Getting In The Room!
From meeting Tommy Hilfiger to being inches away from Janet Jackson. How in the WORLD did I get here? Hi my name is Jenn Evans and I am a content videographer!
In March of 2022, this is before I got my internship, I was asked to help out at a Tommy Hilfiger event. Tommy Hilfiger was hosting a competition with three Black fashion designers signed by Harlem’s Fashion Row. These three designers had five months to curate a line that perfectly mixes their style and Tommy Hilfiger’s style. The winner of this competition gets to sell their collection with Tommy! Witnessing this in itself was an incredible experience, but why is this event crucial to the story of my internship? Well, being in this space allowed me to meet other people of color who had the same interests as me, which is fashion and social media. I was talking with a lot of people about my interests and what I wanted to do with social media. This lead to them bringing me to Kelsey, Kelsey runs the social media page for Harlem’s Fashion Row (HFR). I showed her my work and BOOM I got an internship at her social media agency called The JoClin Agency.
SO what happens next? I get to work! My job at the agency when I started was to make TikToks for HFR! Here is some of my work that did very well on their page! Video 1 Video 2 Video 3 I did more work like this for most of Spring 2022, but I hit a career growth. I realized I liked being behind the camera and even behind the laptop more than being in front of the camera. In June of 2022 I decided I want to become a master video editor, so now my job at the agency is to edit any videos thrown at me and to attend events to record content and I LOVE IT!
Now that you understand what I do! Let’s get into the juicy events I was able to attend. In June of 2022 I was able to attend a LVMH (Louis Vuitton Moet Hennessy) x HFR Brunch where they discussed the confidential details of NYFW 2022. When I tell you I was in AWE of the people I got to meet that day. I shook hands with the President of Diversity and Inclusion of LVMH and got to chat with him about what he does. I got to sit and listen to the CEO of LVMH! He discussed the changes he wants to make in the Black fashion industry by supporting more Black fashion designers and helping them to build their careers! Other people who were in the room included press from Teen Vogue magazine, People magazine and more!
Moving onto September of 2022, I was super lucky to be able to attend HFR’s Fashion Award Show during New York Fashion Week 2022! The main purpose of their show was to honor Virgil Abloh, the creator of Off White! My main job was to capture the behind the scenes content of the fashion show. I got to meet some of the models, talked to the designers and chat with some of the makeup and hair staff from Dior! It was a beautiful show and some of the people honored included Issa Rae and Janet Jackson! First of all, before we get to Janet, let me just say Issa Rae’s skin in real life–Absolutely Stunning!!! But what I learned from her speech is to never say never to your own dreams. Once you say never to your dreams, the dream is dead! After the fashion show was the After Party in Harlem! It was so cool being able to be one of the first guests there! I got the chance to meet one of the photographers from Getty Images and she took some test shots of me (the pictures you see below). Of course the after party started at 9pm, but Janet did not show up until 11:30pm. This is where immense pressure came! My big job was to make sure I got THE video of Janet, this means I had to be in the front of the stage where she was going to give her acceptance speech. Guys! This wasn’t easy, I was pushing past die hard fans and crazy paparazzi, but I made it and I got the shot (as you see below).
What I learned from being a part of these events is that confidence matters. No one is going to bring you out of your shell, except for you! You are in charge of how you want things to go for you. If you want to network, you need to speak up to people instead of expecting them to come to you. The more people you meet, the bigger your community becomes and the more opportunities you get!
I’m so grateful for my position at The JoClin Agency and I can’t wait to see what more is in store!
Hope you enjoyed!
Jenn Evans 🙂
