City College of Technology

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Drawing

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First drawing with color

As a freshman here at New York City College of Technology (City Tech) I was given many options on what careers to follow. Choosing a career wasn’t as simple as I thought it would be. As I got older I realized there were so many things to take into consideration when choosing a career, for example how many years I will be in school for, what will I be required to do? Or if I will be capable of handling the amount of work this field asks for.  I’ve been reflecting deeply into this thought and came to a conclusion that Fashion Marketing is the best career path for me because this career has to do with one of my passions, Fashion. Another reason would be the income. I will be making enough money to live comfortably on my own. Lastly I have also noticed I reside in Brooklyn, which is close to Manhattan, this also means I am close to a large selection of clothing stores and businesses. This will give me a greater advantage of obtaining a job in this field. In this essay I will be including some background information about fashion marketing, followed by the three reasons on why I chose fashion marketing as a career, and also how City Tech will prepare me for this career.

The paragraph I will be writing has to do with my major Fashion Marketing and some background information about it. The New York City College of Technology course catalog 2014-2015, gave me a lot of useful information on what this major consists of. I was able to see the credits, including the name of each class I will be taking. “Through the core curriculum the student gains insight into many subjects that help to explain sociological and psychological factors which influence fashion interest and demand in today’s global market.”(City Tech, 126)  This first sentence in the catalog is what marketing is about, finding factors that influence or interest today’s society. Since fashion and marketing are constantly changing there is always something new to discover or learn within society and what is more interesting is that you get to apply these findings to marketing. Ever wonder how clothing stores stay in business? Fashion marketing plays a big role in clothing industries; they are in charge of finding the latest trends and customer behaviors to keep their business updated.

Ever since I was little drawing would always keep my mind entertained, taking me into an alternate world full of clothes, fashion, and models. There wasn’t anything more I loved doing than attempting to draw these models wearing unique clothing. People always say “Do what you love” and this exactly why I chose this career. My marketing class for this semester has taught me various things going deeply into what marketing is really about. “Understanding how trends behave and reflect cultural shifts will help identify the signs and signals for areas of influence on the horizon” (Jacobs, 4), this line on the Identifying Geographic Drivers for Discovery article, caught my attention because it talks about fashion expanding and in order to succeed you will need to understand society, their behaviors, trends, and much more.  To understand and obtain more knowledge of the fashion industry and their influences you will need to learn the foundations of marketing fashion. I really enjoy these classes and wish to continue learning more about marketing.

Another major reason for continuing in this career is because of the annual salary. What I will be receiving is enough for me to be able to live on my own comfortably, which is something I look forward to.  According an article by Chron about Fashion marketing, “In the northeast region, they earned between $55,000 and $74,000 per year, with lows in Pennsylvania and highs in New York” (Suttle, 1). Considering the fact that I live in New York where they pay is higher, this benefits me in many ways. I won’t have to travel far to find this job, and I will also be close to my family members. There are many other things I want to accomplish, like being independent and having my own fashion blog. With this pay I will be able to go shop for clothes more often and maybe get ideas will doing so.

Manhattan is known as the city that never sleeps because of the bright lights and the various amount of stores available. You can find almost any clothing store there, even discover new ones. The amount of stores made me realize that there will also be positions open for fashion marketing jobs. “Now, international brands in need of recognition are flocking to locations in the heart of the prime area, Madison Avenue between 60th and 64th Streets” (Edelson, 1) While reading an article this line made think on how many people dream to open a store in Manhattan, it is one of the busiest places in New York and of course the amount of stores that already exist. As for me, my dream is to work for one of these brand clothing stores. Considering the fact that live in Brooklyn and Manhattan is only thirty minutes away from where I live works out great. I will be living somewhere affordable and work in the city.

City Tech has done a great job with organization. They offer services like faculty counseling to guide students in their career choice, tutoring, programs, and an online catalog, making it easier for students to find what classes they need to take and a detailed summary about this major. All these methods help students see what classes are required in their major. These classes are specifically made to teach students and prepare them in their career choice. I had a chance to interview my professor for my Principles of selling class, about the importance of a degree and he told me this, “Without a degree you won’t be able to set foot through the door, every job now requires some type of degree. This is a completive market.”  With City Tech’s programs they are giving students a greater change at success by preparing them for their future job career, and also assisting students with any question they might have.

Although there are many things to consider while choosing a career, I think the most important thing to do is look for something that interests you or something close to your hobbies. For instance, I love to draw but at the same time I love to discover new things. While searching through the different branches and industries in fashion, I came across Fashion Marketing. Something I never heard about before but from this brief summary I wanted to know more. This career included both of my interests, drawing, and discovering. I deeply encourage everyone to search deeply and think of all the benefits when choosing a career; this is something that will impact your future in greatly. Also anyone that is seeking a career in Fashion Marketing I strongly advise them to do a research like this, which can always come in handy. Overall I am having great time learning about marketing, my professor is great and I can’t wait till next semester to start learning about fashion. Like Stait says in his article “Future success depends a great deal on its ability to forecast and deal with the increasing speed of fashion change” (N.H, 1), future success will come with hard and dedication. This career can be challenging but with City Tech’s preparation many things can be accomplished.

Works cited

Edelson, Sharon. “Northern Expansion along Madison Avenue”. Women’s Wear Daily. 206. 110. (2013): 1-3. Academic Search Complete. Web. 18. Nov. 2014

Jacobs, Valerie. “Identifying Geographic Drivers for Discover”. Global Cosmetic Industry. 180. 10 (2014): 1-37. Academic Search Complete. Web. 20. Nov. 2014

Lopez, Katherine “Drawing” Flickr. 5 Dec. 2014. Web. 6 Dec. 2014

Lopez, Katherine “ First drawing with color” Flickr. 5 Dec. 2014. Web. 6 Dec. 2014

Lopez, Katherine. “New York City College of Technology” Flickr. 5 Dec. 2014. Web. 6 Dec.2014

New York City College of Technology. (City Tech). Course Catalog 2013-2014.2014. PDF. 2 Nov. 2014

Stait, N.H “Long Range Planning in a Fast Changing Fashion Market”. Long Range Planning. 3. 2. :55-60. Academic Search Complete. Web. 6. Dec. 2014

Selvadurai, Anthony. Personal interview. 8 Dec. 2014

Suttle, Rick. “How Much Does the Fashion Marketing Career Pay?” Work. (2013): 1. Academic Search Complete.  Web. 06 Dec. 2014.