Carissa Ver Steeg

Major: Apparel, Merchandising, and Design
Company/Organization: Adolfo Sanchez
Company/Organization website: https://shop.adolfosanchezdesigns.com/
Destination: Los Angeles, California
Timeframe: Summer 2021
Advisor/Coordinator Email: briaj

Responsibilities

This internship includes many different responsibilities and you always get to do something new everyday. Some examples of my responsibilities include helping with the construction of garments such as cutting out the fabric, sewing prototypes to make sure the garment works correctly, hand-beading, and gluing crystals onto garments. Another common responsibility is to create the paper patterns for garments, or manipulating paper patterns he already has to make changes to the garment. All the responsibilities are very hands-on.

Accomplishments

My biggest accomplishment during my internship was getting to help create an outfit for Cardi B. I got to create the paper pattern for the pants, and also cut out the fabric for the trim. I made sure to complete every task carefully and perfectly since this garment was for an important person. I felt very accomplished.

Learning experience

One of the greatest lessons I learned during my internship was that you should always try and take on the most challenging task. Adolfo has many interns and always has a long list of tasks that need to be done by the end of the day. At the beginning of my internship, I would always pick the easier tasks because I was too nervous to try something challenging. I realized that if I am always picking the easier tasks that I already know how to do, I will never learn and grow. Towards the end of my internship, I started picking tasks that I wasn't very comfortable doing on my own, but I would ask lots of questions and eventually learned many new skills. Another lesson I learned was that you should never be afraid to ask too many questions. Questions are how you learn and improve.

What advice would you give?

One piece of advice I would give to future students in my major is to apply to every single internship opportunity you find and to apply early. If you apply to one internship every day for the whole semester, you will surely find one. Another piece of advice is to always network and keep in touch with your classmates for connections. I recently was offered a full time job because one of my classmates recommended me to the company she works at. Connections are so important. My last piece of advice is to reach out to Iowa State graduates that are working at a company you want to work at. They will give you great advice on how to land an internship or job there.

Career Connections