For one, I would have to say that going to school has helped me with my blogging because it has helped me with my writing. I had to write an 80 page dissertation and quite a few reports before that! It helped me to develop my research skills and pull relevant quotes from published pieces that would support the points I wanted to make. I constructed a system of color coding what I was reading and marking up the texts with underlines and side notes. I found a way to devour literature and source it for my own work. That has been a HUGE takeaway.

The other thing that school did was make me an expert. My first day of graduate school, the Dean addressed my cohort and told us to carefully consider what topic we would choose to write our dissertations on, because devoting 8 months of your life to one topic signals to the world that you are specialized in that area. I took that very seriously, and began collecting data and literature from the beginning!

The end result was that I had the terrifying honor of postulating a new theory for Sustainable Fashion, and when I was finished, I certainly knew quite a lot about it. This has helped me to be seen a credible and educated source. I have been hired to write inserts for other publications based on this alone. 

So, now to answer the second question. My passion for fashion… As cliche as it is to say, I have been a fashion addict since I was about eight. My mom loves to tell the story of when I was in third grade and got dressed in my favorite floral (and very puffy) dress, applied a layer of bright pink lipstick and carefully tucked myself in between the sheets- the night before picture day! 

I did steer away from fashion for awhile though… I started my undergrad degree as a pre-med student. It wasn’t until I left University and was considering graduate school that I embraced my desire to operate in the fashion industry. From there, I found sustainable fashion as I was searching for something with a little more meaning behind the amazing creativity of the industry. 

My advice? Follow your dreams, for real. Don’t waste time on what people (including your parents) might think. It is your life, and you might be surprised to find that they support you and already know what it is you really want to do in life. Hang out in school and keep learning if you aren’t sure what you want to do, but always have an internship on the side, so you can get real life industry experience and build your contacts. Good luck!

(photo via: Geert Bollen)