Behind the scene

What do we think of first when someone mentions Minnesota? Some would say home of wheat products or home of the famous Minnesota Twins, but I think a lot of people would agree with me when I say that the Mall of America is the first thing that comes to mind. The mall is amazingly huge and it’s known for being one of the largest retail and entertainment centers in the world. One person who currently works for them now and is partially responsible for all the media attention and publicity that the Mall of America gets is Erica Dao.

Erica Dao is the mall’s media relations specialist; she is responsible for more than over 400 events each year. Her main goal is to drive traffic through the mall; targeting mainly cities from around the Midwest such as Madison and Chicago. Erica’s job as she describes it is “98% preparation and 2% execution”. Her job consists of her moving around all day, checking her black berry for emails, pulling/borrowing items from retailers, reaching out to sources, pulling information, and most importantly feeding stories to the public. She relies heavily on local magazines, newspapers, and news stations to report on her stories. Some of her biggest struggles are staying on top of everything and balancing everything such as pressure and her personal life. At the end of the day though she loves her job and unlike most hard workers she has a pretty balanced personal life as well. Lucky for her she’s blessed with working a normal 9-5 shift and occasionally some over time during the weekends.

On August 13, 2010, me and four other lucky students got the privileged to actually meet Erica Dao in person. In our small group she described how she landed her job as a media relations specialist. She started off by saying that she is indeed from Minnesota herself and she actually graduated at St. Thomas. Her degree was in broadcast journalism, where she had high dreams of doing red carpet journalism. However, after years of moving out of state and working with a news team she decided news was not her passion. She had heard about an opening at the Mall of America, the position was called public relations coordinator. She crossed her fingers and later got the news that she had got the position. Later on during her career she got promoted to her position now as a media relations specialist.
Her easy going story definitely gave me a lot of hope for a successful turnout after college. It was a pleasure to meet her and everything she does is truly fascinating to me.

HMStyling Hollie Mae Schultz

Angelic is what walked through the doors of room 13 on Tuesday the 3rd of August. I was immediately mesmerized by her presence. I felt under dressed and awkward as she moved through the room so gracefully. Even her assistant, A.J, had something unique and compelling about her.


 Let me introduce you to fashion stylist Hollie Mae. Ms. Mae has a degree in public health and sociology with a minor in dancing. Having no educational background in fashion styling, Hollie found her true calling to fashion through an apprenticeship she had with her cousin. This person bridged the gap between Hollie and the fashion world. After years of assisting, Hollie knew that she needed to break out if she ever wanted to make it on her own. She gathered all the information she knew, made some calls, created new relationships, and started her business from scratch, HMStyling. Her first job came from Target Corporation, where she was able to work with designer Isaac Mizrahi. This one job, literally, launched her career into Minneapolis's fashion industry.

HMStyling is not the only styling business in the Metro area, but has an edge over the others. Hollie knows what it takes to be at the top of her game, and how to compete with her competitors. "Coming to work everyday with a smile and a great attitude is one of the best features a person can have."-Hollie Mae. Knowing this fact she applies this simple measure to every job she has.

Hollie leads one of those exciting lives, the ones most of us wish we had. Yes, she is extremely busy, yes, she barely has time for any sort of social life, but when building a brand that's what it takes to succeed. Her 'social life' consists of fashion shows and cocktail parties, where she most likely is promoting herself. With tall this sacrifice comes success. Eventually she will have a large enough company, where she will be able to take time off and be with friends, but for now, it's all about growth.

Hollie isn't alone in her brand building adventure. Her assistant A.J. was  kind enough to share her insight into the world they share together. A.J is a model turned assistant, hopeful to break into the production side of photo shoots and videos. She is literally Hollie's other half. Keeping her on track, sell aware, and grounded. With a type A personality, A.J finds herself pulled to the production side of styling. She wants to be in charge of all the behind the scenes happenings, from where the shoot will be, who will be there, to having double stick tape ready in case of emergency.

After having had the pleasure of meeting these two amazing women, I settled down in my chair. Their presence was engaging and friendly. I no longer felt like I didn't belong. If you have styling on your brain and can't help but get it out a few tips from the pro's will help:
1. Always be professional
2. Show up on time, never late, don't make people wait for you.
3. Be prepared, have all the equipment you think you'll need, even if it seems like too much.
4. Work hard, play harder.
5. Love what you do, it will truly become you.


Worth Mentioning....
As if Hollie doesn't have enough on her plate, she is also the co-founder of Project Healthy Smile, which provides dental education to children in East Asian countries. Check out their website to see how you can help!

we paid a visit to. . .

Mr. William Clark.

“Fashion is a man-made flower: Sown by the artist, cultivated by those of taste, harvested by all who love beauty.” This is William Clark’s personal mission statement, in which he admittedly, ‘stole’ from an old vacuum box. A few of us were lucky enough to visit William Clark’s personal studio, for a couple of hours, as we sat down with one of our metro’s greatest fashion photographers. Born and raised in Montreal, Quebec, William Clark approaches photography with an open mind and a more contemporary perspective. He is known for his ability to take risks, for he is never satisfied with the status quo. William got his start as a photography assistant, for a company called Image Studios Inc., in Appleton, Wisconsin. He then moved to Chicago, where, he claims to have enjoyed the energy of the city, but it just wasn’t for him.

                         

Following that, Clark moved to Minneapolis, where he now lives with his wife, his two-year-old daughter, and another on the way. He quickly found that there were endless opportunities for fashion photography in Minnesota and it has been his passion ever since, stating that, “Fashion has the biggest room for creativity.” William has been capturing images for editorial and advertising purposes, for over a decade. Some of his clients include Macy’s, Target, Mall of America and Metro Magazine. William’s true area of interest, in which he claimed to enjoy the most, lies in producing collaborative works for his own portfolio. This usually involves working with ‘an army,’ as William called it, made up of a photographer (himself), an assistant, an art director, a designer, hair and makeup artists, a style team and a prop’s team. All members work together to make a vision come to life, on the day of the shoot. “Everyone brings something different; everyone sacrifices, everyone wins,” William revealed.

When speaking of initial inspiration, William explained that the first step to executing a successful shoot is a concept, which could stem from something as simple as a word or an image. From there, a story is made, a production team is assembled, model casting is held, shooting begins and the rest is history. William spoke of the importance of knowing that you are only as good as the people you work with and that both collaboration and networking are two, key factors to consider when working in this industry. As a fashion student, taking my first photography class, my graduating quarter, I found this experience to be both fascinating and inspiring – Fortunately, I was able to get my hands on a business card.

Posted by: Kelsey Durken
Pictures via http://www.williamclarkphotography.com/