NYC: If You Can Make It There, You Can Make It Anywhere

Northern California is a grand place to live, but I advise our grads to take a long look at jobs outside the charmed circle. There is a world beyond, and not a bad one. Moreover, sometimes, the best way to get that desirable job Here is to move There for a while, building skills, building resume.

A couple years ago Jen Bayley took a job in Columbus, Ohio (not because I advised her to) and now she's moved on -- to New York City to head up the PR office for The Limited, which I have on good authority features "vibrant, feminine, sophisticated style for the modern fashion-forward woman." She said:


But fear not, I still write - a lot of press releases and other good stuff. My husband-to-be was a journalism major at American University, and is now an attorney with the federal government. See all the fun stuff you can do with a media degree!


That's *glamorous* I said, to which she responded.


Well, today I am running around trying to make sure that we shoot the right crop pant for tomorrow's photo shoot - very glamorous indeed!


The big news in my world at The Limited is the WASHABLE wool blend suit.
It's a very sexy wear-to-work suit that can be machine washed at home and resists wrinkles. (You know you want one!) I was inspired by Lewis Carroll's "Eat Me/Drink Me" when constructing a tagline: "Wash me. Fold me. Pack me. Wear me."



So far I've gotten it on a few local news shows and in magazines like Oprah, Real Simple, Lucky and In Style. The good press has turned into a marketing campaign so our store windows currently boast all the headlines from the good people at The Plano Insider and Cedar City Daily News. It looks a lot like a movie advert from the Sunday paper.


I think the biggest kick I get out of this job is that I am promoting something I truly enjoy - clothes! I have a passion for the stuff, so the writing, the talking with editors trying desperately to put our product in their pages is easy and come naturally. I didn't quite have the passion for the work while at an investor relations publication...



That being said, having a journo background and having spent time at a magazine definitely helps. I understand the deadlines and atmosphere the editors are working with and how to best help them out.


Can't give Jen any advice pertinent to her current job. She's on her own. But perhaps one of our grads might get a job promoting a clothing line featuring "vibrant, scholarly, sophisticated style for the modern fashion-forward guy professor."

I know at least a dozen, and that's just at this end of University Center Fifth Floor.

Postscript:

Jen adds this link, "from something I did back in Columbus last winter....
Yeah, I made the noontime news!"