Fashion & Beauty Careers

Fashion & Beauty careers:

What's Love Got to do with it?

So you want to work in the fashion or beauty biz? Good news, you don’t have to be a leggy 5'10" bombshell! Whether your favourite class is Algebra or Phys Ed, there are tons of career choices that will create the perfect chemistry for a fabulous career in fashion.

Meet some young adults who have put their best patent leather shoe forward and found themselves among the industry's best. According to them, LOVE has a heck of a lot to do with it!

By Keke P. Mgbemena

The Person: Julia Dietz    
The Job: Senior Account Manager (Sales) for Lee Angel—Neiman Marcus, Bergdorf Goodman
High School: William Tennent High School, NYC
Post Secondary: Fashion Institute of Technology, NYC
Major: International Trade & Marketing
What Do You Do? Sell jewelry to retailers, analyze sales, communicate to the design team what the customers are asking for.
The MEP (Most Exciting Part): Conclave-a sales presentation for the top vendors at Neiman Marcus that the company holds each year before the Holiday season. We present the new product that will be in the stores and teach the managers selling points and educate them on the product. This year every dept. manager got an iPod shuffle with ‘Lee Angel’ engraved on the side!
Fave High School Course: Social Studies
Things You Can’t Live With Out: Facial moisturizer, my iPod, green Chuck Taylor high-tops & Susan Miller’s astrologyzone.com
Style Icons: Ashlee Simpson (pre-nose job and blond hair) & Sienna Miller
Love Link: Traveling, entertaining clients, and of course the DISCOUNTS!!!





Name: Saira Zia
Job Title: Buyer of Contemporary Womenswear for Holt Renfrew
High school: Richview Collegiate Institute, Etobicoke
Post Secondary School: Wilfred Laurier University   major: Economics
What Do You Do? Buy womenswear clothing for all nine Holt Renfrew stores.
MEP: Going to the designer showrooms and seeing all the beautiful fashion hands-on is the most thrilling part of my job. It’s also exciting to attend fashion shows and be a part of all that amazing energy.
Favourite High school Course: Phys-Ed
Things You Can’t Live With Out: Music, vintage clothing, flat shoes and boots, my journal and sleep!
Style Icons: Kate Moss & Lou Doillon
LOVE Link: My job enables me to combine and manage art and commerce. It’s fascinating and teaches me to manage life beyond work.




Name: Alissia Marciano, as seen on LIFE Network’s Sexy Girl    
Job Title: Fashion Stylist for The Artist Group
High school: Centennial Senior High, Coquitlam, BC.
What Do You Do? Work with clients to create a unified vision for the job at hand.
MEP: Working on advertising, fashion editorial, music industry and TV campaigns.
Favourite High school Course: Science
Things You Can’t Live With Out: Passport, English tea & mid-century art books
Style icons: Chanel & Vivienne Westwood
Love Link: I am able to be creative and work with interesting, international clients.







Name: Tina Teng
Job Title: Designer for Flo
High school: Churchill Secondary, Hamilton, ON
What Do You Do? Design a complete collection for each season.
MEP: When I found out actress Kristen Kreuk bought my designs! And traveling overseas to places such as Las Vegas, New York, Hong Kong and Shanghai.
Favourite High school Course: Fine Arts
Things You Can’t Live With Out: My shitzu Charles, bottled water and a sketchpad.
Style icons: Sophia Coppola & Natalie Portman
Love Link: It’s everything I thought it would be when I was growing up. It’s not a “job” when you love to do something.  



Name: Shawna Olsten
Job Title: Canadian Marketing Supervisor for Quiksilver Canada
(Quiksilver, Roxy and DC)
High school: Seycove Secondary School, North Vancouver, BC
What Do You Do? Develop and execute all marketing initiatives that support the three brands in Canada.
MEP: Fashion Week
Favourite High school Course: Photography, English and History.
Things You Can’t Live With Out: Family, friends, a camera & my iPod
Style icons: Gwen Stefani & Chloe Sevigny
Why do you LOVE it? I work with an amazing group of people.






Name: Corrine Anestopoulos    
Job Title: Jewellery Designer, Biko
High school: St. Joseph’s Morrow Park High School, Toronto
What Do You Do? Design, produce and sell my own line of jewellery to boutiques and to the public.
MEP: Being a part of L’Oréal Fashion Week and spotting people on the street wearing my designs.
Favourite High school Course: Art
Things You Can’t Live Without: Friends, family, lip gloss & lattes.
Style icons: A mixture of street fashion and high-end designers like Marc Jacobs and Alexander McQueen.
Why do you LOVE it? The travel and the fact that I can make my own hours.










Name: Julie Holder
Job Title: Design Manager for Aritzia, Talula
High school: Richview Collegiate Institute, Etobicoke, ON
What Do You Do? Create the concept for the clothing line, design it and following through to the product that goes in the store.
Most Exciting Part: When we turned a corporate staff meeting into a makeover session and everyone left feeling like stars!
Favourite High school Course: Fine Arts and Math
Things You Can’t Live Without: Bath tubs, sewing machines, my mobile phone (sadly) and Sneaky Dee’s nachos!
Style icon: Anita Pallenberg
Why do you LOVE it? The excitement of taking what it is in my mind and spewing it out in such a way that someone gets excited to put it on and feels good wearing it.







Name: Matti Gidilevich
Job Title: AGENT/DEVELOPMENT, Elite Model Management
High school: Bluevale C.I., Waterloo, ON
What Do You Do? Scout coast to coast across North America, discovering fresh faces. I also develop and manage models’ careers.
MEP: Every day is exciting for me…everyday is something new!
Favorite High school Course: Computer Science
Things You Can’t Live Without: My BLACKBERRY!!!! My iPod and good friends.
Style icons: The models I work with.
Why do you LOVE it? I love the fast pace of the fashion world.






Name: Sara Graham
Job Title: Managing Editor, Vervegirl & FUEL Magazines
High school: Bermuda High School (all girls!), Bermuda
What Do You Do? Create and manage content for all of Youth Culture Group’s publications. Building and maintaining key partnerships (eg. War Child, MuchMusic).
MEP: The MMVAs are always amazing! Interviewing Ashley & Mary-Kate Olsen was surreal.
Favourite High school Course: History and  English
Things You Can’t Live Without: My gorgeous and talented friends, Cake Beauty products, CDs that Miss Maya mixes for me, Maclean’s, YCG Art Directors Lindsey and Aliza, venti soy chai lattes (completely addicted).
Style icons: So many for different reasons. The cool and classy Audrey Hepburn is high on the list.
Why do you LOVE it? The fast pace, the people I get to meet and the event access.




Name: Arash Moallemi        
Job Title: Commercial Photographer
High school: Newtonbrook SS, Toronto
What Do You do? I create images for all sorts of needs. From fashion spreads to ads you see on bus shelters and billboards, as well as for the web.
MEP: The early years of Wallpaper magazine. All the helicopter rides, shooting with a 300lb baby tiger on set, meeting all sorts of great people and traveling.
Favourite High School Course: Physics and Sports
Things You Can’t Live Without: My laptop, a little point and shoot camera that lives in my bag, all the makeup artists, stylists, art directors, models... the people who help make it happen. And my accountant—it is a business after all.
Style icons: I’m just a jeans and t-shirt kind of guy!
love link: I really do love my job because there is always something new happening, there are always new people to meet and new places to go to. You actually can see that you created something, which is very satisfying. It’s important not to forget that it’s a business and you have to run it well to be successful… work hard and push yourself just that little bit more each day.

Name: Min Min Ma
Job Title: Freelance makeup & hair artist for The Artist Group
High school: F.A.C.E. School (a bilingual fine arts high school in Montreal)
What do you do? I work on various projects such as editorials, advertisements, and commercials as well as with celebrities.
MEP: One of my favorite projects would be a Sir magazine photo shoot. We were working at Pearson Airport—on the actual runways with airplanes coming and leaving literally next to us. That was an awesome experience!
Things You Can’t Live With Out: Face cleanser, hair elastics and my iBook.
Style icon: Kate Moss
What do you love? I feel like I was born to work in the beauty industry… so I love everyday of it. Seeing my contribution in magazines and on billboards also makes me smile.






Name: Rachelle Turner
Job Title: Marketing and Events Coordinator for Dermalogica
High school: Central Technical School, Toronto
What Do You Do? I was hired to handle small events but my responsibilities quickly grew. I have since assisted in PR, coordinated consumer and charity events, as well as designed marketing strategies. At the moment, my primary role is as Creative Designer in Marketing and I really enjoy it!
MEP: The Dermalogica Congress held in Barcelona, Spain.
Favourite High school Course: Clothing Construction & Entrepreneurial Studies
Things You Can’t Live With Out: Love, loyalty, Marc Jacobs and Fridays off!
Style icons: Everyday people with a great idea and creative expression.
Why do you LOVE it? I enjoy my job because I can confidently stand behind the products, the education, and the vision of the company. If you manage to find a comfortable position within the corporate world, a position that encompasses most of what inspires and motivates you, then you are fortunate. The early stages of working life are simply stepping stones for your future, so take what you can and move forward.