HELLO DARLING
By education, I’m a fashion designer. I obtained my Fashion Design BFA with a focus in couture and luxury womenswear from Parsons School of Design at the New School in 2021, including an internship with Oscar de la Renta. Outside of my fashion design major, I also took courses in the areas of brand strategy, public relations, and trend forecasting.
There’s something nostalgic about looking back at a piece of clothing you wore when you felt truly beautiful, and that’s the exact feeling that I aim to provide. From putting my foot down on my first sewing machine pedal at the age of five, I was enamored with a world of designing, creating, and most importantly, experimenting. After leaving both Minnesota and the professional ballet track in 2017, I found myself caught in a balancing act between past and present while pivoting to new worlds at Parsons School of Design in New York City, but growing up Vietnamese-American, it wasn’t the first time I found myself stuck between two opposing worlds.
My breakout thesis collection, “In the Mắt of Người Xem” (a blend of confused Vietnamese and English playing on “in the eye of the beholder) has led me not only to a collection, but down a path of self discovery and reflection of my own upbringing and at times, emotionally difficult family history. In doing so, the practice of creation became a method of therapy for emotional scars and bruises of the past. Through this collection, I examine issues related to mixed race identity confusion through my Vietnamese-American lens during a time of increased hate towards AAPI individuals, the emotional scarring and bruises that come as a result, and how perception has the power to shift seeming conflict and emotional distress into harmony.
Outside of the fashion industry, I’m a social media strategist and professional photographer with 9+ years in social media content creation, and 6+ years in social media strategy for startups and corporations in both paid and organic social. My approach to social media growth optimization strategy is driven by data and fueled by strategic experimentation. I’ve grown brand presence for brands across all industries by over 300% in one month.
My work experience is not entirely traditional, but it has allowed me to approach the digital marketing space with a fresh, creative lens. My non-traditional experience has allowed me to think outside the box and create data-driven content strategy that drives results while keeping the brand’s identity at heart. My first foray into professional social media content creation began in 2013, and led me to opening my social media consulting agency in 2017. Since then, I’ve held consulting positions with TripScout and Ecclesiastical Sewing amongst others, as well as worked on contract projects for the likes of Google.
