Would you recommend other young photographers invest in art school?

I benefited from the photo department at Parsons because I learned about community and what it takes to make a picture. It also allowed my craft to get better and to develop. So, I think yes, for photography and film, go to school for the resources, for the equipment. I had access to this SONY FS5 video camera which shoots 4K and that let me work for the right people. We also had these amazing flextight scanners which allowed me to really be with my film, play around with the curves, the exposure, and figure out the color.

In that respect, yeah, go to school, go to a good school that has those resources. But don't expect them to teach you everything. You have to be keen to learn. You have to go out there and teach yourself, assist, find tutorials, and advocate for yourself.

But if you're aiming to be a producer, honestly, no, I don't think you need to go to school. You need to find a production company, tell them you're keen to learn, and then go from there.

Do you think your experience at University of Southern California prepared you for where you are today? If so, what would you say were your most valuable takeaways?

That's a good question. I majored in Communications at USC, so I really learned how to confidently express my opinion whether I had to write a paper or prepare a speech. Being able to express yourself with confidence is a big deal. If you’re confident, people receive that well. I think a lot of how you get by is just your attitude. Also, being in such a big school, you’re thrown into a completely new world with a bunch of people you’ve never met. You learn a lot about yourself and how to work with others. You’re constantly being challenged both academically and socially. It’s tough. I think it helped me be more open to critique.

How was your time at Parsons?

It was a really good experience in terms of understanding my creative potential and just learning how to be a fashion designer from inspiration, to illustration, and then to execution. You essentially graduate from there and have the skills that it takes to be a designer. Since I was also studying culture studies, I did a few study abroad programs. I went to India, I lived with a Tibetan refugee family, and I studied Buddhism. I also went to Cambodia, and I studied Cambodian politics and worked in an orphanage over there for a while, sort of like as a program for my education.

That’s amazing.

It was the perfect combination of both of my passions. So when I graduated, I wanted to find a way to merge both passions because I didn't just want to do fashion design for the sake of making clothes for rich people. The fashion industry didn't really make sense to me in terms of the work that I wanted to spend my life doing.

Do you think the Strategic Design and Management program at Parsons helped give you the tools to get you where you are today?

The great thing about Design and Management, like a lot of the majors at Parsons, is that it gives you a wider scope of the industry with an understanding of the different areas you could be involved in, and from there, it’s really up to you to take the classes that fulfill your own personal interests. For me, I turned towards the business side of the fashion industry.

Another great thing is that Parsons always pushes you to do a lot of internships. You can pretty much tell a Parsons resume, because they always have some 20 internships on them. The school prompts you to just jump right in.

Was there a specific class that had the biggest impact?

Interestingly enough, I think it was a combination. I loved the business courses because that’s the direction that I was headed in. I actually worked at Parsons School of Fashion as a work study student for 3 years, so I was able to work on the CFDA Scholarship Program from that side. It’s full circle because now I’m working on the same program at the CFDA. I didn’t take any fashion design classes, so I observed bits and pieces of design creation working in the fashion office. That’s the side I got to know, and probably never would have unless I was taking introductory design courses at the time.

Why is it important for someone who’s in the business side of the fashion industry to understand the design side of it as well?

You can’t understand something if you don’t know anything about it. If someone asked you to make a t-shirt by tomorrow, it might seem reasonable. But certain business decisions need to be taken into consideration - the creative process. When you think about the production timeline, you have to consider how the garment is made, how long it will take for approvals, and the time for shipping. Knowing the full cycle from design to consumer helps the “business” people create a realistic timeline and make thoughtful decisions.

So in your opinion, were your experiences in school paramount in your development as a photographer?

Not really actually. Maybe school just helped me with some technical stuff, but really the best thing about it was the access to connecting with fashion students, because it's really a fashion academy. The Royal Academy of Fine Arts is famous for its fashion department. Meeting and talking to those students was so valuable because it opened up my point of view on everything.

How was your time at Central Saint Martins?

I studied my BA at Brighton and my tutor Jane Shepherd recommended that I apply for the CSM MA for the Textiles pathway. It was the best decision I made because before then I always struggled a bit, and found pattern cutting very tricky. Once I began approaching design through textiles, I felt everything fall into place. I spent the whole first year experimenting loads, and learning a lot from my mistakes. The course taught me to recognize my strengths and edit my ideas to deliver a focused and refined outcome.

I studied fashion at Blanche MacDonald Center in Vancouver, Canada. It was a 12-month diploma program. During the course I developed a great relationship with one of the professors who was really inspiring to me. His name is Tyler Udall, he’s the fashion director at Blanche, and he had previously worked in London as a fashion editor at Dazed and AnOther Man. I pretty much knew that I wanted to move to London after I graduated – I really wanted to experience the fashion world in one of the major cities, so London was perfect. So I applied for a UK visa and moved almost as soon as I graduated. I was so lucky to have met Tyler, he’s really the reason I’m here in the first place, he shared his experience, was very encouraging, and connected me with a few key people.

What did you study in school?

I studied at university in the arts program for my first year and then transferred to Blanche Macdonald where I completed the fashion program.

Did it prepare you for where you are now?

Yeah but I’m always a little bit unprepared for every job that I start, which I almost think is the way that it should be.

Yeah, absolutely.

You just learn as you go and you rise to the challenge. Now I feel like I could do this job no problem, but in the beginning it was overwhelming.

Do you want to touch on your decision process for leaving Parsons?

Parsons was great. I was studying communication design, which applies to fashion in a sense, but doesn't apply to what I'm doing now. It's a lot of graphic design, typography, and stuff like that. I was interested in that and I was good at that and it was always just kind of a backup. I excelled at working in fashion and styling and being an assistant, so I kind of just jumped ship without thinking twice once Ben offered me the position. I was always in school as I was assisting, but this was a full-time job and I wanted to be here full time and be completely in it. I just did it, and I don't have any regrets and I think sometimes life hands you these things where you don't know exactly what to do, but your instinct is always right and my instinct was always just to go with my dream job.