taking the Journalism class that will allow me to be published in my school newspaper, which the writing pieces I complete will become very great additions to my portfolio.
Where do I see myself in..
5 years- I will be a Junior in college, as of now..UNDECIDED, but no worries-as a Junior I don’t plan on spending anytime on whatever lovely campus I do choose to attend, because that year will be my year abroad! And when I say year, I mean it! I will spend one of my semesters in Paris, while spending the next one in Milan, and when you think it’s time to go home, I’ll be jet-setting (more like broke-fashionista college-student-coach-sitting) to spend a summer in England, where I hope to take some classes, and score an internship at one of England’s best magazine or newspaper publications.
10 Years- 25 going on 26, a birthday I would think to be a weird revelation in any woman’s mind, knowing that she is now closer to 30 than she is to 20. Lets put it like this, if a mathematician-maybe, I don’t know-wanted to round up a 26 year old woman’s age to make 10 evenly divisible by her rounded age, he would have to round up to 30, aging her instantly. But no worries, by this time I will have been out of college for a couple of years, and I hope not still buying Starbucks coffees for my employers and working the slave hours most young interns find themselves implicated in doing. I don’t mind a little blood, sweat, and tears, but by this time, I hope to have a reputation as a great fashion blogger and writer. Catching interest from bigger magazine publications, maybe even recognition from my favorite magazine, Vogue, a small little picture in their Flash section could be a possibility.
20 Years- I’m in my mid 30’s (however not many people will no that, I’ll always and forever be 20..something) and by now I have landed an editorial position at Vogue Magazine. I know I may sound a little too optimistic for you, but though some people may think I live in a dream like world in my head (which I do when it comes to shopping) I am my biggest fan, and if I don’t believe in myself noone else will. So my senior editor possession will suit me nicely for the next couple of years but by my big 4-0, I will see editor-in-chief possession in my near future!
Amira