maysblog

MKTG 489, I just might be in love with you.

If you are good enough friends with me or if you tend to see me on the daily basis, you will know that this is the time of year where I usually complain about everything. Apart from some College Station motorcycle police trying to bring me down, almost passing out and possibly breaking my pinking toe … I am really excited about my fall schedule.

I signed up for Mktg 489 elective very last minute. I was enticed by what it had to offer, an opportunity to participate in an individual fashion case study competition against other schools called the Fashion Scholarship Fund.

Actually having the professor go through the syllabus was even more exciting. I can’t believe that I am actually getting graded and getting school credit for something that I would like to do for fun regardless of the class.
For example, it is required that I subscribe to Women’s Wear Daily and do reports on current happenings in the fashion business world or other realms that effect it. I already was subscribed, but now that I get a great yearly rate … it just makes it all the merrier.
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We’re All the Same Lah

If you have ever wondered what most Singaporeans think of Texas, here is a short conversation I had with one of my co-workers, Rashid, that pretty much sums it up.

Rashid:  So how much does a ho_se cost in Texas?

Pritesh: Uh a house? It depends on how big of a house and where you…

Rashid: No no. A horse. How much does a horse cost?

Pritesh: Oh a horse. Pfft, I have no idea. That was a really random question.

Rashid: I thought that there are a lot of cowboys in Texas. Don’t you have a horse?

Pritesh: Wow, if you ever visit Texas you are going to be pretty disappointed.

Rashid:  :( [Looks like a child who was just told that Santa Claus does not exist]

I couldn’t give Rashid a hard time about his misconception of Texas because I had actually done the same thing with Singapore. Singapore and the United States are surprisingly similar, but there are a few subtle differences that I have noticed.

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Good Bye (for now)

Once again, it is packing (and unpacking) time for me. I dread this, because once I get home to Houston … I have a day to get everything together for College Station.

I am really going to miss living in the city and office life … but I know I’ll be back there soon.

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Roses and Thorns

The summer before college, I worked as a camp counselor out on Possum Kingdom Lake at Y Camp Grady Spruce.  One of my supervisors led weekly staff meetings with each person on our team describing one rose and one thorn of the week.  Roses represented extremely positive experiences and talking about thorns allowed the staff to know how we could best support one another on a daily basis.  Living in open air tents without air conditioning, the built in stress of being without creature comforts led to many thorns. The beauty of seeing teenagers grow and think about life in different ways, however, produced such a powerful blossoming of souls and roses that the entire experience is one I’ll remember fondly for life.

As I finish my time here, I want to borrow a technique from that first summer to share 6 roses and 3 thorns from my time in Aggieland–some related to Texas A&M, but most tied to my unique, personal experience.  So that I can end positively, I’ll start with thorns. (more…)

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Inspired.

During the August 13 graduation ceremony of undergraduates at Texas A&M, a high school teacher will be recognized with the presentation of Student Government Association’s Inspiration Award for Excellence in Secondary Education.   The 73 year old recipient will be flying across the country to see some of her grandchildren in San Francisco that Friday, but I will be remembering the trip to New York City she planned and took with me as a 10^th grader as I cross the stage in Reed Arena. (more…)

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MK

What a wonderful opportunity I have had this summer!
Once again, I am so blessed to have a supportive family that has encouraged me to pursue a career in something that I am deeply passionate about. In addition, to having a great support system at Mays Business School that has allowed me to obtain school credit when needed and provide me with great references and experiences that I can draw upon.

I am so glad that I was able to intern at Michael Kors. The company is still significantly young in comparison to many fashion houses that have been around for decades and decades. Thus, I have been able to see how a company manages growth and progression at such an accelerated rate. (more…)

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Musings

As graduation inches closer and closer, every day’s demands bring different emotions.  Although I love my roommates, it has probably been a good thing to live alone this summer so that laundry can be on a, shall I say, “extended stay” schedule in the hamper.  I’m living on oatmeal and this incredible H-E-B Snax trail mix that has soybeans, cranberries, almonds, pumpkin kernels, currants, and cherries in one mix.  As a native Dallasite, I didn’t grow up with the H-E-B chain of grocery stores nearby, and I’m considering buying them out of this trail mix before I get out of College Station.  It’s just one of the things I’ll miss having easy access to enjoying,  but, for now, I’m taking a cue from the BeeGees by just “Stayin’ Alive” academically.

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Going Green…with Envy

I like to consider myself a lime green person; I am not a tree hugger, but I’m also not going out and melting the polar icecaps. I like to do little things to help the environment like recycle my three week, unread pile of Wall Street Journals and carpool with friends as much as possible (mostly because I’m cheap). One of the counterarguments to recycling in the US is that our efforts are being offset by countries in Asia. If you visit Singapore, it won’t take you long to realize that they are doing more than their fair share to protect the earth. (more…)

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Rise Up, Aggie Woman, and Lead

Looking through the list of people the Association of Former Students has recognized as Distinguished Alumni in recent years, it’s hard not to notice that only one woman, Dr. Josie Williams, is listed.  Perusing the list of Student Body Presidents, the names Laurie Nickel and Brooke Leslie stand out as the only two women to hold one of the most influential roles in student leadership.  This decade has not seen a woman in that office.  When Dr. Elsa Murano was appointed President of Texas A&M, few women spoke, but many watched in anticipation of what shifting tides and a feminine face might bring to a university long infamous for white, male leadership.  With her controversial resignation last summer, many who were silently taking cues from her service in the position diverted their eyes back down and returned to the meeker, more mild ways of Aggieland’s most powerful women.

I was speaking with a woman I admire for her role at A&M earlier this semester and she said she “just keeps her mouth shut” about questionable things she knows that go on because doing so enables her to “keep her job and do more good that way”.   The conversation left me disillusioned–a little numb–then very, very angry.  Lyrics to one of Brooke Fraser’s songs kept popping into my head and all I could think for several weeks sounded something like this:  “Now that I have seen, I am responsible.  Faith without works is dead.”   Ignorance can be an excuse for passively allowing injustice to continue, but once awareness is involved, silence becomes an active force of evil.

I don’t know what that woman in leadership knows or if it has anything at all to do with how stifled I feel walking around campus.   I do know that I have to hold myself to the same standard I expect of her: once a problem is spotted, actions ought to be taken to create better outcomes.  Perhaps I can’t single handedly change a dynamic, but I can speak–and I must.  I don’t know how to undo the fact that the women in historic photos of Texas A&M were mere visitors to students, and that the looks on their faces tell a better story about starry eyes and butterfly-filled stomachs than gazes of steadfast intention and fire of the gut.  Perhaps those women did just want a big, strong military man to make their decisions for them so they wouldn’t have to fret about them.

But I don’t.

Here are five things I have learned–some first hand and others vicariously through observation– about pursuing leadership as a woman at Texas A&M.

1.  Don’t apologize for your ideas.

2. Don’t flirt to get your way.

3. Don’t ask permission for your feelings.

4. Don’t play the doe-eyed fool.

5. Don’t settle for recognition when there’s still work to be done.

I could expand and attempted to, but any more words just cloud the clarity of these simple truths. My purpose and prayer is that future Aggie women would take note and continue blazing a trail that I’m just writing about in retrospect.  Rise up, Aggie woman, and lead.

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