Marie Conger : Life of a Designer Intern

The past couple weeks have been some of the most exciting times I've had at my internship. I am currently working with Kristino Handbags and Accessories as a design intern. We sell to pretty much all the junior chains such as Forever 21, Charlotte Russe, Mandee, Afaze, Delia's, and more. The first several weeks were a bit frustrating with the factory we were working with because there was terrible communication and we weren't receiving any samples that we requested. However, we recently transitioned a lot of our projects to a couple new factories and one has shined above the rest. What does this have to do with me? In one of the sample shipments they sent us I got to see one of my own designs come to life! This was such a great feeling to actually see something I designed for Kristino come in. For the rest of the day I could barely focus I was so excited!

Since then, the designer I have been working with has allowed me to finalize and send more of my designs now that we have an efficient factory to work with. This week I finished eight more sample requests and we should be receiving them in the next two weeks. Despite all the other projects I'm working on for Kristino at the moment I can't help but smile when I think about getting those samples in. Unfortunately they will most likely be arriving during the last week of my internship, but I have already been told that I should come back and visit during winter break. I really can't believe there are only a couple more weeks left in the city, I don't want to leave!

RENT on Broadway by Meaghan DaCosta

  On Wednesday, November 9th, a group of us from the Marist in Manhattan
program saw the off-Broadway production of Rent. It was in a very small theater,
New World Stages, and we had great seats in the middle of the audience. I am a
huge fan of the movie Rent, but I had never seen the Broadway show before, so I
was very excited. Since Rent moved to off-Broadway, it is a much smaller
production with a different cast. I still thought it was an amazing show though,
with a very talented cast. I have always loved the story and music of the show,
so seeing it performed on stage instead of watching it in the movie brought the
entire story and music to life! I love musicals, but I usually don’t get the
chance to go frequently, so I was so happy to hear that we were seeing Rent for
our November social activity. The show was great and we all had fun!

Networking : Its a Small World After All

Any teacher, avisor or boss can tell you the importance of networking. Networking, aka helping create opportunites for  yourself by conversing with people from your industry. Although it seems intimidating, always remember that the person you are about to talk to was in your shoes once! Its a fact, people enjoy sharing what they do for a living and talking about what they have acomplished. So why not introduce yourself and help put a name to a face. 

 A few key tips I have learned about networking:

1. Never be afraid to introduce yourself, as long as you present your self in a professional manner you really have nothing to loose.
2. Always have a business card on you. Although it may seem outdated, handing a professional in your field a business card with your name, school, major and contact information can trigger a memory or name recognition next time you send out your resume. ( Plus, almost all colleges, Marist included, will print personalized business cards for a reasonable price)
3. Be yourself, but keep it professional. Don't try and act like someone you are not, but also remember that these are people you could come across in your future. Never bad mouth a boss or company in the presense of other professionals, you never know who knows who.
4. With that being said, it really is a small world. You may have a connection to someone in the industry you are intereste in without even realizing. ( For example, one of the clients at my internship, Mally Roncal ( Celebrity Makeup Artsist) happens to be a Marist Alum, not only that, so is her personal assistant!)

CUPCAKES GLORE!

The fad of cupcakes has yet to fade. One awesome perk to living at the 92nd Y Residence, is that there is an infamous CRUMBS Bakery just a block away. The other night me and a few of the other girls could not resist the sweet tempation of a giant CRUMBS cupcake. With over 50 falvors and more debuting each day, its a impossible to only go once. Not a cupcake person? They have tons of other cookies and sweets. Yet with flavors such as Cosmo (Vanilla cake tinted pink filled with strawberry buttercream frosting and topped with lime cream cheese frosting edged in pink sugar), or S'Mores ( Chocolate cake filled with vanilla cream cheese frosting topped with chocolate cream cheese frosting covered with chocolate chips, marshmallows and graham cracker pieces), you may find a new love for the anything but small "minature" Cakes.

Check out their menu

Mid Terms Already?!?

Im not sure if I am more upset that I am offically 1/4 of a year from graduating college or half way through spending the semester in Manhattan! Time really does fly when  you are having fun. A few of my favorite places I have gone have been Ripley's Believe it Or Not! Museum and Madame Tussauds. The Wax figures were unbelieveably realistic. One great thing about this program is that I can offically consider myself a "Real New Yorker" yet I still can have a blast exploring all the "tourist" sites the city has to offer. Check in soon to see favorite moments of the other Marist in Manhattan program gang!

Fashion Week : A Word from Paige

At Fashion Week, I got the wonderful opportunity of working with the Visual Merchandising Team. This experience was extremely hands-on, and they used my ideas and creativity as a source of inspiration for actual displays used in future window displays and the runway for the collection just released. Although the Visual Merchandising Team had no idea of my background, how creative I was, or what experience I previously obtained, they chose me among the other volunteers to step aside and literally play with leggos (I have no idea why I was the lucky volunteer chosen)! My task was to sit with a floor full of leggos and construct imaginary, toy guns because the overall feeling of the collection was ?free and rebellious.? After that, I built up small towers surrounding a display of glass cases that were used to hold handbags. My blocks of leggos had a ?tetris-y? feel and made the display look like a contemporary, alive video game. My leggo displays served as inspiration to the Visual Merchandising Team, who continually altered and probed at my designs. After that, I helped build floral arrangements and displays for the windows in the showrooms. Because I am interested in Visual Merchandising for my future, it was very interesting to see how Visual Merchandisers think, and how they never seem to find the ?perfect, visually-satisfying? look to something, until they conduct trial-and-error over 100 times!
- Paige

Fashion Week: A Word from Meaghan

  My experiences at the 2011 NY Fashion Week were amazing! I have
volunteered for Fashion Week in February in the past, but this was my first time
volunteering at the September shows. I worked two shifts from 11:00am to 8:00pm
on Friday, September 9th, and Monday, September 12th. On Friday, I worked at the
General Idea and Nicole Miller shows. The first designer, General Idea, was a
menswear line that I had never heard of. I enjoyed working at this show because
the designer was very involved in working with the lighting and the music, and
he didn’t have his “people” do all the work for him. The clothing was very
cohesive and I enjoyed watching it on the runway. The second show that I
volunteered at, Nicole Miller, was an exciting and glamorous show. There were a
lot of celebrities there and it was a huge crowd in the audience. I love the
style of clothing that Nicole Miller designs, so I was so excited to be able to
be a part of it and see the show. I mostly helped set-up and clean up after both
shows. I put the seat numbers on the seats before the show, and picked up the
leftover trash after the show was over. I did these same tasks when I
volunteered on Monday, the 12th. The first show I volunteered at on Monday was
Rebecca Minkoff. This was extremely exciting for me because I really admire her
clothing. There were even more celebrities at this show, which definitely added
to the overall excitement. This was a very organized show, however it started
about fifteen minutes late. One of the models in the show was a blogger who won
a contest to walk the runway in the Rebecca Minkoff show. I think this was a
great idea and added an interesting touch to the show. The second show of the
day was Norman Ambrose. This was his very first fashion show during NY Fashion
Week, and I think he did an excellent job. The clothing was beautiful and very
glamorous, and the show went very smoothly. Overall, I had an amazing experience
at NY Fashion Week. Both days were busy and full of excitement and I loved every
minute of it!
-Meaghan

Fashion's Night Out: A glimpse of Soho FNO madness

American Vogue, the Council of Fashion Designers of America, NYC & Company and the City of New York created Fashion's Night Out in 2009 as a collaboration intended to celebrate fashion, restore consumer confidence, boost the industry's economy and put the fun back in shopping. Proceeds from sales of official FNO gear will benefit the New York Community Trust's New York City AIDS Fund. (http://www.nycgo.com/fashionsnightout) 

 

My fellow Fashionistas Paige and Britt joined me in exploring Soho on none other than New York's FNO. After  short subway ride to the Soho region we walked on to the street crowed with people dressed to the nines and shopping like it was Black Friday. It was a really neat experience, not sure if shopping in stores packed and champagne flowing is my style, but it was still a good time., check out the clip to get an idea of what it was really like.

StarStruck: A Word From Rob

Hey I'm Robert Peterpaul! I am interning for NBC's Access Hollywood this semester. So far it has been an amazing experience and I have met a lot of great people. For instance, the other day I got to meet one of my favorite actors Alec Baldwin (name drop much?). Anyway, last week was very cool for me. In the morning I was told to go downstairs to greet Christina Hendricks. Yup the really pretty red head from Mad Men. So I take the elevator down and meet her and her “people” at the Visitor’s Center - Yes, even stars like Christina Hendricks has to be cleared with security. I led them to our bank of elevators, trying to make slick conversation such as “I love your show” (which by the way I don’t exactly watch- my mom loves it but I feel like it’s weird to say “oh by the way my mom loves your show”), and also trying not to trip because for some reason I always over-think things when I’m trying to be cool (this includes walking). I get Christina up to our office studio to do her interview. While Christina was walking out I bulked up the courage and asked her for one (unprofessional I know, but her publicist said I could)! I also couldn’t help but tell her how much I admire her work with “The Make A Wish Foundation.” I told her how my brother wished for a puppy when he was ill and they got it for him (we still have her today she’s really cute - the puppy not Christina). I gave her one of our foundation’s bracelets (which can be purchased at thomaspeterpaul.org), and she happily took it! That was definitely the highlight of my week. I can't wait for what's to come! Thank you for reading:)

Top Of the Rock

A Day of Firsts

Today marked crucial firsts in my Marist in Manhattan experience. To start, it was my first day interning with The Brooks Group, a lifestyle public relations firm. I could not have asked to be placed with a better company for the semester. With a staff of less then 10, as an intern, I can already tell I am going to have a real-life experience in the world of pr. Everyone was extremely welcoming; it felt more like my first day back after vacation rather than my first day as an intern. Today was also the first day I experienced Manhattan in the rain. Lets just say, my rain boots that I debated bringing came to great use today.

After a long, but great day interning I met up with the rest of the Marist in Manhattan Crew and experienced my very first Broadway play. When I learned that we were given the chance to see Memphis, a Tony award winning musical, I must say, I was not the most interested. Musicals have never really been my thing. I could not be happier to say that I judged a book by its, well... playbill. I absolutely loved it, the music was fantastic, the dancing was incredible, I really do not have a bad thing to say about my first Broadway show. In fact, I am already looking into seeing another. Needless to say, today was a successful day of firsts, the first of many more.

What is Marist in Manhattan?

Marist in Manhattan gives students, both Marist and non-Marist who study in the area of either Fashion or Communications, the opportunity to combine real-life field experience with Internet based coursework. Not only will students engage in an internship and take classes online, they will get the chance to experience New York City, one of the world’s capitals for both industries. Sounds pretty amazing doesn’t?

For more information about the program visit: http://www.marist.edu/commarts/maristinmanhattan/index.html

Meet Alex!

Name: Alex Viscusi
Assumption College class of 2013
English Mass Communications with a minor in theatre
Interning at Rachel Ray
Decided to do the NYMEP because I wanted to get out and live and work in the real world to gain experience. New York is the best city in the US and to come here and work in the trenches of media and be in the center of the universe is an experience you can't really pass up.
Fun Fact: I've been involved in theatre, community and school, since I was in kindergarten and another draw of NYC for me is to be so close to Broadway

Meet Jessica!

Name: Jessica

School: University of Arkansas

Year/Class: Junior, Fall 2012

Major: English

Where you are interning: TBD, hopefully somewhere in the comedy community. :)

Why you decided to apply to the program: I've always wanted to be in NYC and this program seemed like the best opportunity for me to make contacts and gain experience while being there.

Fun Fact: I'm a member of the Comedy Committee at my university, because of which I've played a game of Words With Friends with my good friend Donald Glover. I also got 3rd place in our Student Comedy Competition with material I later reworked and had published on HelloGiggles.com (http://hellogiggles.com/dear-cute-guy-i-knew-in-high-school).

Meet Meaghan!

Name: Meaghan

Hometown: 

School: Marist College

Year/class: Junior, graduating in 2013

Major/minor: Fashion Merchandising with a Business Minor

Internship Company: BCBG

Why you decided to apply to the program: I decided to apply to the program because I thought this would be an incredible opportunity to experience what it is like to live in NYC while interning and maintaining coursework online through Marist. I have always dreamed of living in NYC after I graduate from college, so this is a great way for me to get a taste of what it would be like. I think the Marist in Manhattan program is an amazing opportunity for students to further their careers by getting hands-on experience in NYC.
Fun fact: I was an intensive ballet dancer my entire life, and I still have a lot of love for ballet, so I can't wait to explore all different kinds of dance in NYC. At Marist, I am involved in the Fashion Inc. Club, Booster Club, Campus

Ministry,and Fashionology.

Meet Abbey!

Name: Abbey

Hometown: 

School: Marist College

Class: 2013

Interning: DeVries Public Relations

Why decided to do the program: I have always wanted to live in the city. Being from Western New York, I was so far from it growing up and am really excited to finally get a chance to live in NYC. 

Fun fact: I am an only child, but call my Cairn Terrier, Winston, my brother

Clubs: In school, I am involved in dance ensemble and secretary of PRSSA

Meet Robert!

Name: Robert Peterpaul

Hometown: 

Class: Sophomore, Marist College Class of 2013

Major: Communications with a concentration in Radio/TV/Film, minor: theatre

Internship: NBC Access Hollywood

I decided to apply for the program because first, I love the city

and would not pass up the opportunity to be there for a semester, and second because 

I think that you learn more actually interning then in the classroom.  

Fun Fact: I just studied with Marist in London for two weeks this summer and loved it!  Another random fact is that I'm occasionally an extra in movies and television shows.

Meet Caroline!

Name: Caroline

Hometown: Akron, OH.

School: Baldwin-Wallace College (Berea, OH)

Year/class: Senior, Class of 2012

Major/minor: Major - Broadcasting and Mass Communications; Minor - Marketing

where you are interning - NBC News (specifically Dateline and the New Brian Williams Primetime Show)

why you decided to apply to the program - I wanted to apply to the program to broaden my horizons and get to experience New York City for the semester

fun fact -- This will be my third broadcasting internship, but fifth internship over my college years.  Also back at Baldwin-Wallace I've been the Vice President of my class since freshman year and I'm very involved in other areas of campus including my sorority (Alpha Phi) and our student run TV station BW-TV.

Meet Paige!

Name: Paige

Hometown: Boston, MA

School: Marist

Year/Class: Class of 2013, Junior

Major/Minor: Fashion Merchandising with Business & Product Development Minors

Internship: BCBG

Decided to Apply B/C: I am originally from Boston, so living in NYC seems like a fantasy for me as of now - but I want to make it a reality! I see myself pursuing a career there in the future since it is the fashion capital of the US, so I want to get to know the city like the back of my hand.

Fun Fact: I am an unprofessional tattoo artist!

Finally in the City!

After much anticipation I have finally made it into Manhattan and better yet, into the wonderful De Hirsch Residence at the 92nd Y. Check in every Monday to meet another student who is participating in the Marist in Manhattan program. ( I thought I would start off by giving my own bio)

Name : Caitlin
Hometown: Philadelphia, PA
School: Marist College
Year/class : Senior 2012
Major/minor : Communications ( Public Relations) / Fashion Merchandising
Internship Company : The Brooks Group PR
Why you decided to apply to the program : Being from Philadelphia, my opportunities to become involved in the fashion world have been limited. In addition, I saw this program as the perfect opportunity to have a trail-run living in NYC. I love fashion and I love communicating with people, it seemed like the perfect fit!
Fun fact: I am half Chinese, my middle name is Ming!

Welcome!

Welcome! My Name is Caitlin; I am currently a senior at Marist College majoring in communications (public relations) with a minor fashion merchandising. I am spending my fall 2011 semester in the Marist in Manhattan program. Follow me as explore the city, life as an intern and so much more.