TCD students and faculty attend Kansas City Career Day

27 Oct 2009    

TCD students with KS Career Day keynote Speaker Nancy Taylor (center)

and Taylor's niece, TCD alum Rebecca Taylor of Tomboy, Inc.

and R. Lee Designs (right)

Eight TCD majors accompanied by Dr. Harriet McLeod and Senior Lecturer Carol Easley attended the annual Kansas City Career Day this past Friday, Oct. 23^rd. Joining them was TCD design grad Rebecca Taylor who works for Tomboy Inc. in Kansas City, and who’s recently launched her own business, R. Lee Custom Design.

Rebecca’s aunt Nancy Taylor was the morning keynote speaker at this year’s conference.  She is employed as a designer at Athleta, recently acquired by the GAP.  Athleta has been outfitting women athletes since 1998 from its Sonoma County, CA, headquarters. One competitive advantage Athleta has in the women's active wear is their strong graphics and the fact that their product is designed by women athletes for women athletes . 

Nancy Taylor described her career path from successful couture bridal designer/owner in San Francisco, to NYC where she worked as a designer with a medium-size firm, and then back to SFO and her current position with Athleta.  She encouraged the students to network, hone their computer skills, follow their passion, embrace change, be aware  of trends, take risks, and be open to learning.

TCD students then had the opportunity to tour the Nelson Atkins Museum of Art, site of KC Career Day, with museum docent Donna Houtterman.  The students really enjoyed her tour as she was energetic, her comments were relevant to them as designers, and she constantly involved them in "what do you see?" reflections.

The afternoon keynote speaker was Mr. Kelly Cole, president of Halls, Inc.  He described Halls' history as one of luxury, service, and exclusivity. He will continue this tradition by focusing on people, promotion, and product.  Mr. Cole's advice to students was to work hard, be dependable, work for someone they’d want to imitate, and get hands-on experience, something that TCD students do achieve through TCD’s internship program. 

TCD design major Kathryn Alms received an honorable mention for her design submission.  Along with Kathryn at the Career Day were Natalie Zwygart, Tiffany Hopkins, Katey Kaiser, Madison Simmons, Kiersten Koza, Michelle Higgins and Sylvia Cox. Report submitted by Dr. Harriet McLeod.