I remember when I first graduated from undergrad ten years ago and wanted to get into logistics and operations for the fashion industry. I then wanted to do fashion consulting which was more in the ways of styling but I knew that I wanted to work on the business side. Fast forward 2 years and I am graduating from the Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising because I wanted to gain a better understanding of the fashion industry's inner workings and couldn't find a Master's program with what I wanted to do, (I had never heard of LIM or Fordham in NYC otherwise this entire story would have been different). I worked for a bit in product development, and could have continued in that direction, but left to obtain my MBA (a desire that was left incomplete when I lived in ATL). Now I have graduated with my MBA in Organizational Behavior and Management and have completed my thesis. Now that is a story in and of itself.

So my thesis is on Workforce Development in the Fashion Industry in LA. I was (am) frustrated with the way that Los Angeles boasts being a fashion capitol in its own right, but does little about the lack of infrastructure within the industry. None of it's schools offer a graduate or law program in the industry (granted Fashion Law JUST became a thing), and many of those have to put together pieces of an education and work experience just to make a small living. On top of that since this industry here on the west is filled with smaller companies and not many have a true hierarchical structure, which isn't a bad thing.

I use the word "navigate" a lot on this blog because that is mainly what the purpose of this blog is, my way to navigate through life, career, and purpose. It justifies my lack of a straight line and clarifies the diversity of my journey. Recently I posted:

And I mean it. As of 2010 only 7.4% of PhDs are Black. That is not broken up into gender, and it doesn't really need to be to hit home on how low of a percentage that is. Then taking into consideration the points I was making earlier about the lack of postgradute programs within the fashion industry on the west, there is a space to build something new and needed. Though my interests lean more toward economic development within low income areas utilizing the creative economy as a whole, there are opportunities that I want to create for those who are coming after me.

In the meantime I will be mind mapping and journaling it all out in my Passion Planner. Putting the pieces together and guessing about the picture the entire time.