While most college students find it difficult to stay on top of their schoolwork and still sleep, Tenisha Clarke juggles three internships, a job, and school. And on top of that, she has a style-inspiring fashion blog, Establish the New Black. Between all of her responsibilities, she also finds the time to look incredibly chic no matter where she is going. A quadruple threat, Tenisha describes her fashion-immersed life in our interview below.
Hometown? Warner Robins, GA
Year? Junior
Major? Fashion Marketing and Management
How did you decide on your major? I actually started out as a Graphic Design major, but I knew I wanted to work in the fashion industry-I just didn’t know what I wanted to do with it. After a typography class where I did some work for a fashion magazine, that’s when I decided on majoring in fashion marketing and management. Also working my first retail job factored into that.
Describe your blog Establish the New Black: It’s a fashion and lifestyle blog. I document my outfits daily and feature other artists and people involved in fashion to give them some exposure.
When did you start your blog? September 2013
How did you come up with the name Establish the New Black? I was just kind of watching and reading about fashion and I came across phrases like “pink is the new black.” For me personally, I just wanted to establish my own style and create something for other people that could represent the same feeling as “the new black.”
What has been the most rewarding part of having a blog? Meeting other fashion bloggers and working with other people.
Describe your internships and job: I am a stylist and sales associate at Kate Spade New York. I am the manager of SCAD’s Rent the Runway on campus rep team, where we market and spread the word about the company on campus. I am a What to Wear journalist for College Fashionista, where I capture people’s outfits on campus and write about how to wear certain styles, and I am a Campus Cuties journalist for HerCampus.com.
How do you juggle internships, a job, and school? I honestly don’t know. It just comes and goes so quickly I don’t even know where the time goes. But it works.
What advice would you give to college students interested in getting an internship or a job? Just make sure you can manage your time wisely. Push yourself to go after what you want, no matter how impossible it seems. Where there’s a will, there’s a way.
Where do you see yourself in five years? Up in NYC, working as a stylist for a company there, attending fashion weeks, and doing visual merchandising as well.
Check out Establish the New Black here: http://establishthenewblack.wordpress.com