Once Upon A Time In Blacksburg
True story….
When Mark and I took a road trip to visit Finn in Blacksburg, my beloved Mini of nine years died on Interstate 81! We literally coasted into a rest stop and had to call a tow truck. Fast forward - now that little car is "living on a farm" somewhere in Roanoke, Virginia. While this was a major downer to the beginning of a fun weekend, things started taking a turn once we arrived in Blacksburg.
The Center Club at Virginia Tech was hosting parents this weekend with a variety of events. The Saturday night happy hour was under a tent with an awesome band and beverages. Center Street is iconic at Tech, where parties migrate from house to house, and the good times are forever rolling. This particular evening was rather chilly, so I headed inside to take a tour of our host house, Tailgate (this is the name of what could otherwise be known as Animal House). My son introduced me to the most engaging young woman named Sammi, who is from Long Island and passionate about Building Construction. I'm fascinated with all that she's sharing about women presenting in this male-dominated field but have a lasting impression of the young man who's horizontal on the sofa over her shoulder. I had stepped into an alternate universe that felt like 1986 - or just pick your year. 😉
What happened next was kismet. Sammi starts texting, and the next thing I know, this adorable young woman has joined us. I ask her what she's studying, and she tells me she's a fashion major. It's as though I had manifested my summer intern, and here she was sitting across from me during a keg party at Virginia Tech. Rhyan scored this internship by taking the initiative to follow through that Monday with an attached resume and a heartfelt note expressing her desire to come to Northern Virginia and take on the challenges of styling this summer.
Meet Rhyan
If you are following Tuesday Late Night stories on The Hive's Instagram, you have seen Rhyan. She's a Virginia Beach native with bicoastal DNA and has incredible intuitive style sensibilities. She also has a girlfriend group chat with her besties from her freshman year in college. They are staying connected this summer and living vicariously through each other's experiences. Rhyan started her internship with me a week before her friends, and to be completely transparent, it was a doozy of a week. They have been very interested in what she does and what her days look like.
"No two days are the same, and there's endless creative improv!"
In the world of summer interns, I feel my competitive streak engaged and want nothing more than for Rhyan to learn a variety of things this summer. Internships can get a bad rap if they are filled with busy work that has no context. After shadowing me on a full week of client appointments, I'm setting her loose to style an upcoming Street Style feature with Brooke Curran! I know she's able to knock this task out of the park after we selected outfits and accessories together. Stay tuned for the upcoming article!
Intern Style
This past Monday was the first day of work for the other Hokie interns. I love how this twenty-something group shares their first-day outfits. Rhyan found it crazy how they chose similar outfits for their first day. Here's the skinny on Day One intern looks.
After Week One, Rhyan said that she felt a little lost in all the information needed to style men and women in their 30s, 40s, 50s, and beyond. I told her that her superpower is her eye for what works. I can tell she has the "it" factor needed to create a well-proportioned look. The other stuff is practical information that you accumulate over time and experience; the ability to take calculated risks, be curious and explore possibilities with that "trust your gut as well as your eye" approach is essential to becoming successful in fashion.
Mentorship
My styling business is on a growth curve. I know I have needed to hire someone to assist with a business that has more moving parts than any one person should own. When Rhyan tells the story of how she was hired, she reminds me that I told her, "I believe things happen for a reason." It's true. I trusted my gut and knew this would be a great fit. This summer is sure to be filled with many teaching moments, and that includes what Rhyan will teach me about her generation's choices. I style people of all ages where goals remain focused around fit, application, math, and seasonal additions to core elements. I am trying to move away from the term "age-appropriate" as it is limiting in concept. Knowing how younger women see fashion is integral to navigating a landscape of choices as we age. The differences are very easy to identify, but it's the similarities that shed light on where true value exists.
The other part of mentorship is making connections. Week One produced a Virginia Tech alumn who is on the Veronica Beard team in Georgetown. She graduated with a degree in Fashion and took the same course study that Rhyan is currently following. Crazy odds that we made that connection, but this is the summer of manifestation! We also stumbled into a sweet connection for Sammi and Rhyan's boyfriend, who is also studying Business Construction through another new client of mine. Then another one of her girl gang is working at Northrop Grumman this summer, and we're planning on connecting her to another client of mine who is a space policy expert and VP of Government Relations at Blue Origin.
The Package
As many high school seniors are preparing for their upcoming graduations, I want to seed the terrain with good old-fashioned problem-solving. If June is for celebrations, July is for preparations! Last summer, moms reached out to me to help get their daughters ready for their freshman year of college. This summer, I have a most knowledgeable style resource who is an authority on what freshmen should pack for their first year. Rhyan and I have a college prep package for six interested parties this July. Knowing what to purge, what to pack, and what to put in your shopping cart can be the emotional rollercoaster that derails good decisions during such a dynamic transition for both mother and daughter. Outsourcing is your friend in times like these. Book a Realtime or Zoom consultation this July and save yourself time, money, and frustration. Teaching our young women how to utilize and incorporate knowledgeable resources will serve them well now and in the future.
The Intelligent Woman's Guide to College First-Year Style
(The Older Sister's Approach)
Short Package - 3 hours (edit and purge)
Robust Package - 6 hours (edit, purge, and solutions to shopping list)
Contact me for more information and pricing for this summer service.
We are offering two packages based on a three-hour consult which will assess what you have and help you purge the unnecessary, and a six-hour package where we'll provide the solutions to your first-year needs.
