It’s okay to explore your interests!

I currently work as a fashion marketing intern at Printfresh, a sustainable luxury sleepwear brand in Philadelphia. Although my major is related to art direction in advertising, I’ve loved fashion and fibers from a very young age. Throughout college, I’ve been trying to combine my interest in fashion with my interest in graphic design and advertising. I have many different interests for my career path as a creative, and this internship allowed me to explore my interests outside of advertising!

Throughout my internship experience, I worked with graphic designers, art directors, stylists, and a photographer, which exposed me to different kinds of creative career paths. I gained an abundance of valuable experience working with this group, and I was able to help out with many various aspects of the creative process, including editing pictures, photoshoots, and designing promotional elements.

Many of my co-workers had initially gone to college with completely different majors than their current job titles. This experience helped me understand that as a creative, it is okay to pursue other options outside of your original area of expertise and carry transferable skills.

My advice to anyone seeking out a creative professional internship would be not to limit yourself to what your area of focus is academically. What helped me in the application process, although my school background wasn’t related to fashion, was that I was able to show that fashion is one of the passions I’ve pursued outside of school in other endeavors. This, combined with my art direction advertising background, gave me an edge in the hiring process.

In the past, I’ve felt like having many different interests can be burdening when it comes time to pick a career path. However, this experience taught me the invaluable lesson that not always knowing allows you to explore and figure out your true passions.