Expats in Paris

It's a little after midnight and I just got home from meeting up with an old friend. It's so good to see a familiar face here! I spent the day mapping out all the places I want to see while here in Paris and getting my outfit ready for my first day of work tomorrow! I knew I would probably be coming home late, so I wanted to get that all out of the way.

I went out to meet Linda around 8ish to La Conserverie for drinks. As I was locking the door to my apartment, I see the guy that helped me with my luggage on my first day running down the stairs. I was hoping I'd run into him again to thank him for his help. I felt bad I didn't introduce myself properly that day. So I apologized for being so rude and thanked him again. His name is Alexander and he lives on the floor above me and told me if I ever needed anything to just let him know. He was in a hurry, but he said that he would love to show me around Paris if I was interested. He said he will be away this weekend, but the following weekend he was free. Now I feel like I'm in a movie! He's pretty easy on the eyes too haha

So off I went to meet Linda, who has been in Paris for the past couple years in the #1 top perfume training company. I can't remember how to spell it, but I was really fascinated in learning about what she does. I met her friend Alex, who is also studying in the perfume industry and her other friend Michael, who does public health research here. They've all been here for a few years so it's interesting hearing what they had to say. I learned that the economy in France is pretty bad too and that they do very little hiring and firing because it actually costs the companies a lot of money. So there is a lot of temporary contract employments instead.

I learned also that a lot of the ex-pats here are all pretty similar. They all have passion in what they do and why they are here. Pretty similar to how people go to Hollywood. They have dreams and they may go broke trying to make their dreams come true, but they do whatever it takes! Carol refuses to go back to Brazil until she achieves what she's set out to do while here. I love this mentality these people have because it is truly inspirational and motivational!

So my friends have been asking me how I got the opportunities that I did and I am definitely no expert, but I can share what's worked for me thus far. I think it's all about networking, just saying hi, getting yourself noticed somehow, stepping outside your comfort zone, taking a risk and making the most out of every opportunity. Oh and be a person of action. I remember having a conversation with my friend Agnes a long time ago and we were talking about actually doing what you say. I don't want to be a person that's all talk and no action. Basically put your money where your mouth is!

I remember when I worked at Filene's back in the day, I had a review from my boss where I learned something new about myself for the first time. She wrote that I was a positive person in doing any task that was asked of me (even cleaning the closet) and that this quality would get me far in life. This was the first time I heard of this about me and from then on, I tried to apply that with my life and career.

It's so easy to get negative and to just do what society thinks you should do and to worry about failing all the time. But I think failing is a good thing! I believe it really makes us learn and grow. You will never grow if everything is perfect! God knows I've "failed" so many times. I've probably been laid off more times than anyone I know! (Not because of bad performance, just bad luck!) But I made it into good luck! If I didn't get laid off at Chadwick's, I would never have had the experience I did interning at DvF in NYC a few summers ago. I had the best experience there and made some dreams come true. I got to live and experience NYC, intern with some great designers, and go to Fashion Week at Bryant Park! Now I've learned to look forward to being laid off haha cuz it just means I have another adventure waiting just around the corner!

I got the internship at DvF, while looking for jobs on stylecareers.com. I applied and was able to get in touch with the receptionist with DvF/Nathan Jenden. It was sheer luck that she was a graduate of BC! When she learned that I also graduated from BC, she said she'd put me on top of the pile and would call me back soon. I waited for a week and didn't hear, so I called her again and this time she told me to come to NYC for an interview! So I took the bus down and met with her and within 10 min. she told me I could start whenever I was ready! I couldn't believe it! Interning at DvF was an amazing experience and again I was really lucky. On one of my trips to the downtown office, I met Nathan Jenden, the Creative Director for DvF at the time. I literally just said hi to him and that was it. When I went back to the midtown office, one of my bosses called me over and said to me, "What did you do!" I was so scared and nervous I did something wrong! And I said, "Nothing, what do you mean?" And she told me Nathan, Daniela and Joan (Creative Director/Director of Product Development and VP of Product Development) called to compliment Jenny (Sample Room Manager) on hiring me and that they were impressed by me. She said she didn't, but that she would take the credit haha From then on, Nathan and the other designers asked to work with me more. I was soooooooo nervous! I had no idea what I was doing because I had only taken a few courses at that time at MassArt and I was interning with students and graduates of top fashion schools like Parsons, FIT, and Pratt. I wasn't nearly as experienced or talented as they were! Seriously these girls are amazingly talented! So when I went to work with Nathan Jenden's line, I was working with some of his designers. One of them was Josh, who helped Thakoon with Michelle Obama's white inauguration dress. His wife is a designer at Zac Posen! It was so surreal to be surrounded by such talent. Josh was asking me if I could do this or that and I was honest and said not really. I wasn't really confident in my abilities. So I said to him, "Maybe, Nathan would be better off using another more experienced intern because I feel bad that I can't be of much help." And he told me, "No, Nathan thinks you are really talented and not to worry." I still don't know what he saw in me, but he gave me soooo many opportunities and I just went with it. Sometimes I guess you just have to fake it til you make it.

With my fashion internship in Italy, I basically just quit my job and went straight to Florence and it was the best thing I ever did! I found the program online when I was trying to move to SF, but ended up in Italy instead. It was the first time I really saw potential in me to go outside my comfort zone. I would explore Florence by myself going into retail stores and just asking people if they could tell me more about what they did and if I could learn from them and surprisingly they were so helpful! It was that easy! I met with the owner of Ethic, which is like an Urban Outfitters and asked if I could learn more about fashion from him. He introduced me to his fiance (now wife) who did visual merchandising. I asked if I could shadow her for the day and she made an even better suggestion! She invited me along to help her rework one of the Ethic stores so I could put it on my resume and portfolio! I also ended up interning at Compai with a group of expats that openned a vintage and recycled clothing store in Florence. They were so helpful in teaching me everything they knew about fashion and introducing me to a bunch of international designers. It was through them, that when I came back to Boston I really started to pursue a career in fashion by getting jobs in fashion, attending fashion school and participating in fashion shows as a designer.

And I was honestly getting really stressed, down and confused about what to do with my life in the beginning of this year. I was listening to all sorts of people and a lot of them made me second guess myself. Everyone had an opinion and eventually I just had to stop talking to people about my options. People would tell me that I'm getting older now and that I should really start settling down and that I shouldn't waste my money on experiences like this. But if I think about it, these experiences are the ones that I appreciate the most. Money is meant to be spent. Yes I'm using probably a lot of my savings, but money will always come and go. And I have the rest of my life to work. I don't want to live my life with regrets and I knew if I didn't try to make this happen, I would definitely regret it. And you just never know what opportunities will arise when you do things like this. Anything is possible! I try not to see what I'm losing, but try to see what I'll be gaining, which is more valuable! I've probably been most successful at getting unpaid internships than jobs! haha But if I could make a living off being an intern, I'd be so happy! I've also had really supportive friends that pushed me to pursue Paris. I have to really thank my friends Oli and Kate, who believed in me more than I probably believed in myself!

Sorry for the extremely long post...but I hope it helps those who were interested in getting internships or whatnot. I start work tomorrow so I should probably be in bed by now! Bonne nuit! Bisous Bisous! oxox