Alumni
Indie Lee Partners With Beauty Business Management Students in Capstone Course
In their senior capstone course taught by Ashley Vilgiate and Tina Perez, students in the Bachelor of Science in Beauty Business Management Program were paired with top New York beauty brands to work on real-world projects specific to their business needs. Over the course of two quarters, the brands (Dior, Fresh, NARS, Indie Lee, Victoria’s Secret, Givaudan, and Pink) have been meeting online once a month with the students to check on progress, provide feedback, and oversee next steps. The students will be traveling to New York, March 20-23, to present their final projects to the beauty brands. We caught up with Team Indie Lee (FIDM Students Anna Chalik, Amanda King, Jiyoung Moon, and Yesenia Morales) to learn more about their project.
What kind of research are you doing? With our project with Indie, the objective is to develop Indie Lee as the thought leader in areas beyond the beauty industry such as mindfulness, self-care, and health through an increased presence in various platforms including social media, press, podcast, and so on. This incorporates research about social and PR strategy.
What are some of the things you're learning about as you work on this project with Indie Lee? Some of the things we have learned is that working with social media platforms can be very tricky because they are the direct ways to connect with the followers yet the desired results are not always obvious and immediate and a lot has to do with uncontrollable aspects. Also, we learned that even though we took classes on marketing and public relations at FIDM, application of the learnings to real life situations is going to vary based on different circumstances and clients.
What kind of feedback has Indie Lee provided? With our weekly meetings with Indie, she has given us valuable feedback that has pushed ourselves to think outside of the box and challenge our creativity. Indie has always been genuine with her directions and motivated us to stay with our goals. Sometimes, it was hard for us to acknowledge and balance the expectations, and Indie always reminded us of the objectives to keep us on track. Through this process, we have learned from Indie to have the mindsets of ambition, consistency, and patience when attacking long term challenges like this.
What is it like collaborating with your teammates? Even though we completed countless experiences working in groups at FIDM, this project is different from the previous ones we had. Working together for two consecutive quarters in intensive work has made us understand each other in a more professional and career-driven way. We gained a better understanding of each others’ strengths and weaknesses and eventually went beyond that to complement and synergize each member’s skills.
What kind of real-world industry experience are you gaining in this project? We are grateful that we were given real-world experience through this project with Indie because we would have not gained the same level of lessons with other projects. We learned that in real-world, there isn’t a single way to achieve the goal, but in fact, it has multiple directions to approach. Unlike school assignments, there aren’t any set of directions to follow to resolve challenges. In real life, we have to practice creativity and problem-solving strategies to find the solutions instead. Even when we face the failures during that process, we shouldn’t be discouraged because they provide irreplaceable and valuable learnings.
When will you be giving your final presentation to Indie Lee? Our team is heading to New York from March 20th to 25th to deliver the final presentation in-person to Indie and participate in listening to other groups’ presentations.
Born and raised in South Korea, Jiyoung Moon moved to the U.S. with her family when she was nine years old. She lived in San Diego for ten years and graduated from Torrey Pines High School. She earned her A.A. in Beauty Marketing & Product Development at FIDM in 2020 and started her Bachelor of Science Degree in Beauty Business Management the same year. She said, “My career goal after FIDM is to work my way up in the marketing team at a beauty brand that stands behind sustainability and ethical practices. FIDM has definitely prepared me in various ways. Before FIDM, I had the consumer perspective when looking at the beauty industry, and FIDM has trained me to view it as a business person through different challenging yet rewarding classes.”
Born and raised in Irvine, California, Anna Chalik attended Northwood High School before earning her A.A. in Beauty Marketing & Product Development at FIDM. On track to graduate this year with her Bachelor of Science Degree in Beauty Business Management, she said, “My career goals include making a positive impact in the beauty industry through sustainability. Being part of an industry that focuses on consumption and produces so much waste, it is very important and critical to think of ways to help create a more circular economy for wasteful materials such as plastic. FIDM is preparing me for the industry by teaching me specifics about the industry I would never get in a formal education. It has also helped me gain so many connections that I feel confident with entering the industry post graduation.”
Born and raised in Tucson, Arizona, Yesenia Morales attended Canyon Del Oro High School. She received her A.A. in Beauty Marketing & Product Development in 2020 and will graduate from FIDM in March 2022 with her Bachelor of Science Degree in Beauty Business Management. She said, “Since joining the beauty program at FIDM I have grown a huge passion for marketing as a whole. From my experiences in social media, digital/e-comm and product marketing, I am excited to see what the future holds for me post graduation. I am very grateful for the opportunities that I have come across as a FIDM student, especially the internships that I have completed. FIDM has helped me prepare for the industry in all aspects of being a well-rounded team member and go-getter. From this program, I have overcome fears, excelled in areas that made me uncomfortable and grown tremendously within the beauty industry.
Born in Austin, Texas, and raised in Dallas, Amanda King attended Wakeland High School in Frisco, TX, before moving out to LA to start her journey at FIDM. In 2020 she completed her A.A. in Beauty Marketing & Product Development, and will be graduating this June with her Bachelor of Science Degree in Beauty Business Management. She said, “I’ve always loved the storytelling ability that fragrance has, so I plan to start my own specialty fragrance brand one day. Before then, I’d like to work for a brand that is passionate about making a positive social and environmental impact that also allows me to be creative with the work I do. After almost four years at FIDM, I feel like I’ve been given a comprehensive look at what it takes to work in the beauty industry, as well as teaching me to step out of my comfort zone.”
Categories: Beauty Business Management Beauty Marketing & Product Development Alumni Student
