After a fashion PR internship with Kelly Cutrone at People’s Revolution, political science major Melda Guvenc made the decision to put away her earlier dreams of law school and instead, put her mind to work in the fashion industry at Covet Communications, a boutique jewelry public relations company in Los Angeles. She began working as an assistant and was recently promoted to publicist!
What is your background?
I grew up in Orange County, CA and went to UC Santa Barbara after high school, where I graduated last June with a bachelor’s in political science. I chose political science because I originally wanted to go to law school after college, but after my first fashion internship with People’s Revolution in the summer of 2008, I realized I wanted to pursue a career in fashion PR instead.
Why Fashion PR?
I have always been in love with everything fashion, but I have also always been business minded. I started looking into fashion PR in college as a way to combine the two and found an internship for myself at the LA offices of People’s Revolution. Being in a showroom and seeing the ins and outs of fashion PR made me realize that was what I wanted
to do as a career.
How did you land your position?
I was actually interviewing in Los Angeles after graduation at a few other places and stopped by a boutique that a former internship friend currently managed. She mentioned she was on her way to meet up with her friend Adriana,who ran a fine jewelry PR company and was looking for an assistant. I went along with her and chatted briefly
about how I had previously interned in fashion PR and was now looking for a career in the industry upon graduation. Adriana asked for my resume, which I had copies of in my car from my other interviews, and we scheduled an interview a few days later. The rest is history!
What is an example of a typical day in the office?
In a typical day, I start off by checking/responding to requests that I have received the night before. I check our schedule for the day to see when we have stylists coming into the showroom and find out what they are looking for. If they are searching for something that I know our designers have in their own flagship stores or showrooms, I coordinate to either send the stylists there, pull before the stylists arrive, or have pieces shipped over as several of our clients are based in Europe.
I also create digital adverts of our clients’ newest collections to send out to stylists and editors so they have the most up-to-date idea of what is available. I constantly look for upcoming events that may be coming up to coordinate with stylists for future pulls.
What are your responsibilities?
I set the showroom schedule, pull pieces from our local clients’ flagship stores to display in our showroom, create and send out new information regarding our company and clients to stylists and editors, maintain an up to date contact database for stylists, and really anything else that needs to be done that day.
What is a recent success story that you have been a part of?
My favorite success story would be the first shoot I worked on from start to finish. I was calling a few stylists we had not previously worked with one day to tell them about our new lines and started up a conversation with a stylist who happened to need jewelry for a photo shoot the next day.I brought pieces that fit his description over to the shoot, and over the next few weeks saw the process that I had started with a phone call develop. I helped edit the pieces on
location, reviewed stills from the shoot, then editorial images, finally sending over the information needed for publication, and then seeing our client’s jewelry as part of a fantastic spread! It was the first thing I really did on my own from start to finish, and it was so rewarding!
What challenges are attached to your job?
Working in a new company has unique challenges. I have to make a conscious, constant effort to familiarize the stylist community in Los Angeles and New York with our company and clients by pitching new jewelry collections and lines while establishing and maintaining a strong relationship with whomever we work with. Beyond that, staying on top of
current fashion, entertainment industry events, and news that is relevant is a bit of a challenge when there is always so much going on!
What aspects of the job requirements were a surprise to you?
I think the biggest surprise was seeing how much goes into a start-up company. For example, I came from internships where I worked for companies that had been around for 10+ years and had extensive contact information and networks established over time. It was definitely a new learning experience to help build information I previously assumed was readily available.
In a few words, how would you summarize your agency?
Covet Communications is a boutique fine jewelry PR company that specializes in representing innovative designers that create the kind of jewelry that deserves and receives the best press.
