It's June 2012. Its been 31 months. and my life has changed every 9 months. Thanks to the Young Executives Program at Incae Costa Rica, I decided not to attend Incae and get my Masters in Fashion Management in Italy. I spent an amazing 9 months in Italy, met an incredible group of international girls, and traveled Europe on my own. As amazing those 9 months were, Europe just wasn't for me and my Italiano was not perfetto enough for me to land an internship (either way internship season was during summer vacation and I much spent el verano mas feliz de mi vida con mis viejos). While my parents and I were lounging at my Florentine apartment overlooking Santa Croce, I interviewed via skype for what would now be my first public relations internship for Shout Social (now known as Sacasa Media). A start-up PR firm spearheaded by entrepreneur and now friend, Nazira Sacasa. Thanks to her, I moved to The City and began my adventure in Fashion PR. At Shout Social, I learned how to pitch, communicate with editors, learned the importance of paper presentation, and landed my first media placement for Essence. By the time I end this internship (which was for graduate school credit) it's December 2010 and I had been away from home, family and friends for a year. At the same time, Nicaraguan designer, Shantall Lacayo returned to Nicaragua after an exhausting little project called Project Runway Latin America. December was all about me asking my family for a little financial help in order to intern a couple more months in New York so I could land a decent job AND networking with Shantall. Fortunately, I was successful. My family supported my dream and Shantall read my email from thousands of emails to be her social media intern. Back in New York, I took a second public relations internship for my resume, an internship I think I have badmouthed a little too much but an internship that also taught me too much. I took a second internship because my resume compared to local FIT and Parson students was shit - and as the Social Media Director at my second internship said "pffffff you have a Masters? that means nothing in the fashion industry". She was right. It will give you a little VA-VA-VOOM but "can you pitch, be a bitch, and handle fashion pr?" Factory PR taught me, the power of social media, the long hours you put in for passionate writing, top notch events, and media placements. They were the typical NY/Fashion/PR/Internship Nightmare/Internship Dream/Glitzy Side/Dark Side all wrapped in one! My resume now reads "head intern' because I was one of the few interns that stayed till 2am breaking down mannequins, boxing them, and carrying them to storage. I gave them sweat, blood, and tears all in the name of public relations - and I loved every second of it (well maybe 50 of those seconds, ha! you know what I mean). My term there, ended because of a fall-out I had with an undermining younger (paid) assistant who didn't know how to talk to interns. A few weeks later, a job was offered. but because of my own pride, it went down the drain.
[Sometimes in life, things just have a funny way of working out]
Right around here, we hit the summer of 2011 and I am unemployed and anxious. My grad friends all have jobs but me. They all have jobs at Tom Ford, DVF, Gucci, Tommy Hilfiger, and I'm unemployed. I applied to jobs for about four months and decided I had enough and needed family. I'm not going to go into detail but around this time, my personal life changed forever and I ended up moving back to Nicaragua.
I tried not to drown in my sorrows, went to a couple prayer groups, made some new friends, traveled and kept busy with Shantall as her PR Manager. When I moved to Nicaragua, I always said, it would never be for more than a year. so I bought a ticket and moved back to New York, 9 months later. right before my move, I applied to jobs like crazy and once I was here, I had at least 3 interviews a week. it has been 2 months since my move to New York, it's now June 2012 and I landed a job in fashion! I am an E-commerce Marketing Assistant for ........ ;) I think I've shared enough. hehehe.
[Sometimes in life, things just have a funny way of working out]
thanks to my internships, Shantall, my family, my friends, and GOD I am right where I am supposed to be. I know I am! thank you all who have been on this journey with me. i couldn't have done it without you. it has been two years. two very long anxious, scary, tiring years. i seriously don't want to see my resume, mediabistro, or another interviewer for a very very long time. this blog has now come to an end. thank you. best, alicia beatrice.
Some Dreams Test Us
Some Moments Change Us
Some Choices Stay With Us
FOREVER
[via the words movie trailer]
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