On Monday August 17, 2015 I had a phone interview with Glamour magazine for a position as a freelance fashion week assistant. The next day I received an email that they wanted to do an in-person interview that week. I had “lied” on the phone saying I was already living in New York but was just away visiting my family for a long weekend trip in Arizona.
(Note: I did have a lease in NYC already but there was a sub-leaser in my room for the month of August until I made the official move in September. I didn’t move to New York when my lease started in August because I didn’t have a job yet and I barely had $100 to my name. My plan was to move over Labor Day Weekend and work retail while interviewing.)
I said I could interview on Thursday, immediately packed a suitcase, told my family and I booked a one-way ticket for Wednesday morning to New York.
Spoiler Alert: I got the job at Glamour and never left New York. It’s been almost five years since I took the leap and it’s been one wild ride. I’ve worked at Redbook, O, The Oprah Magazine, Marc Jacobs, Alice + Olivia, J.Crew, Club Monaco, and in 2018 I was the fashion editor at StyleCaster before I decided to fully leave Corporate America in 2019 and pursue my businesses full-time: Audree Kate Studios Inc., Simply Audree Kate and Fashion Fundamentals.
In 2018 I launched Fashion Fundamentals. A digital course, e-book and community for aspiring fashion professionals. Growing up in Arizona I did not have the opportunities, resources or community of people to help me break into the fashion industry. I dreamt about going to school at FIDM or Parsons, but instead went to Arizona State University because I had multiple scholarships and free tuition—how do you say no to that?! I graduated with honors in a BS Marketing and BA Journalism and my senior honors thesis was dedicated to creating fashion resources and a curriculum for students at ASU. I co-founded their fashion organization, Business of Fashion at ASU and helped create their Fashion Merchandising major and minor program. I absolutely loved my college experience and wouldn’t change it for anything.
After moving to NYC I had students and educators around the country ask me to host in-person and digital workshops at their schools, talk about my career and breaking into the industry with no formal education, fashion internships or resources. I quickly realized there was a huge gap in the industry and there were more students who were like me; who might have a geological, financial or educational disadvantage of easily walking into the fashion industry in New York or Los Angeles.
I created Fashion Fundamentals for you. Over the past year I have hosted two semesters with live and pre-recorded classes, Live Q&A sessions, and in-person workshops. On May 4, 2020 we are re-launching our next session of Fashion Fundamentals and it will be bigger and better than ever before!
Fashion Fundamentals will now be an evergreen program that you can purchase and take at your own pace. When you log in, the entire course will be there automatically for you and will live forever.
There will be video workshops with me, worksheets for you to fill out during the workshops, Video Q&As with some incredible industry professionals, who I am lucky to call my friends!, a Facebook community group for all current and past students, where we will post internship and job listing, article resources, in-person meet-up opportunities and so much more! I also offer one-on-one mentoring sessions and resume and cover letter reviews.
We will be launching the new Fashion Fundamentals program on May 4, 2020 and you can purchase your seat HERE!
The course is $175 (one-time payment) or we offer a payment plan of five monthly payments of $40/month. You can pay directly by credit/debit card on the Teachable website. I realize this can be a large investment for students but I strongly believe that this information, these resources and the accessibility to my experience and network are invaluable. I have poured the past 10 years of my career into this program and laying it all out on the table from my successes, failures, challenges and telling you exactly what I wish I knew when I started in fashion, so you can do it right the first time.
I have seen Fashion Fundamentals students go on to accomplish some incredible things, land their dream internships and jobs and even start their own companies. I am excited to see what you will accomplish and learn as a Fashion Fundamentals student. See you in class on May 4th!
The course curriculum is broken into 10 sessions where I will cover the following topics:
- Career Goal Setting
- Personal Branding
- Resume and Cover Letter 101
- The Importance of LinkedIn
- How to Create a Professional Portfolio
- How to Utilize Social Media as a Digital Resume
- Informational Interviews & Connecting With Industry Professionals
- Where to Look for Internship/Job Listings
- Job/Internship Interview Tips and Tricks
- The Key to Networking and Making Meaningful Relationships
Bonus Videos:
- Audree’s Career Story & Why She Created Fashion Fundamentals
- Audree’s Key Practices That Helped Her Find Success and Land Her Dream Job
Industry Q&A Videos:
Audree interviews 20+ industry professionals to share their career story, their advice for Fashion Fundamental students and what they wish they knew before breaking into the fashion industry.
Interviews will include professionals who have worked at: Vogue, Cosmopolitan, Ralph Lauren, Nike, Shopbop, Seventeen, Madewell, Alice+Olivia, Bustle, MAC Cosmetics, Glamour, Allure, and more!
PURCHASE YOUR SEAT HERE:
If you have any questions, you can directly email me at [email protected]
