Julie Heneghan is a wife, mother, and the new assistant professor of costume design in Towson University’s Department of Theatre Arts. We talked to Julie about her career and how she juggles it all.
Mrs. Heneghan. Costume Design Professor.
This is what the sign that Julie Heneghan’s daughter made for her when she found out she got the job as assistant professor of costume design in Towson University’s department of theatre arts said. Her daughter was very happy for her mother and made the sign to put on the door of her new office.
Julie began her job last year and she says that it has been one of her biggest accomplishments.
Julie started her career off in fashion design, in fact, up until her twenties, she had never been involved with theater at all. In college, she was unsure of what she wanted to study. A long time modern dancer, Julie considered many different creative majors in college. First she tried fine arts, then she tried graphic and interior design, but finally she settled on fashion design.
“I just love clothes,” she said.
She graduated from Western Washington University with a degree in fashion design and moved to Seattle, Washington where she got a job as an assistant designer at Eddie Bauer.
“I didn’t find the work very satisfying,” she said. “There was not a lot of creativity [in sportswear design], it’s a lot of just pockets and zippers.”
In Seattle she fell in love with an actor. She moved to California’s central coast, where her now husband, got a job as an actor and teacher at the Pacific Conservatory of the Performing Arts in Santa Maria, California.
It was at the Pacific Conservatory of the Performing Arts that Julie got involved with theatre. She started working in the wardrobe department and then as a stitcher in the costume design shop. She was a good seamstress and was placed on the costume design crew. Eventually, they asked her if she would like to design a show.
“I really enjoyed the storytelling aspect,” she said. “I like how you are able to create a character with clothing.”
Shortly thereafter, she got married and moved to Boston where she began graduate school for costume design at Boston University. After she got her Master of Fine Arts in Costume Design, she was asked to teach costume design I at Boston University.
“You are not really trained [in graduate school] to be a teacher,” she said. “It was really overwhelming. I was also working as a freelance designer.”
Costumes that Julie designed for Towson’s production of Macbeth.
She spent seven years building a career as a freelance designer. Then she moved to Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, where her husband was a professor at a community college. She had two children during this time and worked at the same community college as her husband. While she was teaching costume design, she was asked to teach speech communication.
“I really learned how to teach there,” she said. “I was trained by some really dynamic colleagues.”
While she was teaching in Pennsylvania she even coached three of her students to win a national speech competition.
After working in Bethlehem for many years, she wanted to move. She was looking for a full-time position and saw that Towson University was looking for a new costume design professor. She applied, and after a six month process she was hired.
She has designed several of the shows at Towson including Rent and Macbeth, all while balancing teaching, motherhood, and being a wife.
“It is really hard [to balance everything],” she said. “It is never easy. I don’t always insist on the house being clean.”
She said that she thinks it’s important for women to think about their career choice if they plan on having children. She says that you have to have flexibility.
“Don’t be too rigid in life,” she said. “Be open to experience anything in whatever job you are doing. Let that grow into whatever you want to do.”
She says that good communication skills are, “The most important skill you can have.”
Julie said that getting experience is the key to getting a good job.
“Get as much experience as you can,” she said. “Never waste time. Every experience s valuable.
She also says that young women shouldn’t expect to get their dream job right away.
“Patience and diligence is key,” she said. “ You can’t expect to have a glamourous lifestyle [right away] you have to move through the ranks. You are not going to walk into a great job.”
Most importantly, she says that women should never apologize.
“I think that women should never apologize for their work,” she said. “You can’t feel guilty about having a great job that pays the bills and feeds satisfaction.”
She says that her daughter was very proud of her when she got the job at Towson.
“It makes me feel proud that she feels proud [of me],” she said.