When I was looking at colleges, I toured schools in Atlanta, Ohio and Chicago. I knew I wanted to be close enough to home, but still far enough away to have independence and figure things out on my own. I’m from Flint, so Western was a good distance from home.

WMU also had a fashion program, which stood out to me because not a lot of colleges offer that. I had already been accepted, received scholarship money and was accepted into the Lee Honors College, so everything just started to come together. It felt like the right place for me.

During the pandemic, I originally planned to study biology because I thought I wanted to become a doctor. After talking with my dad, I realized that while I wanted to help people, medicine was not where my heart was.

My dad is a custom tailor, so I grew up around fashion. He designs custom suits and leather goods, and I would go with him on client visits when I was younger. Fashion was always part of my life, but I had not thought about making it my career until later.

I also decided to study psychology because my mom worked in the mental health field. Now, I’m interested in bringing fashion and psychology together, especially by looking at consumer behavior and how things like color can affect mood and behavior.

Fashion gives me the ability to express myself. I’ve learned that I don’t think I could work somewhere where I had too many restrictions on what I could wear. Fashion lets me have my own identity.

I love color, and I think what you wear can affect how you feel. When I have on a nice outfit, I feel better. That connection between fashion and mental well-being is something I’m really interested in exploring more.

In my advanced research methods class for psychology, I’m writing a research paper about how color can affect mood and behavior. I’m also in the Lee Honors College, so I’ll be completing an honors thesis, and I want that project to connect fashion, psychology and business.

I’m still figuring out exactly what that will look like, but the research I’m doing now will help build the foundation for it.

I like merchandising because there are so many moving parts. It includes business, marketing, store design, visual presentation and creativity. It’s more than just designing clothes.

There is a lot that goes into how products are displayed, how a brand presents itself and how customers experience a store or product. That variety is what makes merchandising interesting to me.

I currently work with Kellanova, formerly Kellogg, in Battle Creek as part of the retail sales solutions team. A lot of my work is on the back end, helping retail sales leads, retail display merchandisers and area sales managers get the tools and support they need to do their jobs.

That includes helping new hires get set up with laptops, iPads and company apps. I also work on daily reports, make sure employee information is entered correctly in the system, help update information on the company website and assist employees through the phones, almost like an IT service desk.

The internship also counts toward my fashion merchandising field experience requirement, which is 300 hours during a 15-week semester.

One of the biggest connections has been branding. When I make website edits for the company, we have specific logos, colors and brand guidelines that we have to follow. That connects directly to what I’ve learned about brand identity.

I also had the opportunity to go on store visits with a retail sales lead and see retail displays and end caps in person. In class, we talk about displays and visual merchandising, but seeing how those things work in a real store helped me understand why presentation matters and how it can influence customers.

Professionally, the best part has been getting experience in a corporate setting at a young age. I’m only 20, so being able to work in that environment and learn how a company operates has been a great opportunity.

The flexibility has also been really helpful with my school schedule. I mostly work from home and come into the office on Wednesdays. That balance makes it easier to work while still being a student.

And, of course, one fun perk is the company store. We can buy products like Pop-Tarts, Cheez-Its and Pringles at a discount.

For students interested in fashion, one of the biggest reasons is that WMU’s fashion program is accredited, which not every school can say.

I also think Western is growing. There is so much development happening on campus, including the new student center, residence hall updates and improvements to buildings across campus. Kalamazoo is growing too. I think in the years to come, Western is going to be an even bigger place for students to come for college.