When I told people about getting an internship in NYC, so many people asked me how I got the position. My answer was quite simple: I looked. I looked and looked and looked, hours upon hours until my eyes where bloodshot from staring at an LCD screen. I had thought that my dream of working and living in NY were to remain only that, a dream. What was the likelihood of a girl from South Florida who went to school in Tallahassee of landing that spot? Well it happened and it did because I never stopped trying.
I had always had an interest in fashion. I'm a junky for the TV shows; Project Runway, America's Next Top Model, The Hills/The City (I know, kill me), What Not to Wear, How Do I Look?, etc. I always had the desire to participate but did not feel as though I "belonged" in that world. After all, though I loved to admire, I was your everyday girl on an everyday budget. I shopped at Marshall's. Big names were a treat and only on the clearance/sales rack. I was okay with that world; it taught me discipline and the difference between necessity and wants. I wouldn't say I envied the label bearing sorority girls (no hate on them, I'm in one to..Theta Nu Xi =) ) on campus (we came from two different worlds) but I always thought "man it must be nice." I remember having a class with one girl who did an internship with Teen Vogue; she was such a bimbo I couldn't understand how she landed it. "Must be nice" I would say and continued on with the day.
That interest, one night after watching some show, led me to search. I had just graduated from FSU in December and had been job searching over the holidays, and decided, why not look for internships? The truth is, the market is horrible and very few places are willing to pay you for the experience they expect you to already have (especially in public relations). It's unfortunate that so many schools think that their name will get you where you think you need to be, and my college (with their "limited access" program) did to. Interning wasn't required and they didn't push me to do it. My last semester I did anyway, with a radio company doing marketing and promotions. It was this position and not my degree that EVERY interviewer asked me about. "What did you do? What did you learn?" It was only after I had walked the stage that I realized the most important thing college didn't give me: experience. My thousands of dollars of debt was really only a check mark on a requirement list. I needed experience.
So I put aside all my inhibitions, the little things in the back of my head, and googled "fashion internships." I found that there are tons of career specific search engines. 'Why didn't anyone ever tell me about this?' I would think. Years of college and they only taught me theories and ideas, facts and numbers, not where to look and what you needed to get where you wanted...I settled on freefashioninternships.com. It was a play ground of interest for me. But almost all were in NY. Seeing all the listings made a desire burn in me. 'I really want to do this' I thought. So I started applying to everything I saw. EVERYTHING. And with that only two or three called/contacted me.
I knew that I didn't know all the lingo of the fashion world but I also knew my desire would get me something. I was also reading a book about the power of positive thinking and attraction. If I believe it and keep fighting it will come at the right time. And it did, much sooner then I expected.
I got offered an internship with the Press Office Ltd in NYC on Jan. 6th (a month after applying, you need to patient and plan in advance). They were a fashion public relations agency in need of interns to assist in upkeeping the showroom, daily activities, and working fashion week! Suddenly I had what I wanted but now I didn't know what to do with it. I was excited, shocked, and terrified at once. Here was my chance, now a reality. It happened VERY FAST.
My situation was difficult. Like I said, I'm just your everyday girl. I had supported myself through college, still had an apartment and was unemployed. I had a lot of things I had to get in order before I left. My parents were concerned about money (though I would be staying with uncle in the Bronx and commuting to the city), about my apartment ($400 a month in rent), and how I would do it all. To be honest, I didn't know, but I knew it would work itself out somehow. They offered to take care of my dog for me for the time of the internship, even though they thought I had failed to plan and was jumping the gun. But I didn't care (though that sounds somewhat harsh), I knew I could not pass this up. I had never lived in the cold (I'm a Puerto Rican Florida girl!), so coats/long johns were not in my vocabulary. My mom fronted me the money for a coat (she couldn't let me leave w/o one, she was born and raised in NY) and a few small things. I also cleaned out my apartment in Tallahassee, sold and got rid of some stuff, paid as many bills as I could, and made plans for NYC. Luckily, my mom is a retired airline employee and got me a dirt cheap non-rev ticket. I knew I would have to get a part time job and/or sell some furniture in my apartment or sublease. But I knew everything would fall into place because I felt I was doing the right thing. On the way to the airport, for reasons I cannot explain, a women was on the sidewalk of an intersection was dressed as the statue of liberty. I wish I was joking b/c it made no sense whatsoever. It gave me and my parents a good laugh. They were lightening up to the idea of what I was doing and I got a sense that NY was where I needed to be. I arrived in NYC on Jan 22nd with only about $100 to my name and a passion to make it that no one could hamper.
No comments:
Post a Comment