Name: Anna Maria Sanchez AKA Ams
Age: 21
Year: Senior
Hometown: Fort Lauderdale, FL
Major: ICT
Courtesy: Anna Maria Sanchez
Her Campus (HC): Over the summer you had an internship in New York. Tell me about it!
Anna Maria (AMS): I worked at a fashion PR firm called Wetherly Fashion Group – it’s in SoHo. My sister actually interned there so I kind of weaseled my way in. I emailed her old boss, but he didn’t answer me and then a month later he got back to me! He asked when I could come into the office and I don’t live in New York so he called me and we had a five minute conversation then he hired me! I started in May and I was an accessories intern so I worked on mainly shoes and then one brand of handbags and sunglasses. Basically we would get request from editors, stylists and magazines all day and they would tell us the theme of the shoot they had and I’d have to go into the showroom and pull items that would fit said theme.
HC: Do you want to work in fashion or did you kind of just take the opportunity where it was offered?
AMS: I’d say I took the opportunity. I didn’t ever plan to work in fashion. I love fashion, I work at Urban Outfitters and I love clothes, shopping is my favorite thing to do! But I don’t know, it was definitely cool and an amazing experience I think I’d have to say if I did work in fashion PR I’d rather work in-house than at a firm. I feel as though you have more of a hands-on experience when you work in-house rather than a firm because at a firm you’re handling multiple brands and it’s a lot. So yeah, if I work in fashion I’d want it to be in-house for sure.
HC: So how did you decide ICT was for you?
AMS: *Laughs.* I actually changed my major four times! I started out in education then tried to do PR, but it didn’t work out and then humanities for five seconds and then I landed on ICT because you didn’t have to apply. My advisor suggested it to me and this was going into my junior year so I had to figure something out. She talked a lot about how it had to do with social media and that appealed to me. I thought during my internship that I’d be working with social media and I mean I did, I had to do a ton of press searches so basically I was stalking celebrities and fashion bloggers on Instagram and Twitter.
HC: Which I mean many of us do on the daily!
AMS: Yeah so I’d spend all day doing that sometimes. Finding links that would have a celebrity wearing one of the brands we represent so that was cool! That part of my major appeals to me—social media and marketing, social media management.
HC: What are your career aspirations?
AMS: That’s like the question of the year. I mean I’d like to work in PR, I’ve been looking into a few PR firms and I hope to be working in social media although I’m not really sure what for. I like the fashion industry, the entertainment industry so that world in a sense is what I’m leaning toward rather than more so the corporate side. I mean that’s one of the things I liked about my internship, which I hate admitting! But it was really cool, one day Beyoncé’s stylist came in one day and I was secretly like um, is she with you? Also one day I had to deliver shoes to Victoria Justice! My boss told me you might meet her, but I actually just ended up meeting her stylist and it’s safe to say I was a little bummed. But I actually had to scrub these platform shoes to be spotless, basically brand new since we were gifting them to her and then Victoria Justice ended up wearing them to Teen Vogue and there were pictures of her in them everywhere, I was like omg I touched those shoes!
HC: I’m definitely a little jealous of your summer! What was living in New York like?
AMS: Okay so I lived in Brooklyn!
HC: That’s so cool!
AMS: In a one bedroom with four people.
HC: Nevermind not so cool.
AMS: It gets worse. I mean I lived with two of my best friends and then my sister. There was no A/C, our toilet broke a good seven times and our refrigerator didn’t work so I ate out all the time which is fine, but NY is so expensive and my internship was unpaid. Luckily I had a job at Urban Outfitters while there, but still I was poor all the time. It was still amazing though! I think the whole not having money and living in a tiny space with four people, no air conditioning and no functioning toilet is definitely part of it, it’s kind of just NY. I mean many people don’t go to NY and have a luxury apartment, it’s sort of all about the struggle. I miss New York, it is seriously so amazing.
Courtesy: Anna Maria Sanchez
HC: So do you want to go back to work there?
AMS: Yeah! The jobs I’m applying for are all in New York. I don’t care if I’m poor!
HC: You graduate in spring. Are you going straight into working or going to take some time off first?
AMS: Part of me wants to travel a little bit but I’m hesitant because I want to graduate knowing I have a job in place but with that I don’t know if they’ll be okay with me traveling and then working so right now I’m not sure. I’m someone who has to know though so I’m really trying to figure it out! If I got a job in NY though I’d take it for sure.
HC: Same! And I’ve been there once, but I know there’s no place I’d rather be. So that’s the goal.
AMS: Omg, do it! Even if you’re poor, it’s great.
HC: What would say are the benefits of doing an internship?
AMS: I definitely learned a lot about the fashion industry and PR but what I really took away was what I learned about professionalism! It teaches you what kind of employee to be and how to work hard. It’s one thing to be out in the city and be unnoticed, but at work even though everyone is so busy they notice your work ethic and your work manner so yeah always try to be better than you were yesterday.
HC: Aside from your internship what else is interesting about you! So what do you in your free time?
AMS: Well I work two jobs – at Urban as I mentioned and I also babysit. Aside from that, I really like to read!
HC: What are you reading right now?
AMS: Modern Romance by Aziz Ansari, a little light comedic relief! I also watch a lot of TV.
HC: What’s your favorite show?
AMS: F.R.I.E.N.D.S, without a doubt. I own the whole series on DVD. And fun fact – well not that fun of a fact – but on Netflix they actually cut a lot of the jokes out! I’m currently re-watching That 70s Show, I also really like to go out and try new places to eat!
HC: Have you tried any new places?
AMS: This is going to make me sound like a grandma, but I wake up at 7 a.m. every day and go walk at Cascades Park. They just opened a Catalina Café over there. They have a few around town so I finally tried it and their food is really good!
HC: Is there a fun fact about yourself?
AMS: I guess my nickname but that’s already out there. I actually introduce myself as Ams, and then people ask why so I have to go into telling them it’s my initials so sometimes I just tell them yeah I have weird parents. Oh, the island Anna Maria Island that’s what I’m named after, it’s where my dad is from.
HC: Those were totally fun facts!
AMS: I also met Cole Sprouse so that was pretty cool! In my head we’re totally dating.
Courtesy: Anna Maria Sanchez
HC: Do you have any advice you’d give someone to come out of their comfort zone?
AMS: I don’t want this to sound super cliché, but it probably will. I feel like I’m romanticizing NY and I don’t think it’s specific to NY but so much as being in a new place. As far as people go I’m really extroverted, but when it comes to putting myself out there job wise I’m kind of shy. Then I got to NY and before I was sort of scared, but then I wasn’t any more so I guess my advice is a lot of times we’re so worried of what everyone else is thinking about you, but in all honesty no one really cares so put yourself out there! No one is as hard on you as you are on yourself.
HC: It makes sense, and while you don’t want to romanticize NY there is definitely something about the city that sort makes you feel like you can conquer anything.
AMS: Yeah for sure! I felt a weird sense of freeness when I left New York. Like I said I didn’t have the poshest of living arrangements, but the city still made me feel as though I could do anything. I can’t say it enough, New York is awesome!