1. Tell us why you are applying to the MSc in International Fashion & Luxury Management.
What would your short term and long term professional goals be after graduating from
the program? Please be as specific as possible.

There are two very specific things that I have been passionate about my entire life: Businesses and Fashion. Ever since I can remember I have been inventing new business ideas and entrepreneurial projects, even when I was in my early teen years.
My love from fashion comes from my mother, I have been going to fashion runways, reading about fashion related topics as top fashion designers, textiles, creative thinking for my whole life. I am completely obsessed with everything that express the complexity of high end, luxury, quality and creativity. That is why I am completely sure that the only career that could make me happy for the rest of my life involves the exact name of this masters: International, fashion, luxury and management.

Short term goals:
Full proficiency in French by the end of my MSc.
Getting an internship in a High end fashion brand, preferably Chanel in the marketing area.
Secure a job in a reputable high end industry, Chanel or Karl Lagerfeld marketing team.

Long term:
Found my own lingerie and swimwear high end fashion label.
Found my own luxury jewelry.

2.Describe in a few lines your professional, academic and/or personal experiences on an international level (if applicable).

I am originally from Colombia, but I did my Bachelors in United States, from one of the best business school of the country. I graduated from the University of Miami in Fall 2017 with an International Finance and Marketing BBA degree.
In 2015 in Milan, Italy I did two summer courses at Istituto Marangoni, Fashion production and Fashion business. I learned a lot about textiles and I had the experience of visiting factories and saw the production of clothing for brands such as Gucci.

I think that the best way to expand your creativity and getting out of your comfort zone is by traveling. So during the last years I have visiting 30+ countries. Which have helped me to open my mind in a surreal way, understand cultural differences, style and marketing preferences.

During college I founded a luxury Thai Gelato shop, that became very popular in my hometown Cali, Colombia. I currently have two shops in my hometown and I am going to open a third store in Miami, USA. So I own a international company dissipate my young age. The whole style and concept of my Thai Gelato store is very high-end and experience oriented.

3.Describe and comment upon an accomplishment that you are particularly proud of.

I am extremely proud of my Thai Gelato store (Nelato). I created the whole concept by myself and in less than a year we have 3 stores, 2 in Colombia and 1 in USA, which we are preparing for opening in August 2018. I managed the social media of my business and in less than a year we grow to more than 20,000 organic followers in social media and developed reputable establishment all practically by myself. I started this business concept while I was still in college and I managed to graduate on time with exceptional grades and making my business profitable.
Its an international business with two stores in Colombia and One in United States, and we plan to keep expanding since there is a lot of interest from investors.

I took the idea of gelato, the concept of Thai style ice cream preparation and combine it with a luxury environment that offers new products such as high end liquors, premium and complete natural products and where we create your ice cream any way you want it completely from scratch in a couple of minutes.

Attached photos of product Nelato:

4.Describe a failure or difficulty you have experienced. What did you learn from it? Please tell us how you would react today with the benefit of hindsight.

I am an extremely positive person. Even from the worst situation I try to make the most out of it, and get something positive out of every experience I am involve in. I think a specific situation that marked my life was the year 2016, I was passing by a severe depression, I was not feeling fulfill with my life and I remember I reflected a lot during that summer about my life, goals, and how ungrateful I was being by not valuing my life and in that exact time I got the whole idea of my Thai Gelato concept and business, and that business have completely changed my life, my perspective, I decided to live more, to go outside my comfort zone, travel more, following my passions and dreams deeply a lot more and by that I turned 2017 into the best year of my life, I opened my business, I travel to over 10+ countries just within that year and I promise myself to keep being grateful of waking up alive everyday no matter what situations I am going thru. As humans we are just blessed by the opportunity to be alive, to have a family and people that care for us and we let unimportant things affect us way more that they should. I will continue to keep making my everyday better day by day, because just being a life should be enough reason for my to feel blessed about my life.
Today I wouldn’t let that depression affected me the way it did, but I least I growth a lot from it and learned a lot from that situation that will let me help others who might go thru that depression stage in their life.

5.

Question – The luxury and fashion sectors

What draws you to the luxury and fashion sectors? Why do you think that you would be
successful working in these industries?

I am a hardworking entrepreneur passionate about building companies from the inside and would love to have the opportunity to work in a high end fashion brand and eventually build my own fashion label. From as far as I can remember I have been obsessed with all the luxury fashion brands, I have a lot of knowledge on each creative designer trajectory, heritage brands history. I just can not see myself doing something that does not involve fashion and luxury in my life.
I know I will be successful in this industry because I have an amazing sense of style that came natural to me since I was just a teenager. I am completely passionate about fashion, textiles, high empires and I am the kind of person that does not give up on anything. I started a successful international business when I was still completing my undergrad because I was passionate about creating a luxury Thai gelato experience, and even though it was not easy to make it a reality, I did, so from actual experience I know I can succeed in anything I put my mind on, and my mind have always been extremely focused in fashion, specifically the luxury sector.

6.Tell us about your interest in the creative or artistic fields. Please feel free to comment about a recent memorable or emotional experience that you have had, in relation to them.
For me creativity is everything, being I creative person force you to see way more outside everyones comfort zone, exploring new ways of making current more satisfying of innovative. Thus, I feel a very deep connection with the artistic side.
I design the whole artistic concept of my business, from the the entire innovative design, to the luxury I wanted to present and to keep it extremely experience oriented. This process was a roller customer of emotions and its very satisfying when you see your dreams come thru exactly how you expected them. My idea was to create a business where luxury, experience and customization came together and I did it. You can create your ice cream any way you want it, and you’ll see us preparing it for you using the most premium and quality ingredients at a store that could be confused as a fashion boutique.

Additionally, I made an internship with one of the most successful Colombian designers, where I had the opportunity to make suggestions in the creative designing process, this have been one of the most satisfying experiences of my life. The art process that a designer goes thru to bring from drawings to reality is just amazing.

Attached deigns of Nelato Miami store:

7. Please tell us about one of your passions.

Entrepreneurship. There is something about the whole concept of having an idea, developing a business plan and then bring it to reality that just extremely satisfy me as a person. I am extremely creative when it comes to developing new businesses, and my biggest dream is to be able to develop a successful fashion brand in the future, after I gain more experience in the fashion corporate world. I love everything that involves developing international companies as connecting with new people, learning new languages, understanding different cultures, going thru the ups and downs of every financial and marketing plan.
Everything in life is about constantly keep learning and there is no better way to learn than establishing an entrepreneurial company from scratch. You growth so much as a person, in ways that you could not even imagine.
I love networking and connecting with other entrepreneurs, to learn about other fields, whether its fashion or petroleum, everything is somehow connected and keeps forcing my creativity to greater levels.

8. In conclusion, what are the decisive arguments that could convince us to admit you into the next MSc International Fashion & Luxury Management class?

As I recently explained I am completely passionate about everything related with fashion and business. I might not have a lot of experience in the fashion corporate world but as I prove you from my high-end Thai gelato business, you do not always need experience to make your dreams come thru. Something greater than experience is passion, I did not know anything about gelato or how to make a formula, or how to open a business, or how to manage it. But I did it, I learned everything about gelato, I learned everything about the Thai style preparation, I started developing my business and marketing plan and in less than a year I have an international company with three locations and multiple of investors trying to get a franchise from us.
I plan to learn way more about fashion, to keep developing my sense of style, to network with future classmates, to bring all my cultural background to the table, my experience building a business and my passion for fashion to be successful within my masters and most importantly after securing a job in a high fashion brand marketing team.

I could just conform with the success of my current business, but as I previously told you my biggest dream is to have my own high end lingerie and swimwear fashion label. First phase to achieve this dream is to gain more knowledge and experience in the corporate sector which gain within my masters at IFM. The second phase, is to secure a job in a luxury heritage fashion brand and develop fashion experience and connections. Final phase, open my fashion label and make it successful.

Finally, I am a strong, persistent, independent, determine, responsible, with high international background, and most importantly I am a fashion addict, so I know I will be an excellent addiction for the 2019 MSc International Fashion & Luxury Management class.