A few days ago I was asked a question, "What are you majoring in?" Of course this is one that I'm asked a lot, whether it be to spark conversation, tell me what a great choice I've made to be doing something I love and believe in, or simply to critique my education career or tell me how I have it all wrong.

There I was in the midst of my work day at the department store I work at and the question pops up. I answer with my elongated response to make the questioner more impressed: "I'm majoring in Fashion Merchandising and minoring in Business or Entrepreneurial Business." But of course, once the word "fashion" comes out of my mouth, no other words are relevant. The immediate reaction I receive, "Oh you are not going to get anywhere with that, I got that degree and look where I am, working retail still at 45."

Sure, a degree in Fashion Merchandising sounds like a dream, or maybe my job will consist of playing dress-up in a closet and selling clothing to people in a department store for the rest of my life (nothing wrong with that). But what people are so quick to deny is that there is so much more than that in a field as broad as Fashion Merchandising. Take the word "fashion" away from the title, and suddenly your major is the most legitimate thing in the world and your life is fully in check. You have all the possibilities will a million companies/ firms/businesses, etc. But if you dare put that "F" word on the front, you have just turned down the wrong road, my friend. No relationship building, no public image improving, no corporate managing, servicing, or coordinating for you. All you will have in store for you is a big slap in the face when you find out that you will be making minimum wage or commission for the rest of your good life.

All right, maybe I went a little overboard with the "assumptions" chapter. But these assumptions truly do happen in our world. Yes, our world is beginning to open their eyes to other ways of life and other possibilities, but we do still have those who will live to discourage you and your chosen path. What they simply don't understand is that there is so much more in the world to discover and become, majors aside. Some of the most popular positions when taking on a career in Fashion Merchandising are: corporate management, human resources, visual merchandising, buyer, coordinator, director, and many more below and above.

Everyone has a different story or a story yet to be told as to why they become passionate about something they want to spend the rest of their life doing, so I feel that it is almost a disrespectful light has been shown in my eyes when I am told I can't do something. My story goes as told. In high school is where I really began to find a love for fashion. I moved around a few times to different schools during my developmental years and the only way I really learned to express my self image and emotion was through clothing. When I got to my final high school, I became close friends with a girl who expressed herself in the same ways. As we hit it off immediately, we began refurbishing thrifted clothing or things we already had. It became a fun hobby for us and then we began selling them on Etsy to see where it would take us. Like many friendships do, ours came and went, but my love for our little amateur business had stayed. I then began to buy clothing for a consignment shop and this is when I found my love for not only the clothing side but the business, but the customer side as well. I am now in school working on my Fashion Merchandising degree, work at Nordstrom where they go above and beyond to accommodate my busy schedule and still understand where my intentions lie, purchase and design my sorority's clothing, and have even had to opportunity to work with a school in Paris this summer, where we met the Visual Merchandising Manager for Louis Vuitton and many other inspiring and amazing contacts. I have become content with the place that i hold in my life because I know I will continue to push myself to get to the very top of my goals.

With anything you do the amount of work you put in is really what you make of it. If you only seek to get your degree in something, it is not enough; you have to seek out the experience too. In this day and age, a degree really acts as a gateway to show that you actually know what you're talking about when you enter a field. Other than basic knowledge, what you learn is on the floor, learning from coworkers, customers and whomever else you run into along the way. It's the amount of work you put into the field that will get you to the place you want to be. So if you're passionate about something, whether it be merchandising in fashion or NASA engineering, you just have to fight for it until you get to your highest point. Never let someone or something discourage you from making it to your dreams, whatever they may be. And always, always, let the discouraging words, the you can'ts, you won'ts, and I nevers, motivate you to push harder for what you believe in.