When I was younger, I wanted to be a ballerina. A ballerina was the most amazing job I could possibly think of at 5 years old. Due to unforeseen circumstances, I had to give up dance before I entered middle school and my hopes of being a ballerina teacher were forsaken. Then, I wanted to be a teacher. I constantly helped my mother, an elementary school teacher, with setting up her classroom and creating fun activities. Then after being laid off, my father became a middle school math teacher, expanding my exposure to the world of education. Being around this profession, influenced me to want to make a difference in someone’s life by teaching them everything they needed to know so they can continue on into the world and be someone.

When it came time for me to choose my major, I declared business. One month into the school year, I called my parents stating I would be changing my major to elementary education. They hung up on me. Someday, I will have to thank them for that.

Now, here I am, 7 months from graduation with a major in business administration, minor in economics and communications, and concentrations in marketing and management. There are various individuals out there with their respective views of this major, but I have found it to be a saving grace. You can do just about anything with a business degree and I have been blessed to experience internships with TJ Maxx, Sam’s Club, and Hallmark Cards throughout my time in college which have all shaped me into the young professional I am today.

Now, let’s get to the point. Since you can do so much with business, what is it that I plan on doing? I have aspirations to work in the fashion industry as a buyer. A buyer has the responsibility of researching, analyzing, and negotiating products with the ultimate result of deciding which products will end up on store shelves for consumers to purchase.

Why the fashion industry? When people ask me this open-ended question, my mind runs off to a younger Amber, who would go into her mom’s closet and steal her clothes and dress up when she wasn’t looking. My grandparents used to bring fun dresses and silly shoes with small heels, and when I was all dolled up I would walk around thinking I was the best dressed girl in the house. When people ask me, I tell them I want to love what I do till the day I retire. Fashion is all around us, but it took me some time to realize that I could make a living out of that passion.

Even if you don’t care about it, you are subconsciously participating in fashion every day. How? When you get dressed in the morning, when you walk into a mall, when you look at the way someone is dressed. When I say fashion, you probably think of Michael Kors, Yves Saint Laurent, Dior, etc. Fashion, by definition, is the way of exhibiting a certain way of doing something or a popular trend. It’s all around us, and it’s my passion. Someone recently told me that if I love fashion, then I need to publically show it. So, I logged onto Instagram and joined the wave of being a fashion blogger. My platform, @suarezstyle, is still young, but it is giving me a better idea of what people are liking and helping me better get my name out there.

It was not easy to find out that this was what I wanted to do. I pass all of this information and story onto you to get you inspired and motivated. If knowing what you wanted to do with your life was easy, we would all have college degrees and our perfect, full-time jobs by the time we were 18. However, it takes plenty of research and experience to find yourself and where you fit best. You’re going to find a door that you really want to go through. You’ll have pulled the knob one-hundred times. Right when you want to walk away on that 101^st try, the door will finally open. You’ll sit and wonder why it took 101 tries, but what you need to understand is, it took all 100 tries for the door to finally open. You can’t give up. Find yourself and you’ll find your path.