First Impressions: Who What Wear

I came to LA in pursuit of learning more about the fashion industry.  I had interviewed a menswear stylist for SHEI Magazine, a University of Michigan student-run publication, and was soon wrapped up in the glory of her “glamorous lifestyle” in a niche market of celebrities, red-carpet fittings, and magazine shoots galore.  While interviewing her, I had developed a deep sense of respect for her hard-work ethic and ability to create a unique market for herself in a field that is overflowing with many want-to-be stylists.  Not to mention, she was extremely young.  Just shy of 27, she had already developed a network of elite clientele.  Most of all, she seemed to show a deep appreciation for her team because as she said, “styling is not about you, but a greater version of you.”  She showed great interest in my writing abilities and sought after me as an intern.  Though I would learn aspects of her styling, she urged that I would be working on writing for her website, blogging, and developing content for her brand. 

When I arrived, none of this was the case.  Her “large” team she spoke so highly of consisted of one assistant.  My set schedule she said we would figure out upon my arrival turned into 7 days a week 24 hour a day availability.  I woke up to frantic calls from her in the middle of the night.  But, that wasn’t even the worst of it.  After one week there, I had worked grueling hours on photo shoots, driving all over a city I was barely familiar with, and schlepping around clothing for hours on end.  Sure this was the role of the stylist, but I came here under the impression that I was writing for her fashion blog.  It finally came to an end when she called me screaming profanities because somewhere in between assisting her, I was also supposed to magically deliver the blog of her dreams after just one week of me being there.  I asked her what her objectives were, what specifically I could do to develop the writing she was looking for on her blog.  Yet, she did not know.  She said she did not have the time nor the energy to train or teach me—that I better figure it out and deliver because this was not school or a “learning process.”

Yet she had it all wrong.  She took me on to mentor me.  That was the exact purpose of my internship—to learn, to grow, to listen, and discover.  I was hungry too.  I was willing to put in the grueling hours and deal with her difficult nature.  She simply did not want to teach me.  So I told her that this would not work out and I interviewed with a new company that same day. 

Soon after, I took a position as a social media intern for Who What Wear. Clique Media is the content and technology company behind the popular fashion brand Who What Wear (www.whowhatwear.com), the leading platform for premium, shoppable fashion and style content. In addition to WhoWhatWear.com, Clique Media owns and operates the home decor site, (www.domainehome.com), beauty site, (www.byrdie.com), and exclusively represents a large, curated collection of the top blogs in fashion, beauty, and home décor as part of its online sales offering. The Clique Media brands boast over five million social media followers to date.

Everyone at Clique Media is extremely friendly and invested in their job.  Around roughly forty people work out of their Los Angeles office, including the Co-Founders Katherine Power and Hillary Kerr who are regularly around the office.  Most everyone is in their upper twenties with a few in their thirties and are females (thought there are several men).  The young environment, light space, and great sense of passion keep me focused and invested in my work.  While the atmosphere tends to be quiet and concentrated, there is always Spotify playing and words being exchanged somewhere.  On Thursdays we even have office happy hour.  My boss, Michelle, is in her late 20’s and is probably one of the hardest-working team members there.  Since she is in charge of the social media for the company she oversees and develops all of the content for Who What Wear’s twitter, Facebook, Snapchat, Instagram, Pinterest, and much more. Not to mention, the new home and beauty sites require the same amount of attention and delivery, if not more.  Her duties are endless.  It was not until just recently that she was given Olivia to assist her.  In spite of her ceaseless amounts of work, she never seems burdened by teaching me.  In fact, she will call me over to show me an interesting social media development that may not even be necessary for my day-to-day tasks, simply because she wants me to learn and grow. Our relationship is extremely professional, something that was not the case at my prior internship, which always made it difficult to understand if my boss was my boss or my boss was my friend.  Here it is clear. She is my boss.  But, Michelle is also mentoring me, teaching me everything I need to know about social media in fashion down to the most minute details.  And I appreciate it now more than ever.

My daily tasks consist of tweeting about stories and shoots on our site and scheduling pins for the company because Pinterest consumes a wide audience.  With twitter, I feel that I am engaging with fashion journalism, but within the realm of 140 characters.  I am constantly working from 10 to 7 and at times will have a break to research up and coming social media platforms for my boss, which can be quite interesting.  I recently pitched the new social meed app "YO" and provided my boss with a list of ways they could utilize it to benefit Who What Wear.  

Overall, I am learning a lot and thoroughly enjoying the environment.