Student
Disruptors Study Tour Opens Doors for Kasara Chabot
Kasara Chabot is a Merchandising & Marketing Professional Designation student on the Los Angeles campus. When she graduated from high school in Washington state, she earned not only her diploma, but also her Associates Degree. She recently participated in the Fashion Disruptors Study Tour, visiting fashion brands headquartered in Los Angeles, including Farfetch, Fabletics, and Hot Topic, and is already networking with her new contacts on LinkedIn.
Tell us about the study tour: The Fashion Disruptors Study Tour showed me how many opportunities there really are in our industry. We talked to buyers, vice presidents, designers, and planners, and every single one of them gave amazing advice—from how to interview to how to connect and stand out to your boss. Every company we went to was very welcoming and seemed to enjoy sharing their knowledge about the industry with us.
Tell us something you learned on the tour: Many of the companies we visited expressed how important it is to have a multichannel way to approach sales, because of the direction retail is going. "Omnichannel" was something that was brought up over and over again, which is a multichannel way to sell products, through mobile devices, online, by phone, and in a brick and mortar store.
What was some advice given on the tour that you plan to follow? The advice that was repeated over and over again was “ask questions.” Almost every person we talked to told us they'd rather have someone ask them questions about what they are doing, than not ask and not know what they are doing.
Favorite moment? Finding out that Onestop lets employees bring their dogs to work. I love my dog more than anything, so having a job were I could bring him to work with me would be a dream come true.
Was there anyone you met that you plan on networking with in the future? I actually have reached out to a handful of people I met by emailing them and thanking them for taking time out of their day to speak with us and share their knowledge, which led to us connecting on LinkedIn. I think it is important to reach out and network with the people that we met because it is the right thing to do to thank them for their time and if the conversation leads to more, then that's great.
How did you choose your major? I chose Merchandising & Marketing because I wanted a major that I could go in different directions with and that included the business and math side of fashion. I love my major because I am taking a lot of math and Excel classes which I learn so much from. Graduating with this major, I feel like I could apply for almost any job because we touch on all of the important aspects of the industry and of other industries.
Favorite class so far? My favorite class was Merchandise Buying that I took with Douglas. I loved this class because I got to be creative and come up with design ideas while using Excel and math as well. I feel like everything I learned in that class—how to use Excel and math formulas and trend forecasting and designing—are things I will use in my career.
What are your career goals? I see myself becoming a planner or head of financials for a company. FIDM is helping me get there by giving me all of the resources I need. It is important to really pay attention in class and talk to instructors and ask them questions and utilize the online databases.
Anything else you’d like to share? It is so important to be open to anything, take on new opportunities, and to go with the flow because you have no idea what door just opened up right in front of you.
Kasara is currently working at Max Bone in West Hollywood and "couldn’t ask for a better company to work for." She spends most of her time studying, working, and playing with her dog.
Categories: Merchandising & Marketing Student
