About

     Melissa has a love for expressing herself through the clothing she wears and always has since a very young age. You could find Melissa sitting in the bookstore looking through fashion magazines for hours as a young girl. She made the decision to attend Columbia College Chicago to follow her dreams of working in the fashion industry. She has had many exciting experiences in the industry including dressing and styling models for multiple fashion shows and working with the visual team at Bloomingdales during the 2014 Holiday season. Melissa's love of creativity and art is expressed in ways beyond what she wears. She also enjoys documenting the life of herself, her friends, and her family through photography.

     Early in 2015, Melissa studied overseas in England at UAL: London College of Fashion. There she was building her portfolio in classes like fashion styling, forecasting, and theoretical and contemporary fashion studies. Melissa is grateful to have had the opportunity to learn about her industry from a different culture and gain as much experience as she could while abroad. 

     Back home in Chicago Melissa works at The Gap as an Assistant Manager. Currently she is in charge of merchandising the Women’s, Men’s and body departments. Melissa, in partnership with her General Manager plans for new product flow and sell through. She leads the team through execution of product placement, folding standards, in store visual displays and mannequins. Along with merchandising, Melissa runs the sales floor as the leader on duty by managing brand associates, driving sales and making sure the store preforms with loyalty results. During the fall, she works with a local high school as a color guard instructor and choreographer. Aside from teaching the color guard she is also in charge of creative direction for the guard, which includes the story they are portraying through costumes, hair and make-up. In her free time you can find Melissa honing her rock climbing abilities or centering herself in a yoga class. Melissa is looking forward to what lies ahead in her journey and is ready for whatever change comes next.