I was most interested in fashion during early high school. My dad, an industrial designer and engineer, helped push me to attend a design college which led me to The Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising and Parsons School of Design. I was still in school and working at the Opening Ceremony retail store when Humberto Leon and Carol Lim offered me my first design job.
I’ve been lucky to work with wonderful designers and brands since then–Opening Ceremony, of course, where I spent eight years as head designer, but also Jason Wu, Kenzo, Tory Burch and others. When you are working with different types of companies, people, and personalities, you only have yourself to lead the way. I have definitely learned to be more confident aesthetically and in decision making.
It’s a great time to be coming up in fashion. Innovation and technology always push things forward and amazing, creative people are always incubating new ideas. I’m excited to see some designer friends from the CFDA incubator program making their mark: Tim and Dan Joo of Haerfest, Sarah Law of Kara handbags, and Lori Kim of Hopp shoes. She’s also branching out on her own after having worked on collections for many other brands. I remember as an intern helping backstage at a Heatherette show literally giving them the shoes off my feet when a model’s shoe broke. Watch the interns–you’ll be seeing their names in a few years!