LIM College

by Leah Francis

As a LIM College Center for Graduate Studies student, Whitney McCollins had come to a milestone in her journey. It was her first day as a visual merchandising intern at Ann Inc. at 10 Times Square.

Sitting at the welcome orientation where the company and different brands were introduced, she thought back to majoring in Fashion Marketing at the University of Memphis. Now Whitney was in her final semester as a grad student with a goal to become the Director of Visuals for a fashion retailer.

Whitney began her career in retail when she was 18 years old and after college became the visual merchandiser for American Apparel where she would put together window displays and worked on merchandising for the entire store. For Whitney, visual merchandising is something that she really enjoys and she's a natural at it. But, wanting to reach higher heights wasn't going to happen in Memphis. In New York, the fashion capital of the world, there were a lot more resources and opportunity.

That day at Ann Inc. was a culmination of two semesters of classes filled with papers, group projects, and presentations. LIM offers the internship course in a grad student's last semester so that the student can get hands-on training that is so important in the fashion world. 

Whitney had applied to ten companies and went on eight interviews. A person from Ann Inc. reached out to her to come in for an interview and then she was offered the internship. It was definitely the right fit as they acknowledged her previous experiences in the field and were very open to the paths she wanted to explore.

So, all her hard work had paid off with a good, solid internship. Whitney was at a place where she could build on her accomplishments and strive toward a fantastic future. The studying, the classes, and all her efforts had definitely been worth it.