Sarah Miller

URBN 496
Dr. Christa Tooley
12/11/2015

Final Internship Reflection

Last week marked the conclusion of my semester-long internship at Vera Wang

Chicago. I left feeling extremely grateful for the ways that it expanded my learning

both of the fashion industry and company itself, and in the intersection between academic

studies and my own experience. This paper will attempt to summarize some of that

learning, particularly in areas of personal efficacy, social efficacy, vocational

discernment, and the role of the Christian in the working world.

In terms of personal efficacy, the internship experience was immensely valuable

in helping me to conceptualize the long-term direction I would like my future vocational

path to follow. Practically, I learned more about specific positions and companies within

the fashion industry that would interest me in the future. This occurred through

conversations at my internship site, interactions with corporate representatives, exposure

to various company initiatives and communications, and research that I completed as part

of my positions requirements. As I look at my short-term goals, staff members at my

internship site provided me with information and resources for pursuing summer 2016

internships both within and outside of Vera Wang.

In terms of operationalizing and achieving personal goals, my experience

exceeded expectations in several ways. First of all, I was surprised and excited to be

chosen for the position from a competitive pool of applicants. This was a welcome form

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of affirmation and boost in my personal confidence that will be beneficial in future job

applications and interviews. However, my studies in race and socioeconomic issues also

serve as a reminder that I am able to operationalize and achieve my personal goals largely

because of the privilege that I have been born with and accrued over time. My education,

social networks, and racial and economic background have all served to propel me into a

position from which an internship at a luxury fashion company would even be within my

realm of imagination. In summary, I have learned to recognize the balance between

personal agency and competency and the forces of privilege that make the actualization

of my skills and talents possible.

In regards to social efficacy, I felt like my experience was somewhat limited due

to my position at the lowest end of the staff hierarchy. I wasnt able to take an explicit

leadership role or actively mobilize my co-workers to accomplish daily goals. However,

this served as additional motivation to let my example and work function as a mobilizing

factor in the larger group. I probably learned the most in this area from observing my

supervisor and the way that she behaved in her managerial role. Like anyone, she didnt

do everything perfectly, but overall I was very impressed and even inspired by the way

she led. She was able to balance a sense of command, respect, and urgency without

compromising kindness and an attitude of service towards her staff. No task or project

was ever beneath her, and this mindset trickled down among the group, placing

importance and value on each persons work.

I found that the need to achieve common goals and purposes in a group was

especially essential in bridal retail. From start to finish, the entire sales, production, and

alterations experience involved a massive team effort demanding that each person be able

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to see the whole picture and the smallest details. From retail sales and company branding

to creative direction and marketing, everything was interconnected. Every decision and

result was carefully scrutinized and evaluated, and it was fascinating to see how even the

smallest change affected the company as a whole.

In regards to vocational discernment, the primary question that I wrestled with

throughout this semester was, how do I reconcile my passions and gifts in fashion with

the deep sense of duty and compassion I feel towards those affected by racial and

socioeconomic injustice?

I was surprised to find that, more than anything, this semester confirmed the sense

of calling I feel to enter the fashion industry. Equipped with a renewed understanding and

sensitivity towards marginalized communities, I believe that I can be an agent of change

and transformation in my future workplace and its surrounding culture. Through my

Race, Poverty, and Reconciliation class, I was able to see people working at all levels of

society with shared goals for social justice. Seeing people working from positions of

power and influenceand leveraging that power on behalf of vulnerable people and

communitieswas deeply encouraging to me. It renewed the sense of drive and

determination I feel to succeed in my career, so that I might someday have a platform and

position from which to advocate for and amplify the voices of the people who are largely

shut out from the industry itself.

A few practical issues that I became aware of include the underrepresentation and

misrepresentation of certain minority groups in the fashion industry. While minorities are

certainly present in the fashion industryin the sense that they are disproportionately

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affected by the unfair wages and labor conditions by which much of the capitalist system

is able to functionthey rarely occupy positions of visibility, power, and influence.

In reading The New Jim Crow for Race, Poverty, and Reconciliation, we learned

that racism is adaptableit transforms as society changes, taking on new rules, language,

and rhetoric that functionally maintain the same effects as those perpetuated by the more

overt discrimination and laws of earlier generations. I believe that the fashion industry is

sadly functioning as an extension of white supremacyaffirming the talents, beauty,

skills, and purchasing power of the wealthy, white majority and selectively affirming

those of very specific minority groups, while largely ignoring, silencing, and

misrepresenting other minority groups.

As a Christian, I have become increasingly angered and disappointed by this fact

over the course of this semester. True racial reconciliation and socioeconomic justice will

never be possible until all spheres of human life are penetrated by truth and justice.

Justice must become a way of listening, speaking, working, and living. The fashion

industry is one place where I can begin. As a Christian with a voice in the majority, I

have the responsibility to help educate, inform, and influence others like me to

understand what I have been able to see this semester. Minority groups shouldnt have to

keep trying to make their voices be heard amongst an ignorant, stubborn majority. I can

(and must) use my privilege to help their stories be listened to, to amplify their voices,

and to speak truth to the powers among which I function on a daily basis.