Tag Archives: Advertising and Marketing Communications

A Life Update:

Hello all! It has unfortunately been SO long (5 months, but who’s counting?) since I have blogged. I apologize for the lack of updates, it was one heck of a summer dealing with a family death that had me leave New York City before finals last semester, on top trying to get prepared for this year…my Senior year. Literally feels like yesterday I was writing my first blog and getting accustomed to new surroundings, classes, and activities. Over the last 5 months, I’ve felt and experienced a lot of different emotions. As everything is changing all around me again, as I move onto the next chapter of my professional life, things can get tough, and sometimes it’s okay to breakdown, the most important thing is – getting back up.

Mental health is just as important as psychical health. According to the APA, “anxiety is the top presenting concern among college students (41.6 percent), followed by depression (36.4 percent) and relationship problems (35.8 percent).” No one should cope with anxiety and/or depression alone. Trained and licensed mental health professionals can provide support in helping you to find relief from your symptoms, also right here at The Fashion Institute of Technology.

FIT’s Counseling Center is free to all full-time, registered, degree-seeking students and are private and confidential. Faculty, staff, parents and student groups are also invited to use the Counseling Center’s consultation services and educational resources. The Counseling Center staff are licensed social workers, psychologists, and consulting psychiatrists that provide short-term counseling and professional referrals for students. All clinicians have advanced degrees, training and experience, and participate in ongoing professional development and clinical supervision. To find out more information, or see some questions answered, check out the Counseling Center’s “what to expect” here. It’s great that all students here have the powerful resource of the Counseling Center. Working on improving your mental health is very important, even if you think you’re doing fine.

On another note, I look forward to sharing all of the great experiences to come this year! I will be posting every Friday, so be sure to peep in at the blog as some really great events and even application season for prospective student approaches! Thank you all for reading, and always feel free to comment any suggestions, questions, or just opinions!

Mariano

Surviving Your Last Month at FIT

Although I’m not graduating this year, we are all preparing for the last few weeks at FIT! If you are graduating this year, here are some tips to survive the countdown to a new chapter in life!

1. Have fun!

The last semester in NYC can be stressful. Everyone is freaking out about what they are going to do after graduation, sending out job applications or preparing for one they have secured. It is important that you remember that you only have a few weeks left to be a college kid, so you need to make time to have some well-deserved fun. You have your entire life to sit at a desk working from 9-5 and only a few months left to stay out until 4 a.m. with all of your best friends—take advantage of this. Don’t waste the last month of your college career so stressed out about the future that you are unable to enjoy the moment. Live in the now, because you will regret it if you don’t later.

2. Keep up with the work.

That being said, it is also important to keep up with your schoolwork. Senioritis is STILL a very real thing, but make sure that it doesn’t get so out of control that you are scrambling at the end of the semester to pass all of your classes. I am not suggesting that you slave in the Feldman Center computer lab or the Gladys Marcus Library, but going to class and keeping up with your assignments will make your life so much easier come finals week. Why screw up what you have worked so hard for the last four years at FIT in your final semester? Have fun, but don’t completely neglect your school work.

3. It’s okay to not be okay.

This is a major key to surviving the beginning of the end. Yes, technically you are an adult now that you are graduating, but you are also only twenty-_______ years old (or older!). If you still aren’t 100 percent certain what you want to do with your life, the good news is that you are still allowed to change your mind. Try not to get too caught up in who has a job and who doesn’t. Have faith in yourself. You made it through four years at one of the most competitive school in the creative world. You are more than capable of landing a job, so, have a little faith and patience. It will all work out.

4. Snapshot your life.

Take as many pictures of you and your friends as you can. These will be nice to look back on after graduation when you are missing your friends and the place that you have made your home for the last four years – NEW YORK CITY. Document it all thoroughly, because grown up you will thank college you for it later.

5. Finish off your bucket list.

Remember all of those things you and your friends have talked about doing for the last four years, but never did? Now is the time for you to cross the remaining items off of your bucket list. You only have a few months left to do it, so live it up. In a few months you won’t be here anymore, so who cares if a couple of the items are embarrassing, it will be worth the Snapchat/Instagram story.

6. Spend quality time with your friends.

This is the most important way for anyone to survive their final semester of their collegiate career. The friends you make in college become your family. They are there for you every step of the way through some of the best/worst years of your life. They have seen you at your best and seen you at your lowest, but have loved you anyways. College would have been nothing without them, so make sure you are spending as much quality time with them as you possibly can these last couple of weeks. Soon you will be scattered across the country working your new jobs living in your very first apartment, and you will miss the days when they were just a room away. Don’t take these last few weekss together for granted.

7. Get Excited!

Graduating from FIT is bitter sweet. You are sad to leave the friends and life you have made for yourself the past four years behind, but you are also excited to see what the future holds. College might be over, but the rest of your life is about to begin. Make sure that you are excited about all of the amazing things that your future holds for you! There are so many places for you to go and things for you to see. Try not to focus solely on the things that you will be leaving behind. You are about to set off on an entirely new adventure.

Interning in NYC: Michele Marie PR

Connections are truly what everyone says they are… the best thing to have! Building a strong network of people in your community, class, major, etc. can lead you to opened doors you would have never thought of having. As a Baker Scholar, I received the greatest opportunity at a time I was in need… an internship!

Michele Marie PR is a full-service public relations agency specializing in editorial, celebrity and event driven press in the fashion, beauty, and lifestyle industries. The agency focuses on developing and executing strategically targeted press campaigns to brand clients as leaders in their own particular sect. The founders are energetic, fresh, and accessible with bi-coastal experience in a wide array of product lines. The clients include young design talent, established premium designers, and innovators in the world of fashion, beauty, and accessories. They have a proven track record of combining editorial press, celebrity dressing, promotions, and events to assist in developing successful household-name brands. The team collaborates with each client to pitch concepts and materials to maximize on potential brand awareness and excitement. Commitment to the highest quality shines through in all services. Michele Marie PR has two offices located in west Los Angeles and New York City. Situated in a spacious, wood-floored, loft-style spaces, the offices are prime showroom locations where stylists, editors and celebrities experience the clients’ products on a daily basis.

How do you get credit for an internship? Where can I get an internship? DO I NEED AN INTERNSHIP? – all of the questions you may have can be answered by the Career and Internship Center. I am currently doing this internship credited and they experience is worth the internship class you have to take!

Never close opened doors, being at Michele Marie PR and speaking with the co-founders of the agency themselves has landed me a summer internship at the LA office!

Taking a Bite out of the Big Apple

As we all know, New York City is home to many television networks such as ABC and NBC. Yesterday I had an amazing opportunity to be apart of the live studio audience in a recording of ABC’s top daytime television show The Chew! Aside from being a huge fan of the show, I was interested to see what really happens behind scenes, and how the cast and crew collaborate to create it.

The experience was AWESOME. The show was on how to make “Breakfast for Less” which as a broke college student I thought was very helpful! Guests included American celebrity chef, restaurateur, and reality television personality Bobby Flay and actor Kevin Bacon. During the breaks, American chef and one of the hosts of The Chew – Carla Hall, ran up to the audience to dance with people (including myself) which I thought was very sweet and humbling of her.

My ticket!

As a gift, we were given Bobby Flay’s new brunch cookbook. To bring in the Fall spirit, I thought I’d share a delicious and inexpensive Mini Pumpkin Churro with a chocolate-orange dipping sauce recipe from the book!

Brunch @ Bobby’s by Bobby Flay

CHURROS:

2 cups all-purpose flour
2 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1/4 teaspoon ground ginger, plus more for finishing
1/8 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
1/8 teaspoon fine sea salt
3/4 cup pure pumpkin puree
10 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into pieces
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
4 large eggs, at room temperature
Vegetable or canola oil, for frying
3/4 cup pure cane granulated sugar, for rolling

CHOCOLATE-ORANGE DIPPING SAUCE

1 cup heavy cream
8 ounces bittersweet chocolate, coarsely chopped
Zest of one orange
1 teaspoon grated orange zest

DIRECTIONS:

For the dipping sauce: Bring the cream to a simmer in a small saucepan. Put the chocolate in a medium bowl. Add the hot cream to the bowl with the chocolate and let sit for 1 minute. Gently whisk until smooth. Stir in the orange zest. Keep warm.

For the churros: Whisk together the flour, 1 teaspoon cinnamon, the cloves, 1/4 teaspoon ground ginger, the nutmeg and salt in a large bowl. Bring 1 1/2 cups water, the pumpkin puree, butter and vanilla to a boil in a medium saucepan, whisking constantly.

Pour the pumpkin mixture into the bowl with the flour mixture and stir with a wooden spoon until just combined; it will be thick. Continue mixing and add in your eggs, one at a time, until well combined. The dough should be thick and smooth. Place the dough into a pastry bag with a large star tip.

Heat 2 inches of canola oil in a high-sided saute pan until it reaches 350 degrees F on a candy or fry thermometer.

Pipe the dough directly into the pan in 3-inch pieces, cutting off the pieces with a scissor. Fry until golden and crispy, 4 to 5 minutes.

Stir together the sugar and remaining 1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon in a medium shallow bowl. Transfer the churros to a paper-towel-lined baking sheet or plate to drain the oil and immediately toss in the cinnamon-sugar mixture. Dip in the chocolate-orange dipping sauce to serve.

Wa-la!

Besides being starstruck, I noticed how much effort it takes into making a television production. From lighting, to audio, cameramen/women and so forth. FIT’s Advertising and Marketing Communications and Film and Media programs are definitely ones you would want to pursue in order to be in the studio everyday as I saw first-hand!

In the studio!

If you are currently in the city – take advantage of the big apple and take a bite! There are so many things to do and people to see in the city that never sleeps! If you aren’t, I encourage to pursue your education in the city and school that gives to endless opportunities that you will benefit from.

Until next time… xoxo – M

Life in the Concrete Jungle: An Introduction

I know what you’re thinking… it’s New York City – I’ll never make it, I’ll go broke, I’m one in a million who have the same dream of being successful in the fashion industry… These thoughts running rapidly in your mind are holding you back… But let me tell you this –

The Empire State Building

To the prospective students across the world… if FIT is your dream school, go for it. Getting an education in the BEST city in the world is an experience that you cannot get anywhere else.

The Freedom Tower

My name is Mariano, I am an 18-year-old Puerto Rican boy, from a lower-middle class family in California; studying Advertising and Marketing Communications. FIT was just a dream to me and now it is a reality. Never underestimate yourself and the opportunities in front of you. If you are thinking about starting a new chapter of your life in New York City at FIT, find out more information on the application process here.

New York Fashion Week, one of many opportunities at FIT!

In the last month, I’ve learned and experienced so much that I will never forget. Hopefully, you will soon! Please reply with any questions about the application process, I don’t bite!

Until next time… xoxo – M