The key communicator and partner with the Pennsylvania Council of the Arts (PCA) for the region. Matching artists to the community through art and community based projects. Responsibilities include initiating, planning and implementing artist in residency programs, communicating PCA initiatives, and facilitating the PCA's involvement with National Scholarship Competition, Poetry Out Loud, for the 5 county area in the region.

As the campus leader, I was given the opportunity to further refine my leadership practices. Collaborating and building relationships with school officials at other campuses, government agencies, accrediting body, unionized faculty, and officials at the corporate offices was a core function of my role. Due to the decision to close the NYC campus, my daily functions also included implementing and finalizing the plan for the closing of the campus including creating a timeline of employee departures, communication and organization of severance agreements, facility fold-down, and academic fold-down with all regulatory agencies. I took personal pride and ownership in the successful and positive closing of the campus in the interest of all parties affected and involved, while ensuring that all academic standards were upheld throughout the duration of the student's education.

As the Dean of Academic Affairs my key focus was in leading, managing, motivating, and directing the Academic Affairs team towards school-wide academic and institutional initiatives. Collaborating with fellow school leaders as well as federal agencies, accrediting body, and the unionized faculty was an integral part of the role. In focusing on the overall morale building of both faculty and students, an increase in retention and ARC (average registered credits) showed marked improvements. Experience in this position also included working with a unionized faculty on the Collective Bargaining Agreement.

The role of Department Chair of Fashion Design and Fashion Merchandising & Marketing was an integral role in my career. In this role I was truly able to grow into a leader. As the leader of the Fashion Studies programs I enjoyed integrating my passion for a hands-on learning environment with current industry standards into a robust and competitive curriculum. I thoroughly enjoyed collaborating with a dynamic team of faculty and professionals in creating a truly modern program with wonderful opportunities for student growth. Some of these opportunities included working with IMG for our students to show in the tents and on the fashion calendar for New York Fashion Week season after season, an initiative bred from a vision to align our students more closely with the industry. I could not be more proud of the accomplishments of both of these programs including the faculty and students.

In my first role in higher education, I was inspired on a daily basis in the opportunity to combine my strong interests in education with my knowledge, experience and passion in the fashion industry. Instructing, motivating, and inspiring students through lectures and field studies was at the core of my responsibilities. Finding areas of growth for the program led to the responsibility of evolving, developing, and implementing the fashion merchandising curriculum and overall program goals. In order to create the most up-to-date curriculum, contiuous outreach and networking within the fashion industry was a key part of the process. Finding opportunities for students to connect to the industry through internships, hands-on experiences, and fashion show development and involvement was an integral focus of the role. I also found a strong skill set within myself as a reviewer of textbooks and in working with publishers on textbook development.

The merchandise coordinator role was a position that embodied both my strong skill set and experience with fashion retailing combined with my recent knowledge acquired upon completion of my Bachelor of Science degree in Fashion Merchandising. As a lead coordinator in NYC, the key focus was in the branding, visual merchandising, and driving of full price sales of the modern brands division of Liz Claiborne Inc. (DKNY Jeans, City DKNY, Kenneth Cole, and Lucky Jeans) at the flagship centers in NYC. Responsible for 7 million plus in annual sales, my key accounts were Macy's Herald Square, Lord & Taylor 5th, and Bloomingdale's. Working with the buyers, account executives and product development teams, another key function of my role was ensuring that the correct product was being placed in the right doors in order to maximize sales. Maintaining weekly, monthly, and seasonal sales analysis proved to be valuable experience along with cultivating and communicating the floor set plans and visual merchandising guidelines for the divisions.

My first experience in the New York fashion industry upon completion of my degree, was as an Executive Assistant to the Vice President of Design and Merchandising for the DKNY Jeans division. Utilizing my strong visual eye in merchandising the showroom for the Fall 2000 market was a highlight of this experience. However, this position offered me the invaluable experience of building relationships, networking, and collaborating with the design, merchandising, sales, and marketing teams within the division and in gathering a stronger understanding of how all of the departments and divisions within a fashion organization intertwine to create and deliver product.

The experience in fashion retailing that I garnerned through working at Aeropostale throughout my college studies, offered me the opportunity to find my path towards my education and career goals. I discovered my natural skill set towards visual merchandising and marketing and in working and collaborating with a team to achieve goals. I was extremley fortunate to work with strong leaders and mentors in this position who truly inspired me and impacted the future direction of my career.