Sophomore economics student, Allissa Valenzuela has been recognized by Poshmark, the largest social marketplace for fashion, for her outstanding achievement in the #PoshOnCampus program. In recognition of her triumph, Poshmark is donating $500 in Valenzuela’s name to the Arizona Mentor Society. What once started as a mere application after seeing an Instagram post, her role became an increasingly important part of promoting Poshmark on the ASU campus. Though, she admits it was nerve-racking talking to her peers about Poshmark in the beginning.
“It got easier and people were surprisingly friendly. It was awesome to connect with other Poshers on campus,” she remarked.
Valenzuela says choosing an organization to donate to was an easy choice. The Arizona Mentor Society advises fifth graders at the Thew Elementary School, a Title I school that has a high rate of children from low-income families. Valenzuela mentors kids for an hour after school, four days a week and believes that even though she has to pay out of pocket for supplies for activities, it is worth it.
“It’s super important for these kids to have adults who care about them in their lives and to have role models who are in college,” Valenzuela added.
Her major in economics has become of important value to her as she admits that it has helped her grow her Poshmark business drastically.
“I’ve used Excel skills from my Computer Information Systems class to create a spreadsheet to keep track of my Poshmark sales. My economics classes have helped me to consider buyer’s preferences and the utility they may get from a certain item of clothing and that can help me determine how to price clothing items in my Poshmark closet.”
However, after college, Valenzuela plans on using her degree to continue her role in elementary education.
“Ideally I’d like to be teaching economics and doing economic research in the area of education to influence policy that will help close the achievement gap between different groups of students and increase access to quality education for more children,” she said.
A successful sophomore at ASU, Valenzuela says that students should explore all of their interests even though it may not relate to one’s major. She attributes her love for fashion, though not explicitly related to economics, to finding Poshmark.
“I absolutely love being part of the Poshmark community,” she happily concluded.