Career Path Of A Director Of Brand Partnerships At Neighborhood Goods

Yes, absolutely. I went to NYU and started internships right from freshman year. My first internship was in the fall of freshman year, and I was in New York City, very excited to get started.

I landed an internship at Vogue magazine in the editorial department. I was studying journalism and communication at the time and was really interested in fashion and photography, so I jumped at that opportunity. That internship turned into a subsequent one at Harper's Bazaar, so I continued in the magazine world.

I was at Harper's Bazaar for about a semester. Before that, I interned at Vogue during the first semester in the photography department. I worked on the editorial team, directly with the photo editors, focusing on fashion photography.

I had several internships in magazines and also worked for brands like Ralph Lauren. I interned during Fashion Week and really took any opportunity to dive into the workforce. I pursued any kind of extra internships, even short-term ones.

By the time I finished college, I had completed about seven or eight internships in total. This was a big part of my college experience, largely due to the opportunities afforded at NYU. I also worked part-time my junior and senior years. My senior year was almost full-time because I had a lighter course load.

I worked at a fashion photography studio and agency that represented photographers in New York and Europe. I learned a lot about the business side of photography, agents, and how they represented makeup artists and food stylists. This provided significant work experience in college that prepared me to dive right into work after graduation.

My first full-time position was back in LA, starting at Forever 21 as a product development assistant. I primarily worked on jewelry and accessories, designing and developing various products for Forever 21 stores and online.

From there, I became interested in the buying side of the company and was promoted to assistant buyer, still within accessories and jewelry. I grew quite quickly at Forever 21, moving from assistant buyer to associate buyer. I had a hand in design and product development, but also learned the fundamentals of buying, sales analytics, and customer behavior trends.

I was promoted again to associate buyer and moved over to the apparel side of the business. Within the company, I made a move to work on a larger part of the business: women's apparel. This role involved product development, design, and buying.

After Forever 21, I went to goop, Gwyneth Paltrow's lifestyle company. It's an e-commerce platform with editorial content, pop-ups throughout the year, and brick-and-mortar stores. I was still on the buying and retail team.

I originally joined goop as an assistant buyer, which was a step down from my last position at Forever 21. However, I took that step back to get my foot in the door. Within about four to five months, I was promoted back to associate buyer. It was an opportunity to prove myself and advance my career path.

I stayed at goop for about three years and ended up building out the home department. I was responsible for all the homewares, from kitchen cookware and accessories to decorative items. This experience launched my career into homewares.

After three years at goop, I was recruited to an e-commerce startup called Verishop. I was one of the first ten hires and helped launch their home business, building the platform from scratch. I was there for about two and a half years.

Now, I'm at a company called Neighborhood Goods, where I manage brand partnerships for home brands and consumer packaged goods for strategic partners. We focus on brick-and-mortar stores in cities like New York and Austin, operating in large department store-sized retail locations. I've been at Neighborhood Goods for just over a year and a half.