Student

Deja Futrell

Deja Futrell Utilizes Career Center To Land Windsor Internship

Deja B. Futrell is studying Merchandising & Marketing on the Los Angeles campus. We caught up with her to learn more about her career goals and her internship at Windsor.

Tell us a little about yourself: I am an ambitious and fashion-forward individual born and raised in Chicago, Illinois, with ten siblings so every day my life was busy and entertaining. My parents always supported me and gave me the push I needed to follow my love for fashion, as I have six years of retail experience, learning great communication skills and traveling to cities to discover new trends and culture. More recently, I have been working with companies like Goop and Ray-Ban that are opening up pop-up shops and new concept stores to create more awareness for their brand and customers. I have continued to fuel my passion for fashion by studying full-time at FIDM to get the right education needed to continue moving forward in my career path. Since, being at FIDM I have received help from nothing but the best advisors and professors who really care about my success and determination to achieve my goals and want to help put me on the right track after graduation.

What is one of your proudest accomplishments? I would have to say 2017 was a year of proud accomplishments. It was the first time I realized that I had a shot at doing whatever I want to do in the fashion industry and be successful at it. I got a permanent job at Ray-Ban, two internships including the one at Windsor, I was a nominated member of the Premier Marketing Group (PMG) at FIDM, I won a FIDM scholarship, started a business plan for my own brand one day and my living situation got a lot better.

Tell us how you got your internship at Windsor: I got my internship through Alex Bruzzese, my Career Advisor at FIDM who is amazing! In 2017, I used to visit Alex's office once or twice a month and sometimes bring a friend just to see what opportunities were available for me. Alex knew that I lived in Long Beach, so the commute to go anywhere was pretty far for me, so when she told me about the buying internship at Windsor in Santa Fe Springs, I got really excited! Alex sent my resume over to Ana, a trainer/recruiter at Windsor, and next thing I knew I was doing a phone interview and being hired to start. At Windsor, I am responsible for tracking orders of different vendors to effectively ensure on time deliveries and I work with the buying team on sample management for special occasion, jackets and tops samples. I am also learning a lot about what it takes to be buyer, how to communicate when negotiating with other vendors or other departments in the company and what it means to create a healthy working environment among peers.

How did you choose your major? I chose my major based on what work I was already doing in retail and what would open up the best opportunities for me and that was, Merchandising & Marketing. I love this major because it brings both aspects of the industry into play, the business side and the more creative, fashion side. Plus, with my experience working in retail and my experience working in groups on a bunch of projects at FIDM, is something that retailers look for in new hires.

What are your career goals and how is FIDM helping you get there? I would say my short term goals would be to get a position for the buying office at a company that works together really well and has a shared vision that is expressed through out the entire company. My long term goal is to open up my own apparel brand that allows for me to inspire and empower women of color to keep striving for greatness, keep looking great and keep feeling great.

Anything else you’d like to share? I cannot express enough how important it is for FIDM Students to utilize the resources on campus—that includes the library, advisors, professors, and peers. I visit the Career Center every week now or at least try communicating with my Career Advisor by email if I cannot make it in and I also look at the Career Center Network Portal every day for job postings, just to make sure I don't miss out on any opportunities.

Categories:  Student