Connections are Everything
I have been attending Curve, a lingerie and sleepwear trade show here in New York for two days now and my main take away is to never burn bridges with anyone. Over the past few days, a countless number of attendees have approached my mentor and the one thing she told us interns, is to never burn bridges. You never know who you will bump into again five to ten years down the line. Running into people you know is not uncommon especially if you work in the same industry. In the fashion industry, it is important for a sales manager to build strong relationships with customers because these customers can be future customers at your new company.
The idea of strong connections is already helping me and my career. I recently visited my internship from last summer and got to talk to everyone at the company again. I expressed my desire to intern at Refinery29, a digital media company, to the designer who immediately told me she could get me and internship there. I would have never thought that a designer at a lingerie company could connect me to a data scientist at a huge digital media company. Furthermore, an intern who I interned with last summer has also reached out and asked if I wanted to intern at Oscar de la Renta, which is a huge fashion house. I know people say it all the time, but I have finally seen it come true ~ connections are everything.