My Internship at Boutique 44
By: Elaina McDonough
I am a senior Fashion Merchandising major. My love for fashion and creativity is the reason I chose to attend Stevenson to earn my bachelor’s degree. Being a fashion major gives you plenty of opportunities to learn about and participate in the big industry of fashion, experiencing both the creative and business sides of all things fashion. I was able to further my experience as a fashion major and get an inside look at my future career during my summer internship at Boutique 44 in Bel Air, MD.
At Boutique 44, I was able to gain retail experience and work alongside a fashion professional who started her own store because of her love for fashion. Boutique 44 is a women’s lifestyle boutique that features stylish, trendy, and classic pieces to give women a fashionable and lasting wardrobe. As an intern I helped customers, created visual merchandising displays, assisted checking in and organizing new inventory, wrote product descriptions for the website, and helped out during live sales every Thursday. The owner of the boutique, Ms. Amanda, taught me new skills and information needed to run a retail store. I had to face the difficulties of Covid-19 and take the precautions of cleaning in order to keep the store open and customers wanting to come back. My favorite part of the internship was creating the visual merchandising displays throughout the store in which Ms. Amanda said I greatly excelled. This internship not only gave me experience and skills, but also helped me figure out the area in which I would like to pursue my future job, – visual merchandising.
Throughout my time at Stevenson, the Fashion Merchandising program has taught me so much information about the fashion industry, how big it is in the world, and how much it is a part of our everyday life. I hope all you fashionistas will find your place in the Fashion Merchandising or Design department where you will be able to express your love for all things fashion.