Always have a positive attitude. This is the most important lesson to live by in the fashion industry. There will be days where you don’t have a minute to breathe and you are still expected to go faster, be more efficient, more organized. But if you seem even a little frustrated, it comes off as unappreciative. And that’s not an impression you want to leave with the editors who have been in your shoes and climbed the ranks to get to where they are today. If you get overwhelmed, you must always check yourself, remember you’re at your dream job, and focus on showing gratitude for the opportunity.
The little things you do make a big difference. You may have thought the halls of Vogue were lined with diamonds and servers delivering free Manolos with your morning coffee – and I do hate to disappoint – but it’s a real, live, corporate office. Your duties will sometimes include ordering supplies from Staples, fixing the printers, making copies, and running to the post office. These little tasks make a big difference in a very fast-paced office. There is no room for error, and you are there to make sure avoidable errors don’t happen!
Don’t take it personally. I’m sorry if someone yelled at you because you brought over the wrong pair of shoes. The designer or style they were thinking of may not have been what they said aloud, but it’s an extremely fast-paced environment and everyone is going to make mistakes. The fact is, it doesn’t really matter whose mistake it was because you are going to have to fix it. So shrug it off and grab the right pair with a smile!
Find your office buddy. This is crucial. There will be times when giving your best friend at work the look - the one where she knows you’re screaming inside – turns a moment of frustration into a burst of laughter. Basically, you spend so much time together, experiencing all the highs and lows, that you start to read each other’s minds. Kelsey and I found this in each other, and the bond never left us. We will still have moments at a dinner when someone says something obnoxious, and our eyes meet, and we both think “at least we’re in this together.”
Take initiative. Go out of your way to ask for more work. Ask how you can help make your bosses’ life easier. Bring him or her a cup of coffee one day. . . just because. The little things go a long way in your professional life, too!
Always say thank you. For everything. Even if an editor spends three minutes with you, listen carefully to every word, take notes, and be gracious. In our experience, it’s rare to find a senior level mentor in fashion magazines, even rarer that one might answer your email, so always, always say thank you when they do. The best way to say thank you is always the old fashioned way – handwrite a thank you note! Extra points if you do it in cursive.