Archive for the ‘Top Fives’ Category

Hi, I’m Kayla Blandford. I’m in my last year of school and my sixth month at Shopgirls. I’m going to be blogging about my internship, fashion in and out of school, and of course, top five lists. Here’s my first post, a bit of all three.

5. Administrative tasks are crucial:
Paperwork can be awfully dull, and Excel spreadsheets are my personal nightmare. However, being a hopeful future entrepreneur, the more comfortable I am with administrative duties, the easier they will be when it is time for me to run my own business.

4. Be outgoing or fake it until you are:
Each day at placement is another opportunity to meet fashion industry professionals. Never pass up a chance to introduce yourself, because it’s more than likely you will run into these people again sometime.

3. A smaller company becomes a bigger advantage:
As an intern the more I am exposed to, the more I learn. Shopgirls is an independent boutique, which allows me to be much more hands on, and I can explore many different aspects of the fashion industry (media, visual merchandising, events, trend reports, etc.).

2. Never underestimate the power of a window display:
While at Shopgirls, the “stage” has become my life. Earlier, I couldn’t imagine how many hours of work are put into a display, and what it takes to really give the mannequins personalities. With the help of other Shopgirls, I have been putting together the window displays, and absolutely loving it. Every three weeks I come up with a new concept, collect the props, build the window and merchandise the mannequins. These displays allow me to be very creative, and ultimately have become my dream job and career goal.

1. “Trust your gut”:
This particular placement is part of my last semester of Fashion Arts at Humber College. On the evaluation, Shopgirls owner Michelle Germain was asked to give me a piece of career advice, and simply stated, “Trust your gut”. These are definitely words I will never forget. Daily, I remind myself to follow my instincts, especially when it comes to fashion.

Any major lessons you learned as an intern? Feel free to share!