What to do if, midway through your bachelors in Fashion Merchandising, you
get offered the PR job of your dreams? Do you seize the offer and never
look back, or finish what you’ve started and gain those all-important
qualifications, hoping that other such golden opportunities materialize
when you graduate? 21-year-old Mason Howell, Public Relations Coordinator
for Christian Siriano, wasn’t taking any chances. He did both.
To be clear, I never actually left Kent State. I am still a student but now
taking my classes full time online. I only have one semester left and I
will be graduating in May 2016. The last thing I wanted to do was delay my
graduation but thanks to the outstanding support from Kent State I am due
to graduate on time as if I was back in Kent, Ohio. However I decided to
physically leave the main campus, first continuing my studies in Kent’s NYC
studio, and then through online portals, because I felt Kent, Ohio, had
offered me all it could.
I was offered a position at Christian Siriano as a result of my student
internship. But I actually declined it originally because of a relationship
back home. Then that relationship abruptly ended and I felt like it was a
sign or something, telling me to stay here in NYC. I went back and asked if
the offer was still on the table and they welcomed me into the company with
open arms. It was the best decision I ever made.
I have a lot to thank Kent State for. The program I was in prepared me for
real life but also allowed me to mature in myself and taught me how to act
in a professional situation. If I had been in NYC during my freshman year
at Kent I wouldn’t have stood a chance, but my time at Kent moulded me into
the professional I am today. Without the guidance of faculty, friends and
the structure of the program, I know I would not be where I am today, in
the industry at such a young age.
The work I do at my job is EXTREMELY easier! Of course, I thought the
amount of homework we received was beyond excessive. Now, looking back, it
taught me my time management skills and how to prioritize projects within
the day to day activities of my job. My job can be stressful at times but
if I can make it through this period of being a full time student with a
full time job I think I will be all right.
I’m learning that a lot of people in the fashion industry do not have
fashion-related degrees. It wasn’t until I went to intern and started the
same day as a girl from Texas whose major was in Communications that I
first realized this. They gave us tasks to do, mainly Excel-based, and
asked me to input numbers into the buying sheet and compare them with the
sell-through report. These are all words and phrases I had heard a million
times, and had created so many “make-shift reports” in class I could do
them in my sleep at this point. However the other intern had no idea what
they were talking about and barely knew how to work Excel. She got taken
off doing reports and instead had to run errands all day, and I got to
learn how these reports really work in the industry. I know tons of people
who are very successful without a Fashion Merchandising degree in the
fashion industry, but in my experience, it certainly did help.
What I love about work is that every single day is different. I was
originally the Executive Assistant which had me, one day, running around
Manhattan to find bed sheets and the next I could be at a photo shoot or
some fabulous event. I pride myself in doing whatever it takes to get the
job done. I am not embarrassed if I have to go get coffee or run to a store
to get hairspray while also answering thirty e-mails that I have received
in the span of 8 minutes. In May 2015, Christian promoted me to Public
Relations Coordinator. Now I get to attend photo shoots, celebrity
fittings, and help decide where to send samples for editorial and celebrity
pulls. Of course I am still out and about some days doing errands but that
got me to where I am and just because I have arrived at certain destination
doesn’t mean I am going to stop. I couldn’t imagine sitting at a desk all
day so I love that some days I am not. The only things that are constant in
my day at work is coffee in the morning and lunch at 1:00 PM no matter what!
Working for Christian has truly been inspiring and has showed me exactly
what hard work is. I am only 21 years old and I am the PR Coordinator for
his company. He took a chance on me so the stakes are higher and I do not
want to disappoint him. I know the reason he has given me a chance is
because he understands people took a chance on him at a young age as well.
Christian works harder than anyone I know. He is involved in every aspect
of his company. Sure he could give all the responsibility over and just
design all day but that is not who he is. Along with being an
extraordinarily talented designer, he is also a very savvy business man. I
learn something new from him every single day.
Christian Siriano was actually my first internship besides working all
through high school and college in different retail jobs. I am a little sad
that I didn’t get to experience the more corporate side of fashion within
an internship, but I have plenty of time in my career to explore that.
I know this sounds so cliché but it’s Fashion Week. I never thought I would
get to see an actual show, and here I am today helping a major fashion
designer put one on. It has been absolutely exhilarating and I look forward
to it twice a year.
I have a passion for handbags and I don’t know how yet but I want to be in
the handbag world somehow. I currently own a blog called PursePrince.com
dedicated to luxury handbags and the lifestyle that surrounds them. I could
literally sit for hours and just talk about handbags, it gives me such a
rush. Hopefully in ten years, my blog will really have taken off, or I
could be writing and commentating for somebody like PurseBlog.com,
Refinery29, or a magazine such as W.
By contributing guest editor Jackie Mallon, who is on the teaching
faculty of several NYC fashion programmes and is the author of Silk for the
Feed Dogs, a novel set in the international fashion industry.