fashionist

I found out that I got into the Purdue fashion program with the Fashion Institute of Technology in NYC for my whole junior year. With this, I am going to get an internship with either a department store or well known designer. With this experience, I think that I am going to learn a lot about what it is like to work first hand with consumers and business people that have to deal with everyday. I am excited about this experience. I am going to be able to work with different people who have different personalities. I will learn how to work with all kinds of people and with that I am hoping that I will become more aware of how to work with all kinds of people to provide them with the best service that I can for them and their specific needs. I think that learning some of the lesson that I have learned within CSR 331, I will be able to adapt well with who I work with.

Applying my knowledge!

This semester has gone by so fast! However, out of my past 3 semesters, I would have to say that I learned a lot this semester. Each of my classes have taught me something new, whether it was a lesson or a new way to do things. In my CSR 331 class, also known as Consumer Behavior, I have learned a great deal about how people act, behave, and react in the consumer world. These lessons are important for me to understand and learn, especially because I am going into the retail industry.

I think that my professor, Mr. Feinberg, really did a great job in teaching this semester. His way of  teaching is energetic and not something you dread going to. I think that his methods of teaching, through being interactive, having a sense of humor, and not having exams really made it easy to learn in his class. I mention that having exams being a good method of part of his teaching because I feel as though when exams are mandatory in a class, people do not really enjoy what is being taught but rather force themselves to understand it and not necessarily grasping the full meaning. With Mr. Feinberg being a very educated in understanding people’s behavior, I believe that he understood that as well, knowing that giving exams is not what teaching is all about.

I never dreaded going to class because I knew that I was going to come out of it learning something new. One thing that I learned that I connected to Gladwell’s presentation was that focus groups are not reliable. From this, I made the connection that focus groups mean nothing, but rather what you truly believe or have an opinion of is what matters. Focus groups analyze every little detail of something and do not represent the greater majority of the population. From this, they stand to be unreliable. I think that what really matters is what your actual initial opinion is, is what really matters.

I think that is the greatest lesson that I learned this year and I know now that I need to stand with my opinion and what my heart is telling me. That is the greatest lesson I could have learned all year.

Thank you for a great semester!

Your heart is all that matters. What your heart TELLS you is all that matters. I hadn’t really put that in perspective until I watched a video of a presentation given by Malcolm Gladwell. His presentation opened my eyes to not only the minds and ways of society. Simply putting I find society to be corrupt. We feed off of one another; the trends we wear, the things we buy, the cars we drive. Everything around us has been influenced by the person before us who bought it. Why do we do this? Why not follow our hearts and do things we love to do or want to do with our lives instead of focusing on things that we have to analyze to make a decision towards. Going with ones first instinct is always what should be initially considered because when you think something through, decisions tend to be altered. This causes you to not go with what you really want, but what suits everyone else as a compromise. This is where I learned my lesson. I need to start focusing more o myself and what I want out of MY life rather than focusing in making other people happy, before myself. It took me awhile to grasp this but I am hoping I Start following my heart more.

The other day in class the VP Chief Marketing Officer, Mr. Schreibman, held a discussion in which he discussed many aspects of business, sales, and marketing. There was a lot of material covered but one that I found that I most relate has to do with sales. Mr. Schreibman mentioned that sales do not occur out of thin air. This holds a lot of truth, especially throughout my experiences working at Victoria’s Secret. Throughout my time working at Victoria’s Secret, I have found that without the proper attitude, assistance, and loyalty, the store’s sales plummet. 

With good customer experience follows good sales. That was the first thing I learned during my training at Victoria’s Secret. It makes sense! You see, if as an associate, you are boring and non-energetic, what makes your customer think that you are actually there to help them find what they need and provide them with service they need. On the other hand, when an associate is enthusiastic and interested in helping you, it makes your experience a lot different in regards to your attitude about the company. With a positive attitude towards a company comes sales and with a negative attitude comes the opposite. Therefore, I think that it is important to teach your employees that lesson, to put customers first. After all, that is what they employees are there for, to tend to the customers.