I’ve had one crazy year to say the least. In less than 12 months, I have lived in 4 cities and traveled over half of Europe. It’s finally August and I am able to catch my breath and reflect on how awesome, yet tiring, my year has been. To sum up the beginning of the year in short, let’s just say I lived in Rome and traveled to 4 countries leaving me home for two weeks in December. I went back to school for my spring semester in beautiful South Bend, Indiana, came home for 48 hours and bam!, I flew to New York. Here’s a special shout out to my family (my sister), and friends from home that still love me even though I leave them all the time on such short notice. You guys rock!
This Detroit girl at heart had to uplift her roots and pretend she was suddenly a New Yorker. Trust me, it took some time but I think I can finally say I got the hang of it. I’ve mastered the subway and learned how to walk with a purpose. I have to say though; the greatest part of this summer had to be that I was an intern at the top global luxury brand known as Louis Vuitton.
So what was it like? Was it straight out of the movie “The Devil Wears Prada?” Well to answer your questions, yes and no.
I work on 57th and 5th, which is the heart of the luxury retail world. The street is lined with Louis Vuitton, Chanel, Dior, Fendi, Miu Miu, Burberry, etc. Many of the corporate offices are located above the stores, which is the same case for Louis Vuitton (see picture below). So every day I take the subway to the beautiful Fifth Avenue, say hello to my favorite doorman Andre (who has seen me from my first day to my last), slide my card and take the elevator to the 8th floor. As the elevators doors open, you immediately see a huge glass wall with the words Louis Vuitton and every morning I still get the same case of butterflies in my stomach when I see it.
So this is the part where it’s kind of like the “Devil Wears Prada.” Everyone looks FABULOUS. There is no such thing as casual Friday and people are not dressed business professional. I can pretty much only sum it up in a way that everyone looks like they stepped off a Vogue photo shoot. Hair curled, lips lined, heals high, dressed in head to toe Louis is a typical look for both of my bosses. So my bosses…they are the true definition of a Louis Vuitton woman. They are sophisticated, active, smart, and beautiful. Probably two of the greatest women I have met in my life so far. They make corporate waves every day running the Retail Training and Performance department for every zone located in the Americas and they look amazing while doing it. That’s the part that doesn’t relate to “The Devil Wears Prada.” My bosses are the best. They inspire me every day to explore my ideas and demonstrate my talents and they truly have given me the best summer of my life.
Now I’ll get to the part of explaining exactly what I do as an intern. My formal job title is Retail Training and Performance Intern. I’ve gotten the privilege of working with departments across the board and it has really opened my eyes to the business world. Currently, Louis Vuitton just named a new head of Women’s Ready- to- Wear Creative Director, Nicolas Ghesquiere. He is changing what it means to be a Louis Vuitton woman with his progressive new line that went live during Paris Fashion week (see picture below).
Due to his new direction, managers and sales associates across the country need to be retrained to sell his line in the stores. Louis Vuitton took this new opportunity to totally redo the whole Client Experience in every store. They want to bring back the emotional and special experience you should have when you purchase anything Louis Vuitton and it should be something you treasure and never forget. This whole new goal is basically what I spent my summer helping to come true. I helped plan and create all the different pilots and training sessions go live across the country, ranging from Vegas to DC.
I learned immense knowledge about all the products we have at LV and how one should go about selling them to a client. I helped book venues, make sure we don’t go over budget, get samples from the merchandising team to display during our training session, and pretty much anything else under the sun to make sure the event goes smoothly. I also helped with updating and managing the calendar for the entire department that is sent and approved by Paris to make sure we are on track with our training and budgeting. I was also in charge of a couple of projects involving the collection of enrollment forms for different training sessions for women’s watches and jewelry. All in all, I was kept quite busy this summer but I loved every second of it.
I went to a number of events with other luxury brands due to us all being in partnership under the company LVMH. Honestly though, I’ll always be a LV girl and it made me so proud to represent my company at any large scale event. The way we do business, run our stores, and represent our products is truly special and it was such a blessing to be able to be a part of it.
There have been a couple of things I learned this summer and am so thankful for. I learned I love luxury branding and understanding why something is considered luxurious. I learned that being a part of company like Louis Vuitton can open you up to a world that can truly inspire you to show your creativity and talents. Lastly I learned that if you love what you do, work is not work, it’s fun! I’ve had so much fun this summer waking up and finding the perfect outfit and curling my hair every day. I love running over to our event to help set up at 6 am and greet our representatives from Paris as they walk in the door. Most importantly, I love walking out of those glass doors every night knowing, I am too, a Louis Vuitton girl.
So New York, I will be back for round 2 one day. Don’t miss me too much!
Photos provided by the author
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