Rebecca Allen, New York, NY
I truly feel that my experience getting to work closely with Rebecca Allen as a design intern changed my perspective not only on my career interests, but on how I can be of most use to society. I applied and accepted this position primarily because I felt so strongly about Rebecca’s mission to bring shade and size inclusivity to shoes for women of all backgrounds, but as my summer closes, I realize I gained a strengthened sense of self-purpose in addition to inner industry knowledge about issues facing women and women of color in particular.
Because I was one of only two interns working closely with the founder and CEO in a company launched earlier this year, I experienced an extremely wide range of work. From customer service to brand strategy to outreach and calls with other empowering brands, Rebecca allowed us to do it all. Primarily, however, I felt I was able to hone my design skills as an artist, creator, and conscious user-experience designer. I worked to align the artistic imagery of the brand with its empowering and inclusive mission, keeping in mind the social tides of our time and the ultimate development of a delightful user experience. Some specific projects included the redesign of the email funnel from basic MailChimp templates to graphically designed ones, curating brand photographs and copy for social media and outreach, and using Adobe Illustrator and Sketch to make illustrations. These were the projects I found most rewarding. In making the email funnel, I created six designs from a mixture of photography, text, and illustrator sketching, which the other intern Beatrice then executed in HTML code. For brand photography and copy, I got to help out with a photoshoot and product layouts, edit photographs, and write copy to accompany some of them. Finally, when illustrating, I really enjoyed getting the challenge of turning shade-inclusive photoshoots and images of strong women into digital art and then figuring out how to make them usable across mediums.
Clearly, this was a rewarding experience for which I am extremely grateful. I have nothing but positive and proud feelings toward Rebecca Allen and the brand’s small but mighty team. I have never worked at a start-up, nor have I worked directly with a female CEO with only female coworkers. Every day, Rebecca inspired me as a working, soon-to-be-mother who never seemed to have a down day. I also got to work closely with Beatrice, the other intern, and as a team of three I felt we all worked quite well together using our diverse strengths, skills, and personalities. I believe more strongly than ever in the brand’s mission, and I feel like the fact that all of us could relate to some degree to the pain points it works to address made me feel all the more passionate about our work.
And while I learned so much about design, managing a start-up, and working collaboratively with a small team, I think my most important takeaways were more pensive ones. I have been incredibly fortunate to live a privileged and honestly sheltered life, and my prior experiences (and lack thereof) combined with attending Williams have given me a lot to think about and struggle with in where I stand in society, which battles I must fight, and how to navigate and take part productively in difficult discussions. Hearing from Rebecca about her time on Wall Street and about discrimination she has faced in the past as a Jewish woman of color, coupled with hearing stories from customers about their own, similar experiences, made me realize how something as simple as a nude shoe (which I’ve taken for granted) has wide-reaching implications for society. The “nude” fashion industry, from shoes to clothing to makeup, and the broader fashion industry are literally a part of everyday life. Fashion seems fun and trivial until one realizes the alarming truth that racial and social disparities are wrought deeply into how we dress and, subsequently, how we may feel about ourselves. There are so many forms of privilege, but I don’t think most people realize the privilege they possess in being able to shop at all price points and find items that fit them both size and shade-wise. Though obviously not as blatant as other forms of discrimination, excluding groups by ignoring their needs or putting them in alternative sections only perpetuates the white, skinny, heteronormative narrative and the all-else “abnormal” one. Put simply, it is wrong that the word “nude” as a fashion descriptor automatically conjures a light shade of beige to the minds of most people. It is wrong that millions of women are simply ignored by mainstream brands for their skin-tone or size needs. While it’s wonderful that people like Rebecca Allen and Rihanna are using their resources and platforms to bring shade inclusivity to white-normative industries, it’s appalling that this is ground we’re only recently breaking.
Moving forward, I will take what I learned during my experience this summer and do my best to apply it to my future decisions. While still at Williams, I think I will continue with my planned double major in psychology and economics, but with a new interest in combining those areas of study to look at statistical disparities between groups. Learning about the pay gap for minorities, women, and especially women of color this summer when writing copy for Rebecca really influenced how I think about my impact and privilege once I am a Williams grad. It has become more important than ever to me that even if my place in society is a pretty comfortable one with not a lot of obstacles, I still need to consider the implications of all my actions as a reflection on minorities and women. Even if I am lucky enough to have a smooth path, I will be more mindful of all those who did not, and work to equalize such opportunities. Also, after hearing Rebecca speak of her experience on Wall Street (and I do not mean any of this as a disparagement to financial careers) I think I will enter recruiting season with a more critical and cautious eye than before. Knowing that institutional biases pervade, and that “company culture” can oftentimes be synonymous with “elitism and exclusion” will definitely influence how I choose to live my professional life. Also, after working with a team of strong women who are their own bosses, I feel like eventually I would like to similarly work for myself on projects of great personal significance.
The summer of 2018 exceeded my wildest expectations, and I am simply so grateful to have been afforded this opportunity by Rebecca Allen, Williams College, and the Alumni Sponsored Internship Program. It’s really amazing the importance that Williams puts on giving students like myself these experiences. Thank you, so much, to Peter ’79 and Laurie ’79 Thomsen for sponsoring me through the Thomsen 1979 Fund for Entrepreneurship—I am grateful not only for the immediate abilities this gave me, but also for the life-changing perspectives I gained. Thank you to Rebecca Allen, for providing me with such a strong example of leadership and empowerment this summer. Finally, thank you to Dawn Dellea and the ’68 Center for Career Exploration for all the hard work and time dedicated to ensuring hundreds of students get the assistance and guidance necessary to have these experiences that set Williams apart from its peers.
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