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Alumni Interview: Vanessa Tafoya, Bachelor Fashion Marketing

Get to know:

Name: Vanessa Tafoya
Nationality: American
AV���� Campus: Paris
Program studied: Bachelor Fashion Marketing & Management
Favourite course: Branding because it teaches you how to be intentional about what you communicate to your audience when marketing your brand
Current project: Working as an apprentice at AV���� Paris and starting my own upcycled clothing brand
Fashion inspiration: Pre-loved clothing because it tells a story and is an easy sustainable choice to make

Tell us a bit about yourself and your background - who you are, where you come from and what got you interested in studying fashion.

I’m from Los Angeles, the United States, and from a very early age I found my one true passion was fashion and styling. I also started learning French when I was ten and the more my two passions grew, the more I knew I wanted to combine them.

Vanessa Tafoya

I found AV���� Paris and I found it to be the perfect place for me. I knew what my end goal was and I appreciated that AV���� Paris’ course offering really hit all the important aspects I wanted to learn.

What are you currently doing and what’s most exciting about it?

After some reflection, I’ve decided to start an upcycled-clothing brand which is about taking statement pieces from different decades and adapting them into wearable fashion for today. I feel like I’ve always appreciated pre-owned clothing, particularly from the 80’s, and how there is already beauty in pieces from previous decades.

It’s exciting because I never pictured myself starting a brand, but I realised I wanted to start this to share my love and passion with other people.

What skills did you learn at AV���� Paris that helps you in your current role?

At AV���� Paris I learned how to be organised and I learned strong marketing tools that help bring broad concepts into something more concrete when launching a business. Also, the different cultures and the fashion and art references.

Vanessa Tafoya

In FOUR words, describe your AV���� Paris experience.

Enriching, challenging, eye-opening and growth!

What words of wisdom do you have for current and any future AV���� Paris students?

Take advantage of being placed in a fashion capital like Paris and the many resources available to fashion students. Don’t be afraid to risks!

If you could choose three things to include for an AV���� Paris “survival toolkit”, what would they be?

A Business of Fashion subscription (online magazine), a laptop, and a good attitude.

�ղ��Ա������’s top tips for: Paris

Cheap eats: It’s this place called Happy Nouilles for Chinese, specialized in soups for a really good price
Place to hangout with friends: The Opera/Pyramides district because there is a lot of fashion and food
Getting around: An app called CityMapper, it’s a life saver!
Relaxing: Getting a Velib (rentable bicycle) and cycling through the many “faces” Paris has to offer
Favourite word in local language: Genre (“like” in English); I say it so much in English so I found the equivalent in French.

Find more information on program pursued by Vanessa: Bachelor Fashion Marketing & Management

It is now also available online for distance learning