Interning at Fashion Mingle

My name is Erica Yanus. I recently graduated from LIM College in May. Like everyone else, I was required to get a Senior Co-op internship and was stressed at the possibility of not getting one. Luckily, I got an internship with a fashion start-up company called Fashion Mingle.

Fashion Mingle interns

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I started my internship with Fashion Mingle in January, which for a fashion company is one of the busiest times, due to getting ready for New York Fashion Week. I was the social media intern for the company; however, I worked on much more than that. The first week of my internship I attended Texworld and ran the Fashion Mingle booth all day. It was my job to explain the company and hopefully get member signups. It was definitely a nerve-wracking experience having to talk to strangers all day about a company I had just started working for. During the off times though, I was able to talk with the CEO, Melissa Shea, and really get to know her.

Every year, Fashion Mingle hosts their own Networking party the Sunday of NYFW. I was able to attend this event and meet a variety of people in the fashion industry. Two days later, I learned a lot about event planning and fashion show production. Fashion Mingle was helping its client, Rossi Tuxedo, host their first fashion show, which took place in the Consulate General of Argentina. I got to see the production of this fashion show from start to finish. From the labor of getting the runway and lights setup to the glamour of the models getting their hair and makeup done, it was a real behind the scenes look into all the work that goes into one fashion show during the most famous fashion event of the year. I even got to see the show live from the front row! As if these two events weren't chaotic and entertaining enough, the next three days began our NYFW Covergirl Designer Pop Up Shop. This event took place at the Covergirl store in Times Square. Each day featured a different designer, food, drinks, a DJ and multiple photographers. Despite working at the event, Melissa encouraged me and the other interns to enjoy it as well. I was able to speak to all the different designers and network.

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After New York Fashion Week, things definitely slowed down, but this allowed me to improve all the new skills I was learning. Melissa was giving me tricks to improve in Photoshop, I was learning more and more about SEO, and I was continuing to juggle running multiple social media accounts. Thankfully, Fashion Mingle has always worked remotely, which allowed me to continue interning until the end of the semester despite the pandemic.

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Flash forward to now, and I am still working with Fashion Mingle. I am now the Content Marketing Manager for the company. I still do just about everything even if it isn’t in my job description! On top of writing articles and running the social media accounts, I now hire and manage all the interns, handle some of the company’s PR, and I’m working with the CMO, Beth Smith on starting a new student platform from scratch called Student Mingle! Fashion Mingle is even featuring me and two other LIM staff members in their Mingle Mastermind webinar about internships.

Thanks to LIM, I was able to get a great internship, participate in unique fashion events and grow my work experience. Melissa always wanted to be sure that this internship was not only educational but also fun. Working for Fashion Mingle is an opportunity I didn’t expect, but I am so thankful for.