The Student Showcase at Iowa State University

I was one of five judges, and to my surprise one of them was Malgorzata Gradowski, Director of Technical Design at Komar, whom I also worked very closely with in the fashion industry. She joined us virtually. The three others (from left to right) included Ellen Kerschke, Lead Designer at Polo Custom Products, Elizabeth Gardner, Senior Designer at Target, and Carla DeShaw, Product Development Manager at Polo Custom Products.

During my presentation, I talked all about my fashion journey from winning the Intimate Apparel Award in my 8th semester class at The Fashion Institute of Technology, to my first day working in the fashion industry and now running my own small business. I also left them with my top 5 pieces of advice whether they work in the fashion industry or build their own fashion brand. Afterwards, the other judges and myself had a panel discussion with the students answering all of their questions. Before the night ended, I was able to talk to some of the students one-on-one and answer additional questions they had for me. It was a lot of fun to connect with these students and talk fashion!

After that was over, it was time for the other judges and myself to watch the students present their work. Although it was very hard to choose the winners as they are all so talented, we discussed and decided on the top winners from each course. How exciting it was to announce the winners!

As you can see, I decided to wear my floral lace corset under a green blazer with dark denim jeans and pink heels as the guest speaker. This corset is perfect for this time of year. You can read more about this corset from my past blog posts; The #1 Hack to Feeling More Confident and Spring in Full Bloom.