Roseish

Butterflies flutter in Mina’s stomach as she stands outside of the elegant french doors. One hand holding her coffee from the cafe next door and the other gripping the door handle. It was only a week ago that she’d interviewed for the internship position. The weeks prior to that, she met with her career counselor almost daily to prepare. As an Apparel Technical Design major, she is required to complete at least a three-month internship before her graduation. Mina started her final year of school in October and since then, she’s been eager to start working in the industry. She was able to schedule all her classes on two days of the week, which allows her to intern for the other three weekdays.&nbsp;

Mina has been following Roseish for about a year now. Their approach to production and ready-to-wear intrigued her. Roseish is known for being a carbon-neutral company from day one. When they made their debut, only a handful of clothing brands were dedicated to tracking their carbon footprint. Between her other choices for internships, Mina liked that Roseish was still a small company with only a few employees.&nbsp;

Now, Mina takes in a deep breath in an attempt to force the butterflies in her stomach to subside as she pulls on the door. She’s greeted by a girl with dirty blonde hair, wide-set blue eyes, and a slender frame. “Good morning, do you have an appointment?”

Mina shakes her head and clears her throat. “My name’s Mina. I’m, um, the new intern.”

The girl’s blue eyes widened as the realization hit her. She touches her temple, shaking her head. “Right, I’m so sorry. I totally forgot you were starting today. Let me call Taylor.”

“It’s okay. I am a little early.” Mina mutters.

The girl waves her hand dismissively as she walks back to the counter, picking up the phone. “Better to be early than late. Either way, Taylor’s pretty chill as long as you let her know.” She punches in an extension and rests the phone between her ear and shoulder. “Hey Tay. The new intern is here. Do you want me to bring her up? Okay.” The girl hangs up and turns back to Mina. “She’ll be down in a second. By the way, I’m Faye, one of the Stylists and Showroom Associates.”

Mina and Faye turn their attention to the rose gold spiral staircase behind the counter as they hear excited footsteps on metal. Taylor beams as she steps off the landing and maneuvers around Faye and the counter. “Mina, hi! How are you?”

“Good.” Mina says as Taylor hugs her. “I’m excited to be here.”

“We’re excited to have you. Welcome to Roseish.” Taylor steps back and moves her hands in an outward motion in front of her. “I’ll give you a quick tour and introductions. The first floor is our showroom, where we present our final samples available for pre-order. Our fitting room is down here as well, so on the days we have fittings our showroom is closed except for order pickups.” Taylor pauses upon seeing Mina’s slightly raised hand.

“Twice a month. The first and third Tuesday of the month. But we have virtual fittings on CLO3D whenever necessary. Are you familiar with CLO3D?”

“A little bit. My school had a workshop for it that I attended.”

“No worries. I’ll send you some helpful youtube tutorials for it that I learned from. They didn’t have the workshop while I was in school, so I’m self-taught.”

&nbsp;Mina nods as she pulls out her pocket-sized bullet journal she bought specifically for the internship. As Taylor continues, she takes notes.

“You already met Faye. Elise is the other Stylist and Showroom Associate.” Faye waves behind the counter while Mina smiles at her before following Taylor through a curtain behind the counter. “Good morning Elise.” Taylor says, greeting a girl with dark curly hair and deep-set brown eyes.

“Good morning Taylor.” Elise smiles at her boss before taking notice of Mina. “Are you the new intern?”

Mina nods while Taylor says, “yes, this is Mina. I’m just giving her the tour.”

Before returning to work, Elise nods and says, “Well, it was nice meeting you, Mina. Welcome to the team.”

“The bathroom and utility storage closet are right here. And the breakroom and shipment closet is down the hall. Did you bring lunch?”

“There’s a fridge in the breakroom if you want to store it in there. There’s also a microwave, sink, mugs, and a kettle to make tea or coffee. But you get a discount at BeLight if you show them your Roseish ID card, which we’ll get handled for you today.” Taylor smiles at Mina’s raised eyebrows. “My husband is the owner of BeLight.”

After Mina puts her lunch in the fridge, she follows Taylor through the curtain and up the rose gold staircase to the third level. As they pass the second floor, Mina gawks at the racks of clothes on display. This is her first time in the building since Taylor held all the interviews next door at BeLight Cafe.&nbsp;

They pause for a moment on the landing on the second floor. “This is our sample closet. Every style we’ve produced can be found here. We don’t sell any of the showroom samples, so we have at least one of every size of each style. The colors vary, but you’re more than welcome to borrow anything from the closet as long as you let Elise and Faye know. They’re in charge of keeping track of all our showroom samples and pre-orders. So if you’re looking for something specific, they’ll know where to find it.”

They continued up the stairs, finally reaching the third floor. Two 36” by 60” standing tables abide along the back wall of the building. The bathroom is in the corner closest to the stairwell. The wall adjacent to the stairs is lined with two clothing racks and some wall shelving. On the far end of the room, three desks facing inward are situated on the far end of the room. A large cork board with sketches, swatches, and photos is hanging on the wall between the desks. A girl with shoulder length auburn hair sat at the desk on the right side of the cork board. Across from her, Taylor occupies the desk opposite of her. A third desk complete with dual monitors, an ipad, and other office essentials occupies the space beside Taylor’s desk.

“Your desk is right over here, next to mine.” Taylor says. “Laurel sits across from us. She’s our Social Media and Marketing Director and Writer. Laurel, this is Mina, our new intern.”

“Nice to meet you, Mina.” Laurel smiles before going back to work.

“You can set your purse down.” Taylor says.&nbsp;

Mina nods compliantly and sets her purse on her new desk. She follows Taylor over to the clothing racks.&nbsp;

“These are approved samples for next year’s spring and summer collection. Pre-orders open up today so we can have production complete by April. That’s what Laurel is working on today. That board over there is our mood board for the season. We have meetings quarterly to talk about our inspiration for the season and reflect on how well we executed our vision or what needs improvement. The pattern drafting tables are free to use for measuring samples or if you just need extra space. And the bathroom is right there.” Taylor gestures at a door on the other side of the pattern drafting tables. “Any questions so far?”

“Um, could you review my responsibilities and how I clock in and out?”

“Oh, yeah of course!” Taylor and Mina walk back to their desks. “You’ll fill out your timecard in Gusto. As for your responsibilities, your biggest task will be updating and keeping track of the SSR, our Sample Status Report. It can be updated all in excel, everyone has access to it. I’ll also check it daily, so you don’t have to worry about playing catch up on the days you aren’t here. You’ll assist me with CAD illustrations, trend researching, commenting on fit samples every now and then, and any other tasks I may need help with. On occasion, Laurel may need your assistance, but she’ll double check with me and you first. I don’t want you to feel overwhelmed. So if you have too much on your plate, please don’t hesitate to tell me.”

“Lastly, fittings and photoshoots. You’ll be responsible for preparing for fittings and putting together the fit list, which you’ll send to me and our fit model. You’re also required to attend fittings and take notes during the fittings. All samples need to be steamed and measured before the fittings. If you don’t have time to measure the whole garment, let me know and I would be happy to help. Elise and Faye are also available to help measure samples as well. Also, if your school schedule allows, you can attend photoshoots. Photoshoots are on the last Friday of the month. Laurel will send out an email invite the Monday before or the Friday before. Unlike the fittings, it’s not mandatory, but I think it would be a good experience for you. I know this is a lot to take in, so feel free to ask me any questions.”

Mina glances at her notebook. She’d written four full pages of notes regarding important dates, her responsibilities, and new coworkers. “I think I’m okay for now. Thank you.”

“Awesome! I’m so excited to have you on the team.” Taylor beams

Mina smiles. “Thank you. I’m excited to get started and expand my horizons.”

I wrote this short story following Mina, the new intern at Roseish. Since I wrote a little bio for the other characters, I’ll include one here about Mina.&nbsp;

Mina is soft-spoken, loyal, and extremely neat and organized, which works in her favor having to balance school and work. Her easy-going nature enables her to adapt to whatever Taylor needs assistance with.&nbsp;

The purpose of these short stories are to follow Roseish’s journey as a brand. Originally, I planned on having all the employees already working at Roseish, but my husband, Jarren, gave me the idea of having a new intern join the company so the readers can put themselves in Mina’s shoes as she’s learning more about the ins and outs of Roseish. Although the short stories will follow all of the characters, there will be some like this one where it’s written more from Mina’s perspective since she is still learning about the brand’s processes and its core values just like all of you.&nbsp;

These first two stories were written to familiarize you with the characters and ultimately set the scene of where all of the stories are taking place. As I continue to write more short stories, I intend on diving into more of the design process and the designs themselves. With every garment I produce, my goal is to post a blog or story about the creation of the garment and why I chose specific fabric, trims, and etc. In addition, I will use these stories to answer any questions you might have regarding the core values of Roseish and how I intend to uphold those values.&nbsp;

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