It’s no surprise that I love fashion. However, I would live under a rock if ignorant to/dismissing the fact that it’s risky, far from linear, and the path that some (many people, actually: it’s easy to pickup on condescending looks and comments) of us look down upon.
My winded answer—long story long, as I jokingly say to my inner circle—dates back to my childhood. I always gravitated towards interactive spaces: i.e., artistic and musical environments that stimulated my five senses for me to paint a picture, literally or metaphorically, of the world’s dynamic touch points.
This might sound like a starving artist journey, but the tactile component of creativity isn’t what led (or continues to ground) me to my field. Rather, I was always fascinated by the evolution. This actually makes a ton of sense when I think about my father working with IT within the education system, and how both of my parents come from education backgrounds. I grew up with these two role models, in addition to admirable brothers heavily involved in Boy Scouts, who inspired me to question how the world evolves and how to plan for/meet audacious goals: whether through new skills or community involvement.
While I didn’t know at the time, I realize now that this unintentionally stemmed my digital curiosity, plus interest in applying analytics, even before I was in fashion.
For a few years, I grew up as a “tom boy”, heavily influenced by the personalities of my cousins. However, going to the mall with my grandmother started a hard transformation to fashion. My grandmother’s eye for color and style inspired me to choose courage over certainty, where I still equate fashion to fond memories with another one of my role models. Naturally, I became fascinated by clothes and makeup throughout my youth, plus ways to express my passion through high heels (another post for this special topic).
In college at the University of Delaware, I then faced opportunities to chase my interest in evolution, when I acted on my digital curiosity through opportunities within my major, fashion merchandising. Within fashion merchandising, I actually came into college *determined* to land opportunities in editorial. Spending my pre-teen and teen years absorbed with reading Vogue, plus making mood boards in my bedroom, I thought I wanted to end up in this world of adding new perspectives and defining fashion’s point of view. However, I came to terms with editorial’s slow progression and lack of innovation. Hence, the reason I initiated and launched my own blog in addition to a website for UDress: the fashion publication at my alma mater.
Directly acting on my digital curiosity within fashion balanced everything I wanted in a career: juggling both novelty with feasibility, in addition to leveraging system applications, I found a sweet spot to leverage UX-thought processes to fill white space and bring newness.
Using both sides of my brain to find logical routes, strengthened through buying and merchant experiences that drive the business, while considering ways to refresh what exists, I tap into my genuine love for learning and fulfill my passion for interactive spaces. I love the challenge of meeting concrete business objectives, while trying to do something different that adds a new angle to the status quo.
