This past week has led me to really reflect on the past few years of my life, in and out of the creative world and fashion industry. As cliche as it sounds, I've been up many mountains and through a lot of bumpy roads...I've been hired, loved, and promoted. On the contrary, I've sat in cab rides with a boss and coworker who talked amongst themselves acting like I wasn't even in the same vehicle, let alone in the same company. I've been told that my works are innovative and relevant... and other time's bashed for being, "too original."
These past few years have been an interesting ride, to say the least... and now-a-days I'm writing high school internship recommendations and advising college grads on how to "break into the fashion industry" which is funny, considering at times I really don't feel I should be the go-to-girl for the direction of a person's career...I'm still seeking out advice for my own path. But so it is...and so I will let it be. God's given me a few gifts, and I'm grateful for them. Hopefully I can continue to do the things I'm doing and continue to make my mama proud! (hehe)
Below the photo, in honor of my "Reflections", I've posted my first ever POST, that was made by, thatskinnybrowngirl2.blogspot.com. Read on, and laugh, because I still crack up reading it, and remembering my first 'real fashion job.' that lasted about 3 days...-SBG
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YOUR FIRED!
I cant sincerely claim that these were the exact words that came out of my manager's mouth that fateful Wednesday afternoon. It was more or so like, "Well hun, I think this job is 80% business and 20% creative....you're more cut out for a job that’s 20% business and 80% creative." ...and she based this on one week of work in which i was only asked to make numerous scans, develop excel reports and...just basic admin tasks?
We'll, there you have it folks. Four+ years of college...a dozen or more design studio courses, late nights in the darkroom...late nights in the sewing room, countless crazy mornings stumbling around the city (Bethlehem or NYC?...take your pick) searching for the perfect cafe mocha to get my designer juices flowin...only to find out in my first "real" position that I, double college major graduate, intern queen, fashion extraordinaire....am TOO Creative for my job. The design gods never cease to amaze me. Flash back to about 4 weeks, prior to...lets call it, "the day of exil". It's about 2 pm at my little retail job at Victoria’s Secret. I toss the last Very Sexy Extreme Plunge Pushup Miami tan (yes, not brown, its Miami tan) bra into the bin and secretly declare to myself. I WILL NEVER PUT AWAY ANOTHER Bra (unless its my own)! I will NEVER straighten up another panty table. I will NEVER again pretend to get excited when the packaging changes for the Dream Angels collection! Sound the alarm! Burn all the bras!!...anddd snap out of it.
My little declaration meant nothing, as I still was pretty much jobless according to my standards. Of course I made a little bit of money doing the retail thing, but not enough to even put a small dent into my 4+ years of college loans.... ughhh and for what? I'd interned at some of the top fashion houses in the world...made my connections, freelanced here and there, only to end up stackin bras and countin panties! This was not the life of glitz and glamour that I dreamed of!
So you can imagine my sheer excitement when I learned that I had landed, what I thought would be the most promising entry level fashion job in the world....and they even threw in a clothing allowance...was I dreaming?....ughhh ....so fast forward to the, "day of exile". ... Boss She-Devil states, "Well, ill let you finish out the week...I usually am good about letting people do that." ...Shes "usually good about letting people do that?!"...does she always fire people after a week and a half?...I told her no! (can you believe it?) I told her that I at least needed a second week to be able to get another job! (in reality I needed wayyy more time than that, and she really could have gotten sued for pulling such stunts, but I’m not even going to go there.)
So I got what I asked for. Another week in hell, but at least another weeks salary to last me until I found something else. And would you believe that it all happened in the beginning of the greatest week of all?...the holiday for all fashionistas....Fashion WEEK?!...and would you believe that my little desk faces outside looking over 42 street and Bryant Park where I can practically count the beads of sweat covering the men who put up the big white tents in preparation? Did I do something bad in a past life?!
Whatever. Whatever is what I say. If this little skinny brown girl contains too much creativity then so be it! I got what I needed from that job....and yes, I spent every last drop of that clothing allowance. No matter what, I gained some great experience, and skills that I can take to another job that hopefully is 80% creative and 20% business oriented. ha. Ha, I laugh in the devil's face... who apparently wears Prada on the weekends, and Elie Tahari during the work week.