“Don’t wait for others to light your fire; you have your own matches.”
Welcome to the first edition of Soph's Digest! This is my mostly professional, slightly personal newsletter, where I’ll keep you up to date on my professional pursuits, side hustles, and the current mediums of inspiration that make up my box of matches. In these quarterly updates, expect an energetic inside scoop from an ambitious college girl on her journey to finding purpose and passion, one project at a time. A mentor of mine once told me "build your network yesterday", and that's what I've set out to do with Soph's Digest. Here’s what’s in store:
*TLDR (Too long, didn’t read)
*The Happenings @ Work/School
*Side Hustle Spotlight
*Current Reads & Listens
*Personal Updates
*Asks
*Gratitude Shoutouts
*TLDR - High-Level Highlights
I am back in LA for my freshman summer juggling a dream combo of 2 retail-focused internships, a camp counselor part-time job, and lots of outdoorsy LA hobbies to try around town with high school friends!
Side-hustle is my middle name: I am evolving my Dear Monday Tiktok page into a new personal branding initiative with “Lunch Breaks”, investing in my career goals while also serving the larger Duke community with the rebranded Duke Business of Retail Society (DBRS), and am tee-ing up to operate 3 start ups as the Director of Next Ventures Divison within Duke’s 30-year-old Campus Enterprises LLC.
Podcasts & newsletters have me hooked! A few of my favorites are listed below.
A couple of asks for my network in developing hard skills for my resume and finding a mentor for DBRS!
A big thank you to my boss at Mane, Rachel Jonas Gilman + my aunt Lisa Katz for encouraging me to take networking action at my internship.
*The Happenings @ Work/School
Mane by Jen Atkin: During my robust four weeks at Mane (May/June), I was an 'everything' intern, a token spokesperson for Gen Z culture, lingo, and consumer habits. I took on projects from the VP of Sales, VP of Operations, VP of Product Development, Director of Marketing, as well as the CEO to whom I reported. My work included researching the competitive landscape in hair and beauty at retailers like Sephora, Ulta, and Target, and making endless product pipeline, brand collaboration, and marketing campaign recommendations. The internship was incredibly enriching, with insightful conversations and the perfect amount of autonomy for me to flex my creative thinking skills.
SIMKHAI: I’m wrapping up my role as a Digital e-commerce intern at SIMKHAI (rebranded from Jonathan Simkhai in 2023). This internship has been challenging in new ways: long days at E-commerce shoots in DTLA, populating the Shopify back-end site with tags, images, and descriptions, and handling hundreds of flats/TOPs. The most valuable lessons came from my D1 eavesdropping abilities. On my first day, I planned to zone out with my headphones while working, but I quickly realized the value of being in the room where it happens. With the privilege of listening in on team-wide deliberations about copy for marketing assets, sponsorship calls for Fashion Week, and picking up fashion lingo about Pre-Fall 2025 buys, I absorbed the majority of my key insights from the internship by harnessing my knack for multitasking. Even without a formal role in sales, branding, or merchandising, being present in these conversations allowed me to understand the critical thinking behind decisions, even as seemingly minute as choosing “burgundy is the unapologetic neutral” over “burgundy is the new black.”
Extra fun counselor gig: I immersed myself in the joy and carefree nature of childhood for one final summer as a camp counselor at LA’s largest beach day camp, Fitness By The Sea (not a weight loss camp, as my college friends assumed upon hearing about my summer employment). This part-time job provided a refreshing break from corporate fashion and taught me that 'eternal youth' is an attitude, not a physical state. It’s about appreciating small moments, embracing curiosity and creativity, and practicing a ‘Yes, and’ mindset. When a 6-year-old asks, “Are you a kid or an adult?” it makes you reflect on the lessons you can carry between both worlds.
*Side Hustle Spotlight
Lunch Break: In a recent episode of 'Diary of A CEO' with Scott Galloway, he emphasized that storytelling is the key competence of any successful individual. This resonated with me as I've committed to evolving my personal brand this summer with the new evolution of Dear Monday Blog, putting into practice my strategic business savvy and unquestionable awareness of the needs and pain points of my generation. My best friend Rose and I started making daily TikTok videos on @dearmondaybysoph, dubbed “Lunch Breaks,” meeting up in West Hollywood during our respective internship breaks to let our creative juices flow. I also began creating 60-90 second “Short n Spicy” videos with PR and product development suggestions for my favorite brands. After School by Casey Lewis, put it best, “Young people understand that for something to go viral, it needs to have a catchy designation. Enter: the hashtagification of language. Gen Z are born copywriters because they have spent their entire lives on the internet.” Please follow my account if this sort of content appeals to you! Displaying these ideas publically for my favorite brands to come across has been a fun exercise and I hope you all enjoy it.
DBRS: The Duke Business of Fashion Summit (see DBFS 2024) is moving into the 2024-2025 year as the rebranded Duke Business of Retail Society (DBRS). As the founder and President, I am currently recruiting an executive team of 30+ student leaders, building an advisory board, and planning major events for the year. DBRS aims to elevate career paths at the intersection of creative and business fields through panels, workshops, and networking sessions. Our upcoming events include a Career Chat with an HR rep, a retail workshop, an A-List speaker dinner, an industry competition, and a student panel on summer internships. We're excited about this new direction. Reach out to learn more or get involved!
*Current Reads & Listens
Books: I discovered Aliza Licht and her book, “Leave Your Mark. (Land Your Dream Job. Kill It In Your Career. Rock Social Media.)” while watching clips of the Michigan Fashion Media Summit. Inspired by her Career Contessa episode, I bought her book and have found her insights incredibly tangible and applicable to my career journey. Please reach out with any book recommendations.
Newsletters: I am LOVING Substack. Particularly, After School by Casey Lewis and I <3 Mess by Emily Kirkpatrick. In addition, I am an avid reader of Marketing Brew, Retail Brew, The Newsette, Glossy, and Career & Leadership by the Wall Street Journal.
Podcasts: Think Fast Talk Smart, Career Contessa, No Stupid Questions, The Diary of a CEO, and Dream Bigger. All are so motivating, inspirational, snappy and productive listens.
*Personal Updates
There is so much to love about living in LA, and this summer I made a commitment to pack my post work evenings with various outdoor, local hobbies. Some photos from my LA hobby enthusiast summer: pictured is open pickleball at Memorial Park, Playground LA hiphop class, surfing in Malibu, and Venice Run Club.
*Asks
I’m currently grappling with the question, “What tangible skills can I teach myself to bolster my resume and bring to my future jobs in this next recruitment cycle?”. While my internships provided broad insights, they didn’t offer much time to learn specific hard skills. I’ve concluded that I need to teach myself these skills through online resources, books, and workshops. To my network: What tangible skills did you teach yourself? SEO? Excel? Web Analytics? Marketing principles? I haven’t found a Duke class that imparts these essential skills for a competitive resume. Please share any best practices or advice for self-teaching hard skills!
Duke Business of Retail Society is looking to highlight industry experts in fashion, beauty, health and wellness, or those pursuing roles in strategy, creative branding, editorial writing, marketing, or the like. If you know of any network connections, peers, or colleagues who may be interested in sharing advice about their careers, leading a brief master-class style workshops, or helping to organize a design sprint competition for eager Duke students, please reach out!
*Gratitude Shoutouts
A massive thank you to Rachel Jonas Gilman, the incredible CEO at Mane, for such a productive internship and your generous guidance! From the moment I began this role, you empowered me to dive into projects across various departments, giving me a taste of everything from Sales to Marketing. Your trust in my voice as a representative of a pivotal generation and your openness to my ideas made my experience truly enriching. Thank you for being an inspiring leader and for believing in my potential!
Thank you to my aunt Lisa Katz for encouraging me to take my superiors at SIMKHAI out to coffee. This one-on-one networking opportunity allowed me to showcase my inquisive nature, learn about their career trajectories, and make myself known in a busy environment. Your advice has made a significant difference in my internship experience, helping me gain recognition at the office. Thank you for sharing these key tips!
Success grows when we give more to our connections than we seek to receive. This newsletter is also a space for me to ask my network about what I can do for you. Please let me know if there is any way I can support your or your needs.
And that's a wrap on Soph's Digest #1! If you’ve read this far, thank you for joining me on my first attempt of a personal newsletter. Stay tuned for more updates, and all the exciting twists and turns coming your way next quarter.
We got this,
Sophia
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