STEPHANIE ESPOLT
Marketing Manager at McCubbin Hosiery Merchandise Marketing & Management ‘16
What do you do?
I manage 6 licensed brands for hosiery: Tretorn, Pendleton, Life is Good, Free Country, Yummie, and Stride Rite. This includes: 1) Photoshoot Coordination – creating themes/concepts via mood boards for visual direction, scouting locations, scheduling, main contact for communication between photographer, models, and office, prop buying and preparation, styling, and execution of each photo shoot, 2) Catalog Creation – generating professional catalogs for each brand per season by creating visual design and copy that fits within each brand’s guidelines; 3) Art Direction and management for b2b platform- communicating between brand managers to produce the desired brand content per quarter, building visual design and copy for each brand showroom, and creating interactive promotions and informative guides for all users; and 4) Marketing Management for trade shows – designing the booth layout, organizing product placement, creating lifestyle visuals, setting up and breaking down booth space.
What do you enjoy most about your career?
I love having the opportunity to be creative every day. Each brand that I work with has its own aesthetic and guidelines. Building marketing assets upon those are both exciting and rewarding. I love watching projects I’ve worked on for months come to life to the end consumer.
What advice do you have for students?
Although it is exhausting, I think it is very important to be extremely involved in almost every aspect of the fashion industry: market, wholesale, retail, marketing, design, production, graphic design, advertising, and more. Having multiple industry experiences and skill sets can help navigate you to where you want to be and assist in landing you the dream job you want.
What opportunities, decisions, and events have shaped your professional life?
I started my first year at Wade College saying “yes” to everything. I would volunteer as a dresser for fashion shows, work at non-profit events, and take as much internship as possible, style test photo shoots for new models, and work every single Dallas market – this would eventually lead me to working every Vegas, New York, and Atlanta market as well. Constantly being involved allowed me to make great connections, gain A LOT of experience, discover where my strengths are in the industry, and show me what I truly want to do with my career.
Quote that you live by:
“The only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven’t found it yet, keep looking. Don’t settle.” – Steve Jobs