Chaifetz School Graduate Meghan Loftus Shares NYC Fashion Experience Through Podcast
Chaifetz School of Business graduate Meghan Loftus discusses her experience moving from the Midwest to New York City to pursue a career in fashion.
Meghan Loftus (CSB ‘19) has always been interested in fashion. But for a girl with midwestern roots, pursuing a career in the fashion industry was no simple task. Loftus currently works on the wholesale team at Marc Jacobs in New York City and was recently promoted to Junior Account Executive. Getting there took a lot of hard work, interning and networking in St. Louis and beyond.
“I always knew that my goal was to end up in New York,” Loftus said. “However, coming from the Midwest, I never understood the different types of career paths within the fashion industry, or where people like me could learn more about these opportunities.”
During her time as an undergraduate student, Loftus spent summers learning more about
the industry by interning at different fashion houses in New York. She attributes
much of her current success to the hours of hard work she put in while she was still
in school. Loftus says that after she moved to New York to start her career with Marc
Jacobs, she started getting calls from friends and fellow SLU students who wanted
to hear more about her experiences in fashion and New York.
Loftus wanted to find a way to broadly share her success and experience with those who, like her, weren’t raised in the “epicenter of fashion.”
“I found that I had this opinion and voice that could be used in a different way,” Loftus said. “That’s what inspired me to start my podcast, Raw & Real NYC.”
The podcast, Loftus said, was initially supposed to launch in March. Then the COVID-19 pandemic hit, followed by new growth and energy in the Black Lives Matter movement, and Loftus decided to postpone the launch for several months.
“With everything going on, and the importance of the Black Lives Matter movement, we felt there were more important voices to be heard at the time,” Loftus said. The podcast launch was pushed to June. Since then, Meghan and her co-host, Samantha Jenkins, have produced 15 episodes, which feature interviews with buyers, celebrity stylists, visual merchandisers and other professionals working in the fashion industry.
“We really like to have an array of guests to give our audience a full view of what it’s like to work in fashion,” Loftus said, noting that newcomers to the field are often unaware of the many types of careers available. As the podcast continues to grow, she hopes it will become a resource for fashion hopefuls who are looking to learn about the ups and downs of moving to New York and beginning a career in a challenging industry.
Loftus’s most important tips for succeeding in fashion? Work hard, network and be nice.
“Put yourself and your name out there,” Loftus said. “All of my internships, in some way, shape or form came from St. Louis--I never thought that going to a Jesuit business school in St. Louis would help me get fashion internships, but it really is just about making a solid first impression, meeting the right people, following up and always being nice.”
As for her business degree, Loftus thinks it’s an asset to her work. She didn’t attend fashion school like many of her colleagues, but she feels well-rounded at work and credits SLU for keeping her busy with schoolwork and extracurricular activities.
“You think that after you graduate, you’ll just have to work and go home, but there’s so much more balancing,” Loftus said. “SLU did prepare me for life after college in that sense--I can time-manage really well.”