Welcome back Cats! It’s the start of a new semester meaning summer is coming to an end, classes are in full swing, and stress is already on the rise; But with this new semester also brings a brand new organization.
Fourth year business major, Jenna Jaggers, started the University of Cincinnati Fashion Association (UCFA) that officially became a campus organization on January 13, 2016. Jaggers was first inspired to start the organization while interviewing for her first retail internship. When the recruiter asked about fashion organizations on campus, she realized there were no organizations at UC for non-fashion majors who wanted to get involved and enhance their knowledge within the fashion and retail world. A month or two later Jaggers created the proposal for UCFA.
“I hope for UCFA to be a group of driven and passionate individuals with varying backgrounds and majors all interested in the study of fashion and obtaining experiences, knowledge, and network through UCFA,” Jaggers explained.
Once her idea started to come to life, there were a few more obstacles to go through to make UCFA a campus funded organization. Along with co-founders Rae Watkins and Danielle Gardner, the three got to work on making UCFA a reality. “You have to take a huge initiative to work with the UC approval organizations to understand the requirements, meet their needs, deadlines and ultimately pitch your proposal to a room of fifty students who determine your fate,” Jaggers said.
After getting approval, UCFA needed an infrastructure from the ground up including recruiting an exec board as well as members, creating the events calendar, and managing all of the logistics of the organization.
“I think this association holds a lot of potential and fresh perspective,” UCFA Creative Director, Blake Juras said, “I’m happy to be a part of something new and unique to campus and can’t wait to watch it grow!”
UCFA’s first information meeting was held Monday, August 29 at 6 p.m. in McMicken room 53. The club now has an executive board of six, and an outstanding 40 members signed up for their first semester. General Body meetings this semester will be held bi weekly on Mondays at 6 p.m.
The first big event of the year will be a workshop titled, Being Recruitable & Fashion 101. This workshop will provide members with the tools necessary to be prepared for upcoming interviews, as well as offering trend and blog reports kits and other fashion resources for the semester.
The most attractive aspect of UCFA is you don’t have to be a fashion major or even a minor to get involved; you just need to have a general interest or curiosity in the world of style. “I see fashion as a lifestyle. It is no longer only exposed to the wealthy or privileged with the evolving fast fashion and rapid trend lifecycles. We, as individuals today are so much more connected then we have ever been and now we are utilizing all of these influences to create our own styles,” Jaggers said.
Regardless of your major, gender, year in school, or level of knowledge in fashion, UCFA is an organization on the rise and worth looking into. With the new semester starting up, why not fashion your semester in a new direction?