I’ve always loved creating. Throughout my childhood, I was known for constantly doodling in my notebooks, ruining the pages with my art. I tapped into my artistry in 4th grade when I began painting landscapes and continue to do so today. Yet, because paintings take so much time and concentration, found another outlet to channel my creativity, its clothing. Every day when I dress, I try to consider the designers objective and why they constructed the piece: was it to tell a story, to make art, for functionality…who knows? I surely don’t, but the thought process is something that I am fascinated to uncover. Majoring in fashion textile management with a concentration in fashion product development, will give me the opportunity to express my creativity in a multitude of settings. I look forward to sharing my time and space with like-minded people who coexist to uplift and give me the freedom to be my authentic self. Sharing space with a community of individuals who have similar interests and who inspire and motivate my gifts is an environment that I need to be in, in order to reach my full potential. Fashion and Textile Management at NC State channels all aspects of design that speak to me creatively, having a desire to buy, style, market, and develop products. The diverse staff network at NC State will also afford me connections that are necessary to be successful in my profession as a fashion mogul. Throughout my first semester at State, my career objectives morphed a multitude of times. I started the year wanting to be a creative director, but found it challenging to get to that point in just four years. I didn’t really know who to connect with on campus or how to connect at home, but the projects I had to execute in classes such as Freshman Advancement Seminar and Introduction to the College of Textiles helped guide my thought process. After researching different fashion careers, I realized it wouldn’t be so easy becoming a creative director; I’d need to work my way up the fashion ladder…literally! Researching fashion careers helped visualize my career path and what efforts I needed to make to get there. It is my desire to begin my career as a technical designer, where in I’ll assist head designers in constructing pieces and working through the technical aspects of creating a garment. Thankfully, my concentration in product development, which focuses on creating a product from scratch and developing the details, will give me the skills and connections necessary to become a successful technical designer who can later transition into a creative director.

As I think through this question, I realize that several pieces of who I am complete a complicated puzzle that makes me…me! I’ve always loved creating. Throughout my childhood, I was known for constantly doodling in my notebooks, ruining the pages with my art. I tapped into my artistry in 4th grade when I began painting landscapes and continue to do so today. Yet, because paintings take so much time and concentration, found another outlet to channel my creativity, its clothing. Every day when I dress, I try to consider the designers objective and why they constructed the piece: was it to tell a story, to make art, for functionality the options are endless? I’ve concluded that a major in textiles will give me the opportunity to express my creativity in a variety of approaches and being around like-minded people will help motivate and stimulate my individual expression. Whether I’m majoring in textile design or fashion design, I know that my studies will guide me to a successful career in the apparel industry! My creative education has changed over the years, from classical painting to nail art to graphic design. One day, as I scrolled through Youtube recommendations, I came across a nail art tutorial. At thirteen, I was heavily into different subcultures, so I was confused as to why I was getting recommendations for nail videos, giving into temptation I clicked on the thumbnail. While watching the video, I was fascinated by how much skill, talent, and concentration went into making the perfect set of bright blue, ocean inspired nails. I looked down at my bewildering phalanges and realized they were unkept, so after watching numerous tutorials, I had a striking urge to paint. I was comfortable with painting landscapes on ginormous canvases, but not straight lines on fingers, and even though my first attempt was messy, I was super proud for being able to paint my nails and rocked my set with confidence. The problem was, I couldn’t find the same confidence outside of my bedroom. I descended the stairs of my home, hesitant to show my parents what I had created. I walked into the kitchen, facing my fears of confrontation, my ears invisibly burning under the edges of my hair and showed my parents my work. To my surprise, they embraced my growth as an artist, but I wasn’t confident enough to keep my nails painted for school. Scared and timid I departed middle school with naked nubs, in preparation for my first day of high school. With my nail art journey, the women in my family were ecstatic that I had finally taken an interest in being “girly.” Open to their suggestions I gave into my grandmother’s pressures and went to a nail salon for a professional nail treatment. The salon cut off all the growth I’d made over the summer which cut my confidence as well. I walked away from that experience with bright blue nubs on my sausage fingers, feeling dejected and unkempt. After that horrendous experience at the nail salon, I vowed never to go back. I went to the store and probably bought the worst nail products ever that my unemployed fourteen-year-old self could afford and became my very own nail technician. As my nails slowly grew, I realized how proud I was for being able to grow from picking my nails in elementary school to keeping them long and healthy in high school. As I’ve continued to find interesting designs to sculpt onto my nails, I’ve realized that for me my nails represented empowerment, strength, and confidence, allowing me to be myself. I’ve since rocked my glittery, dark nails down the halls of my school with regularity. My education then leads me in another direction…into the world of graphic design. At the beginning of my junior year of high school, I walked into a room of iMac computers and moved immediately to the back, my teacher shut the door and welcomed the class to multimedia and webpage design. I had no idea what this entailed, only that it was required for graduation. Throughout the semester, I learned to use Adobe Illustrator, InDesign, Photoshop, Dreamweaver, Audition, and Animate. These programs introduced me to graphic design and my untapped interest in creating art electronically. I’ve always been able to make magic with a paintbrush but drawing never came easy. When we began using Adobe Illustrator, I assumed we would be required to free hand, and I was petrified that my artistic abilities weren’t up to par. To my surprise, Illustrator and the other Adobe programs don’t require actual drawing skill, it's more so an understanding of how to use the program to create. My initial trepidation soon transformed into an outlet that unmask my inner artist. As I move towards the end of my childhood and high school graduation, I can look back and recognize that my parents attempted to shield me from the world during my youth, but all that changed after their marriage dissolved. Though I’ve always enjoyed school, I found that I used my education as a tool or escape to cope with the trauma of my parent’s fighting and ultimately their pending divorce, I grew to love school and the freedoms it provided me. With my enthusiasm for learning, came my desire to serve my community. Volunteerism became another outlet where I could serve and create outside of my home. Juggling school, work, volunteering, and my emotions all at once proved difficult, but I was determined not to let any adversities hinder me from prospering. I learned how to prioritize and manage my busy life schedule just in time to now embark on what I want to be a tremendous college career, making me an effective student that is ready to handle whatever life throws her way. My parents separating helped me develop a spirit of independence, dedication to my studies, positive coping mechanisms and a desire to help others through work, creativity and volunteerism.

My art has taken me to many different places. I began with detailed abstract doodles in my notebooks as a child and then took formal art classes in elementary school where I created beautiful landscapes on large canvases. Surprisingly, my family still has my childish paintings hanging in our house and they even helped me get into the college of my dreams. Recently, my art has been more concentrated in nail art and graphic design. I started growing my nails when I was 14 and I would experiment with different color and glitter combinations, but it wasn’t until I was around 17 that I started actually drawing on my nails. I wasn’t confident in my artistic skills before, but a switch flipped in me and I began to paint shapes and different intricate designs on my nails. One of my recent designs was a monarch butterfly, which took me about 5 hours to complete both hands because of all the detail required, but the results were worth all the effort. I began with graphic design in high school when I had to take multimedia and webpage design and fell in love with the variety of Adobe programs. That was when I realized that you didn’t have to be amazing at drawing or painting to be an artist and I think that realization helped me get to the point that I’m at now. My main inspirations for my art are my family and my love of music. My grandmother is a huge fan of artwork; her home is covered in paintings from around the world and every time I walk into her house, I get inspiration for a new nail design. Trying to condense a whole painting to fit onto a surface that is only an inch long can be challenging, but when I plan the design over my ten nails, my stress is lessened and I just have to worry about executing the designs I created in my head. My other inspiration is music; I listen to a variety of genres, from Korean Pop to American Rap, leaving me numerous inspirations to draw from. I usually try and incorporate an album's colors or theme into my nail art. Using Brockhamptons’ album ‘iridescene’ as the creative genius for my nail pattern the beginning of my senior year of high school, they were blue and rainbow marbled, to mirror the thermal imaging present on the cover of the album art. I even placed pieces of paper on my nails with the group's logo to fully immerse my nails in the look. This scholarship will give me the money and connections necessary to become a prosperous artist. I hope to one day have my own nail business where I create custom artistic nail designs for customers. The scholarship would give me the funds necessary to set up a business, promote myself, and buy the supplies necessary to be a successful nail art composer!