During our planning for Charlotte NC Fashion Week we have planned a "pre-fashion show" with Banana Republic to raise more money for Make A Wish Foundation. Every year Make A Wish Foundation grants wishes of so many children who have litte time left to live. All the proceeds of this fashion show is going to the Foundation. Those of you in the Charlotte area or those who are close enough and willing to drive to support this cause, purchase your ticket on www.charlottencfashionweek.com. Mark your calenders for July 9th and prepair yourself for a great night!

Door #1

     Charlotte NC Fashion Week is the biggest display of fashion North Carolina has ever seen. Networkz2000 and Plitz Fashion Marketing has brought this beautiful state something it has been craving. Charlotte NC Fashion Week began in 2008 and has grown tremendously over the past few years and I was given an opportunity to participate in marketing, promotions, and production of this years show. As mentioned in my earlier blogs one path I was thinking about venturing into was Fashion PR and I could not believe what fell into my lap. I had applied for this position early in 2010 and just received an offer back. I know this is going to be a fun and challenging experience, one that will help me to determine whether or not I can survive in an industry that is known to be so cut throat.
    I highly suggest all my readers to go to www.charlottencfashionweek.com to check out all the details and purchase tickets. This event brings local and out-of-state designers to Charlotte along with reputable sponsors, such as M.A.C. Cosmetics and Varji & Varji Salon and Spa, to the fashion thirsty people of Charlotte and the surrounding areas.
    Believe me girls and boys, I did not just simply email the company and got a magical response back. No, I revised my resumé a million and plus times and had many people look over it before I sent it off. I also spent extra time and money on my portfolio. I had many things I could have put into this binder but I decided to make it more unique, more personal. Instead of just focusing my portfolio on me and my accomplishments I decided to put in my accomplishment that greatly showed how I could benefit my potential employer. Mind you, it only consisted of a few recommendation letters, graphic pieces and other things but what seemed to impress him the most was a mock press release that I had written four hours before my interview. This showed that not only did I have talent on a broad range of areas but that my talents could be of use to him, to help better his company. I was offered a position within three days.
    Morale of the story? Yes, an interview consists of someone in the company asking questions about you, but what they want to see is if you can fit into their puzzle to make it whole. You, as the interviewee must make yourself relevant and valuable to that company, make yourself unique to them.

The Fortune Cookies & The Offers

     I sat at my home eating Chinese take-out one evening and cracked open both fortune cookies the restaurant gave me. Believe it or not, these two fortune cookies have forever changed my motivation and outlook when things seemed to be in a rut. This rut I was in was due to an ominous feeling I had about my future. The first cookie said: “you shouldn’t overspend at the moment. Frugality is important.” It was right; I had to eliminate the fat. In other words I had to cut out what wasn’t a necessity and force myself to live below my means (advice that was also given to me later by a very wise woman who will undoubtedly be the feature of one of my upcoming blogs). I thought of every possible way to save money, saving change, selling my clothes to Plato and on eBay, cooking more and eating smaller portions of what I cooked, and also to live off the dollar menu when I absolutely had no energy to cook. This era of having to “live below my means” shall pass and once I get to a good place I can stop living in a “sardine can” room, in another man’s house.
    The second cookie, one that hit me the most, said: “Your genuine talent will find its way to success.” For whatever reason, this one-inch length of paper made me revive the faith and fortitude I had about my endeavors and to trust in my God given talents. Once I accepted positive vibes back into my life doors seemed to swing open like a gust of wind forcing them to let me in. I had three different offers present themselves to me in the past few weeks. That is why I have been M.I.A. I accepted the first offer that crossed my path, I am currently progressing toward the second offer and I am leaving the third tid-bit of information on the back burner for future notice.
    I’ll go ahead and say the fortune cookies brought me the luck but when I think about it logically and reasonably luck was only a small part. The first offer was a response to a message I had sent out in February. I had applied for a position and slaved over my resume until I believed it was better than perfection. Three months later I had a response. Boom! First door slammed opened. 
    The second offer was one that a co-worker/friend had told me about. I haven’t gone through it but I am walking towards the door. This scenario tells me that connections are still everything and if it wasn’t for building good relationships would this opportunity have ever presented itself.
    The last offer sprung from a connection that had also derived from another connection. Again, networking it key. This one will be competing against the second offer and which ever happens to be the most promising victor decides on which door I will go through.
    To sum up the last three paragraphs, I had opportunities flying my way but I had made myself present and welcoming to those opportunities as well as searching for them. Stay tuned for my next blog, it will uncover details of the first offer and trust me, after this revelation, you won’t want to miss it.

The Extra Mile

     My boss at J.CREW told me to always “make myself valuable” for the company I work for; whether I am the CEO of some large corporation or the ditch digger on the side of the road, making my self valuable will not only show those around me that I can do my job and be the best at it but that I am dedicated and that someone can count on me. This was his secret to a successful career. I suggest you use his secret to transform your life now so that you can one day find yourself living the life you have always dreamed of.
  
WAY TO SHOW YOUR VALUE TO YOUR BOSS AND CO-WORKERS:





1. Arrive early to prepare yourself for the day (metally or task wise)

2. Cleaning/straighting up the work space (This is applied when there is no cleaning person assigned)

3. Volunteer to do extra assignments (Taking into consideration you must do the assignment in the highest quality, even if that means staying up late to finish it)

4. Offer to help others around you in their jobs, aka teamwork for the overall betterment of the company.

5. Show enthusiasm for the job. You may have gone to college and have great credentials but in "Big Girl World" that also translates as you are back at ground zero. Because that means you also have little to no experience in the actual work force for which you want to be successful at and you can always learn a thing or two from someone whos been there and made it.

Location and Why Are You So Special?

     Step one in the PR Book for Dummies: location. It’s all about the location. Your success in the area of public relations you pursue depends on this key detail. It you want to go into politics you do not go to Belmont, Indiana, you go to Washington, D.C. If you want to climb that corporate ladder you do not choose to live in Rutherfordton, North Carolina. I know this sounds trivial but I made the mistake in choosing my location not based on what I really want to do with public relations. I find my self in a state of “UN-“. Unbundled from myself, possible unhappiness because this was not my choice but the choice of someone else, and unsure of wait I can do here. I am not saying I am miserable, but I am saying that I have no goal or direction here and it’s a little nerve racking.

     I've moved to Asheville, North Carolina. Asheville is the biggest city in Western North Carolina and is home to around 400,000 residents, a superb collection of art deco-styled buildings, the largest home in America (the Biltmore Estate), it's the gay capital of North Carolina and has a creative bustling environment that is waiting to be discovered. Fashion PR and/or Wedding Planning are the two career options I am looking into. Wedding planning is my first option to look into.

Though this city is not known for its fashion, like New York, it does have a competitive and thriving wedding industry. I begin my travels with an internship with a lady named Janet Frye who runs a successful florist business called The Enchanted Florist. She deals primarily with weddings but is apt to accept offers for arrangements for other special events. I also have accepted a job offer with the Biltmore Winery and I start training Tuesday, May the 18th. Both jobs will help me to see what goes on back stage for weddings and will teach me a little bit about different aspects that are part of a wedding.

     This is how I am going to set myself apart. I am going to know every thing I can about a wedding, not just the planning and consulting but every little detail that makes a wedding something to remember. To those who has read down this far, when you decide what field you would like to take in PR you need to decide what elements would help set you apart from everyone else. What makes you so different and what makes you so special to where clients would choose to hire you over your competition?

The Right of Passage

     Graduation, a ceremonial right of passage that for some signify the next step of a promising future. However, others deem it as a mourning period. To them it represents the death of their college existence and the birth of a struggling life in the big bad world. In the world of event planning PR, a young woman has big dreams of a life filled with glamour, excitement and parties (the event itself). Those young women who have daddy and mommy’s connections, have a better chance at experiencing this lifestyle right off the bat, but for those lucky few who do not, they get smacked across the face with their wake up call. No glamorous apartment, no steady job, no fun parties. 
     I am that girl. Over the next few years I will take you on an in-depth adventure of the life into the world of PR. The PR shows you see on Bravo and MTV is the representation the life of a woman who has already made it in this business and is only in one line of public relations, Fashion. There is many paths to take in this challenging art, corporate, non-profit, fashion, wedding planning/event planning, and political, and I will show you as many pathways as my intuition leads me to try. You will hear every up and every down to this career and maybe the business school will finally give the communication school the credit it deserves. 
     As of now, my intuition is leading me in three public relation pathways: fashion, corporate, and wedding. I my goal is to write at least two blogs a week on no particular day and to relay as many life learned lessons that pertain to this business as possible. Stay informed because this first lesson, and one that will manifest itself over and over again, is that a PR girl is too busy to be tired or hungry.