Alumni
Kellwood Visits FIDM Students
Kellwood Sr. Associate Designer and FIDM Grad Katrina Hafalia returned to the LA campus last week to speak to students in the Premier MPD Group about her industry experience and let them know that Kellwood is currently hiring Assistant Designers.
Katrina graduated from FIDM in 2010 with her degree in Merchandise Product Development. Prior to that, she earned a degree in Business Communications from Cal State Long Beach.
During her last two quarters at FIDM, she decided to intern as a stylist. She had a friend who knew a wardrobe designer, so that was her in. She was doing wardrobe pulls and returns, and getting coffee, but it was a foot in the door.
“Take the assistant position,” she advised the students. “Intern. Take unpaid positions.” She wanted to stress the importance of starting from the ground up, in order to gain experience.
A job came up with Fergie as the client, and Katrina was responsible for pulling the jewelry for her Rolling Stones cover shoot. Because of that internship, she learned she could handle anything. “I was so fortunate,” Katrina said.
After a while though, she realized she no longer wanted to pursue styling. She said she’d rather be the one designing the clothes than the stylist pulling them, so six months before graduation, she left that internship to become an assistant designer.
After four years, she went from Assistant to Associate Designer. She worked at Knitworks Design Zone, designing clothes for children, then worked at Evy of California. In 2011, she went freelance and created her own website.
Designer Consulting Co-Op contracted her as a designer and she worked with a client to launch a swimwear collection. She worked there a little over a year, then in May 2016, moved over to Kellwood where she was hired as a Sr. Associate Designer.
“Always push,” she told the students. “It doesn’t matter what anyone says!” She then told them that Kellwood is currently hiring Assistant Designers.
Categories: Merchandise Product Development Alumni
