Career in the world of fashion
Written by: Bianca Bonomolo, past Uchenna Academy student
Since I can remember, I’ve always been deeply fascinated by fashion. The first fashion related story that my parents ever told me took place when I was 3 months old. It happened to be Christmas eve and my grandmother apparently bought me this beautiful red velvet dress and the reaction that I gave to it was probably very similar to someone when getting handed a check for $1’000’000. Fast forward 17 years later and absolutely nothing has changed. I’m more intrigued, excited and interested in fashion now than ever. Because of that interest, I automatically knew that this is what I’m going to be spending the rest of my life doing.
Me being interested in fashion and wanting to peruse a career and an education in relation to fashion is more of a blessing in disguise due to my natural ability to do absolutely horrible in anything in relation to math and science (Claudia can easily back that statement up thanks to my many hours of math tutoring).
Knowing that when trying to work in fashion, you have an extremely slim chance in actually making in the industry, I automatically knew that I would have to work my way up starting from a very young age in order to succeed. It all really started when I was entering my first year of high school. I had decided that summer that I wanted to start my very own fashion blog. One of the most important reasons to start this blog was that it was a gateway into fashion school, but most importantly, I had something going for myself and something that I would be beyond proud to be known for. I decided to name my blog Trends Toronto due to the fact that I didn’t only want to talk about fashion, but many other topics and of course because I was born and raised in Toronto. After starting that out and writing for and about a few Toronto fashion labels, I got discovered by a Toronto based, international fashion designer. When I first got the call from her asking to meet the following week to preview her new collection I almost dropped my phone and I’m pretty positive I started tearing up when I got off the phone with her. After first meeting her, it was almost as if so many little aspects had fallen into place perfectly. After out first meeting, she had called me and informed me that she was on the hunt for an intern for fashion week and she offered me the position immediately. Some of the things that I was exposed to in the past year are more than I ever thought I was experience in a lifetime. Getting that opportunity was one of the most precious, grateful and surreal moments I had ever gone through. I know it might sound crazy, but one job has opened so many doors and for that, I will be forever grateful.
Even though I knew I wanted to life the rest of my life in fashion, I still was curious about other career ideas and interests. I started working with QSLA at the beginning of gr.11 and I started working with them as their co-op student and still to this day, I’m forever grateful for them and all the trust they have in me and all the opportunity they have granted me with. Being able to write, go to basketball games and manage their social media didn’t even seem like work to me because it was truly what I enjoyed doing.
The one piece of advice I have to EVERYONE that is in gr. 9, 10, 11 or even 12 is that even if you know exactly what you want to do, never close your mind in regards to other options. It’s extremely likely that you’re going to have more than one job in your lifetime and you might as well learn a few things on the way. Never give up, always work as hard as you can and lastly, never let anyone tell you that you’re “too young”. Accomplish everything that you want and you will never regret anything.