Intern Life | Week One

Hi Everyone!

I have made it to New York! I have been in New York for one week and I have been loving every second including every second of my internship. Like I have mentioned in previous blogs I am working at 52 Showroom this summer for eight weeks. I also mentioned that I would be sharing with you my weekly journal entries that I have to do for school just to give all of you an insight at what I do as an intern. Just to give a quick outline my schedule is Monday through Friday, 9:30am to 6:00pm. I didn't start this week until Tuesday though. 

Tuesday, June 9^th, 2015

Today was my first day going to work and I really didn’t have a complete understanding as to everything I would be doing in the showroom. I had an idea but I did not have set out guidelines as to what I would be doing as an intern. On this day I actually completed and did a ton of things and grasped a good understanding of the things I would be doing for the next eight weeks at the showroom.  One of the first things that I did was rearrange the showroom. I learned that the showroom had rented out space in the back for a designer to show their stuff and so we had to move some of the collections from the front to the back and make sure that it looked good and the front was no longer so cluttered. For me I thought a lot about the fashion promotion and aesthetics class while I was rearranging the racks and where the swimwear was placed on the racks. I don’t know why what, Roge (Swimwear Division Manger) said stuck out to me but she said, “This real-estate is to expensive to look a mess” but it did. To me it is a good way to look at, that we can’t be wasting the space that we have. That being said, it was, mine and the other intern’s, job to arrange the back part of the showroom to get ready for upcoming buyer appointments.

Later in the afternoon I was assigned to enter in style numbers for a few Resort 2016 collections into the computer so that when we put in orders the items would be in the system. Piggybacking off of that I also learned how to place orders on their system. This helped me to get used to learning the system that they use.

One thing I did at work, that I was not expecting to do was, take pictures of a model for a look book. One brand did not have a look book so I was put in charge of photographing the whole line so that it could be put into a look book. This is important for when buyers come in they are able to flip through pages of a book because we don’t always have every style in the showroom all of the time. It is also important because we can use these books to quickly mark what it is the buyer wants and use the information from the look book to put it in the computer.

Outside of work I was able to attend a seminar given by Candi Carter, who is the CEO of New Chapter Entertainment and was formally the senior producer of the Oprah Winfrey Show. Her seminar was all about networking and I connected it a lot to the class we took to prepare for the internship. People talk about networking all of the time but up until this seminar I never really had a grasp on how to actually network and what it means to network. The seminar was fabulous and I learned a ton about networking but also going after what you want and in the field you want.

(Hale and Hearty is my favorite soup and sandwich spot I could literally eat their everyday also aren't the subway stations gorgeous? haha they aren't actually that bad they are just super hot!) 

Wednesday, June 10^th, 2015

Today was not all that different than yesterday as I put more style numbers, in the computer but I also ran errands and dropped off a package at FedEx that was being sent to a magazine, I believe. A lot of our products get sent out to magazines to use in editorials or on covers.

Another part of my job as an intern is to pick up at the end of the day, this can include; doing the dishes from the buyers’ food that we put out, picking up the trash, and making sure the showroom is neat. Doing these things let the managers catch up on emails along with checking what appointments they have the next day and prepping for them. As it is a small team I’ve found out even a small contribution like going around and picking up the garbage, even though it may take two minutes can get everyone out of the office that much faster.

Thursday, June 11^th, 2015

Today I was asked to come in early, as a shipment of two collections from one of the managers who had been showing out in LA was coming in, or at least should be coming in. We all had to help out and get the clothes unpacked, hung up, and steamed because we had an appointment at 10:30 (The clothes arrived around 9:30) and the collections that had come in were the only ones that the buyers really wanted to see. I related this back to customer service in that we always try and make the buyers happy. We set out food for them, get them drinks, and worked hard and all together to make the buyers happy and have the collections they wanted to see available.

Today after the buyers left was assigned to go through and mark what they had wanted. They put what the buyers want on a separate clothes rack and then after they leave; we go through, write it down, and then put the clothes back and make the showroom look like people didn’t just go through it. Presentation is always important.

Another thing we did today was go through all the different brands previous orders and write down the name, email, and phone numbers of companies and buyers who ordered so that later on we can call them to maybe schedule an appointment or check off if they already have had an appointment. This is done to make sure we are retaining customers and sales.  

Friday, June 12^th, 2015

Today was actually a busy, laid back, and fun day all in one. It was a busy day at the showroom as we had buyers coming in but for me I spent 40 minutes hanging out in the GQ office at the One World Trade Center. We had loaned out 35 pieces to them to shoot for their cover and me and another intern were sent to go pick them up. They were supposed to be delivered to us by nine for the buyers but instead we had to go get them and did not even get back until almost noon.  One thing I have found out is that nothing seems to ever be on time. These swimsuits were not on time and buyers are either early or late but never on time. In the end it is all about pleasing the buyer and working with their schedule.  

Paying attention to detail was brought to attention to me today. I put in a few style numbers for bags yesterday and today I was told they were not in there. This was a result of the number being different on the look book compared to the price sheet.  Because of that the men’s manager had to send out an email to the designer about this because it could cause confusion and details like that matter when putting in orders.

The final thing I had been assigned to for the day was to look up vendors for t-shirts. Roge wants to make t-shirts for when they go to Miami in July and so I am currently looking up vendors, getting samples, and price quotes. I am t-shirt chair for Chi Omega and so having looked up vendors before came in hand today. This day was the first day we all just kind of hung out and got to know each other. Everyone seemed to be in a good mood that it was Friday and they asked us questions to get to know each other and for the last part of the day we all just hung out and I really got a feel for the other employees. I even drank wine with everyone at work. The Swimsuit manager sent out another intern to go get wine. My mother made a comment that it was very New York-ish to happen. It was great though! This week was a great first week and I cannot believe I'm down to seven weeks!

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Thank you so much for reading and taking a look!

If you have any questions or comments about anything I talked about leave them below and I will be sure to answer!

| Rachel |

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