Tag Archives: advice

Self Worth

As I start my search for full-time employment, I am faced with the task of pitching myself to companies in hopes that they will hire me. I am “selling” my skills and abilities to these brands, hoping that they will “buy” them. A sales pitch is always better when there is genuine belief behind it, which makes it hard when you doubt your ability or worth.

I compare myself to my fellow classmates quite a lot. Regardless of their impressive track records and great personalities, I have a track record of my own and my unique personality. A resume can only show whether you are able to execute a job’s responsibilities, which in all honestly is a teachable thing. People learn how to do their job better every day, even higher ups an business owners. Your resume helps you get your foot in the door, but your personality and personal connection with the people at the company is what really secures your spot.

In psychology, there is this thing called the Dunning-Kruger effect, which is where is you can’t objectively assess your cognitive ability. Basically, the less you really know, the more you think you know, and vice versa. This generally means that if you have a low perception of your ability, then you are probably better off then you really think.

You have to remember that you are a valid and worthy person. You might doubt yourself from time to time and that is natural, but you shouldn’t put yourself down if you can help it. You have your own set of strengths and weaknesses and while they might not match up with other peoples, that doesn’t mean they aren’t valid or good.

How do you keep your spirits and self-perception up?

How I Made My Summer ’19 Decision

Recently, I went through a very difficult decision process to sort out my summer plans. For context, I am a junior soon to be heading into my senior year, and I am originally from Washington state. I have been working as a production intern at Tory Burch since the Fall semester and was offered an opportunity to stay with them as a product development intern over the summer. I have yet to stay in NY over the summer, and I always miss home this time of year since I’ve been away for so long. There were many things to consider when debating to accept this offer from Tory Burch. I wouldn’t be able to see my friends and family from back home over the entire summer, I wouldn’t be back in the PNW during one of my favorite seasons, and I wouldn’t be saving money from not paying rent. It is also my last summer as a student and I wanted to be very careful with how I used this fleeting freedom. On the other hand, if I stayed with Tory Burch, I would be building my resume and developing more skills and experience to further my career and eventually achieve my long term goal; I eventually want to move back to the West coast and work for iconic outdoor apparel and lifestyle brands, with one of my top picks located in Seattle, WA. If I stayed in NY over the summer, I would be helping my future job search when applying for positions back home, but was this worth not seeing my friends and family? In the end, I chose to take the internship with Tory Burch with hopes that working towards my long term goal would be best for me. There was really no right or wrong decision in this situation for me because I could see myself being both thankful and regretful at the same time for making either decision. Sometimes, you just have to push aside your critical analysis and just make a decision when one is needed. It made me realize that I’m at a point in my life where my choices are going to have direct consequences on aspects of my life, and that real planning needs to be put in place if I don’t want to lose control of my life. One thing I did to sort out my decision was I put together a 5 year and a 10 year life plan for myself, mapping out different aspects of my life, including career, health, and relational. These things are important to think about and develop an understanding of what you want. It’s never too early to start planning.

Production Management Semester 4 Review

Alright everyone, now this is a pretty big deal. When you finish your 4th semester, you will be graduating with your AAS. This went by extremely fast for me and shows just how much you have to pay attention and savor the moment, because time really does fly by.

MG 252 – Product Data Management

This class is focuses on identifying all the different types of information in a business environment, where this information comes from, and where it then is directed. Students familiarize themselves with key business documents such as NDAs, project workflows, and 26 other documents, and create samples for their personal use. Final project is breaking down all the data for a sample product and presenting this information.

IC 297 – AAS Internship C: Career Exploration

This course is taken at the same time that you are placed in your Spring credited internship. The main goal of this course is to help students identify their desired career path and to start working towards it through their current internship. Students share personal experiences with their internships to develop a more comprehensive understanding of the opportunities in the industry.

EN 321 – Strategies of Business Communication

Students learn proper business communication etiquette and use this to create job search documents, reports, memos, and customer service documents.

MA 213 – Quantitative Methods

This is a required math class that is fairly basic. Linear algebra is the main focus of this class, with some focus on interest, used to calculate things such as loans. Students create a report using this interest math to calculate what their financial situations would be if they took out loans.

Production Management Semester 1 Review

The Production Management major is a complex multifaceted program that can branch off and lead to many different job types in the industry. This can make it hard to understand what your time here at FIT could look like, so I’m going to start going over the courses in the major semester by semester and review and elaborate on them.

 

Semester 1 – Very rudimentary and foundational to your general understanding of basic fashion industry structure and procedures.

MG 108 – Apparel and Home Textile Products Manufacturing

This was my first ever class at FIT. I came into this school not knowing anything about businesses or how they are structured, or how the fashion industry even operates. This class taught me about all the different processes involved in the making of products and who is responsible for them. We also talked about one of the most important pieces of information in the production industry, a tech. pack, which is a detailing of what the product is made of and how to make it.

TS 115/TS 015 – Textiles for Production Management

Again, I didn’t know anything about apparel coming into FIT. This class gave me the foundational understanding of the different types of fabrics and how they are all made. We learned about the difference between woven and knit fabrics, the different types of each category, and we even got to see the machinery used to make these fabrics in person in the textile labs. We also learned about all the different types of fibers and materials that make up the fabric and the qualities of them. One of the coolest parts about this class was when we tested different fabrics in our textile lab to see if they would meet industry standards. FIT has a fully equipped textile testing lab with machinery that tests things from the strength, to the color fastness, and even the flammability of the fabric.

MG 153 – Excel for Business

This class helps students build one of the most commonly used skills in the production industry, Microsoft Excel. I use Excel every day at work to analyze and identify key information for our team, and this class helped me feel comfortable in taking responsibilities like this on. Professors use textbook and online material for students to reference in their homework and projects to help build relevant and comprehensive practice. You’ll learn how to format files, discover all sorts of formulas, and even learn about Pivot Tables. Excel has since become one of my favorite programs for organizing pretty much any type of information. It isn’t just for numbers, though it excels in that field. (I’m sorry I just had to). 

Which class would you be most excited for in your first semester at FIT?

Fashion New Source Pt. 5

Women’s Wear Daily

Since its inception in 1910, Women’s Wear Daily magazine has been a leading force in the apparel industry. As an informational staple, the magazine covers general topics such as: fashion, business, beauty, men’s, runway, and accessories. Each topic has several sub-topics. For example, a few that business is broken down into are: trade, HR, marketing, retail, and markets. From a business student’s perspective, WWD gives a really good big picture view in regards to long term strategies. This information can be vital for higher-ups and even for students like us. There are not many sources that have a section devoted solely towards mergers & acquisitions or markets. This is why I like Women’s Wear Daily, because it can give me information that is easy to access sources sometimes require a subscription for.

If you watched NYFW and wanted to look at the styles, WWD has a review of all different designers with an analysis on the lines and photos of the collection. Click here to see more