FIDM's 8th Annual Career Connections Event Makes Everyone's Day

FIDM is all about industry connections. Every year, FIDM students are treated to Career Connections, a major networking event.

Just as the event's name implies, students get the chance to connect with their future careers via current contacts! They meet with FIDM alumni in an informal setting to learn about the myriad of career paths available to them. Alumni get to network and exchange business cards with other alumni, so they benefit too. This year, over 100 FIDM alumni from all majors turned out to offer advice and experience. What do students get out of this event? Plenty! They are able to interact with grads on a one-on-one basis to find out what they want to know about the career options in their major. It always helps to be able to ask someone working in your prospective career field "so just what exactly do you do in that job?" Another huge benefit: connections. Students get connected with companies they are interested in working for and learn about internships and job openings. The event is held in an informal question-and-answer format to give students the chance to talk comfortably and openly with alumni.

People rushed from room to room and table to table hoping to catch words of wisdom from so many great alumni. They had plenty to choose from - each major was represented. So who was there? Walking success stories like Angela Dean ('79 Fashion Design) of DeanZign enlightened students about the perks and perils of celebrity dressing for music stars like Patti LaBelle and Natalie Cole. Nikki Fallenstein (class of '97 Visual Communications) shared her experiences as Costumer on the super popular WB TV show Angel. Brian Rusch ('97 Graphic Design) talked about his position as Creative Director for the hot new teen site fashionTeen.com.

Marian Wade ('98 Apparel Manufacturing) supplied the details of her cool job in Fabric Research & Development for BCBG. That's just a sampling of the alumni who returned to FIDM for Career Connections!