Being a Communication and Media Studies major at Fordham does not seem like anything out of the ordinary, but attempting to pursue a career in the fashion public relations field has proven to be quite a challenge. The options available at Fordham to take classes in either field are limited and frustrating to put it mildly.
As of present, the Rose Hill campus does not offer any fashion courses, but does plan on adding fashion Studies as a minor in the near future. As for public relations, there is one introductory course offered that teaches the basics of writing for the press and terminology used in the business. This course proved to be incredibly helpful to me when taking on the daunting task of searching for the perfect internship.
After landing my dream internship at an international dress company called Jovani Fashions, I quickly came to the realization that I would have to take everything I could from this opportunity if I wanted to have a career in fashion and public relations because little of what I was learning in the classroom was applicable to my career.
I had a very limited knowledge of writing a profitable blog, press release, and media alert but had a true passion for the topic. Thankfully, I have a young and caring boss, named Felicia, who graduated from college not too long ago and moved up the ranks in the company rapidly. She was and still is more than willing to answer all of my questions and lead me through this path. With her assistance I am single-handedly running the Jovani blog and writing press releases regularly.
When I told Felicia about the new Fashion Studies addition to the Fordham curriculum, she quickly asked me if I would honestly have considered taking that as a minor thereby limiting my potential options for a career. She was indeed correct, this does not seem like the best path for anyone to take and I am interested in seeing what courses this minor will include.
I would have benefitted from a concentration in public relations. My concentration is new adult cam media, which I to this day am still confused as to what that actually means. The professor that taught my introductory public relations course was enthusiastic and engaging, which made the class a pleasure to take. Not to mention, I still own the textbook and use it regularly in my blogging adventures. I am sure there are other professors of this kind working in the field who are capable of teaching a few advanced public relations courses.
Unfortunately, I am a senior and my time here at Fordham is coming to an end shortly; however, I do feel confident that a combination of my writing based communication courses and all of the information I have learned from my internship will lead me down a successful and “chic” path but having more classroom time spent with a professional would have been beneficial.