By Heream Yang
Michaela Guillory
Michaela Guillory (MMark’21) began her undergraduate experience at Spelman College, where she majored in psychology but quickly recognized her growing interest in the fashion industry. “Spelman is an all-women’s campus, and everyone there really loved fashion,” Guillory recalled. “There would be girls walking around to their 8am classes in heels. Being surrounded by that environment made me realize, I always want it to be like this.”
While Guillory enjoyed studying Psychology, she wanted to add a business component to her education in order to develop the necessary skills for a career in fashion business. As a small liberal arts college, Spelman did not offer a business program, so Guillory transferred to the University of Texas at Austin, where she continued studying psychology and took up a business minor.
During her time at UT-Austin, Guillory worked part-time at women’s retailer Anthropologie and spent a summer interning at MealPal, a meal subscription service, as a Growth Marketing Intern. These experiences led Guillory to realize that she wanted to pursue a career in fashion marketing. As she neared graduation, Guillory decided to pursue a Master of Marketing (MMark) degree at Vanderbilt Business in order to solidify her marketing skills before launching her career. “Since I only had a business minor and a psychology major, I wanted to get a stronger foundation in the core knowledge of marketing,” Guillory explained.
Throughout her time at Vanderbilt, Guillory soaked up marketing knowledge and put it into practice, completing 2 marketing internships before successfully securing a full-time job at one of America’s most iconic fashion brands, Ralph Lauren, where she will be launching her fashion marketing career as a Global Marketing Licensing Coordinator. “I couldn’t ask for a better place to start my career,” she said. “They do a lot for personal development, and they consider themselves a family. Knowing that I’ll be supported in the same way that Owen has supported me in the past year is really comforting.”
Click through the timeline below to find out how Guillory landed her offer.
