Since the moment I met her, Kathryn has shown such a high intensity of ambition in everything she's done. When she played soccer, she played her little heart out. When we both took piano lessons, she would practice practice practice. I'd go over to her house to "play" and she'd end up playing her
Yanni,
Janet Jackson and
Aladdin
songs over and over.
Don't get me wrong, Kat -- they sounded great -- but I hope your dad still has that footage of me playing with my face out of boredom and eagerness to play another round of Cherry Bomb. (For those of you who don't know, Cherry Bomb was a game that Kat and I made up that involved dropping objects from her balcony onto a "target" and when the object hit it, we'd race each other down and up the stairs. Oh, the adrenaline ...?)
Brainiac friends are the best. They remember all the little details about everything and everyone in your life. They're not the type that you have to tell the same story to remind them -- they're the ones that remind YOU that you've already told it.
Her and I would play Mad Libs for hours, filling in the blanks with only the naughtiest of terms and laughing our little 4th-grade hineys off. We had inside jokes with almost every song that came on the radio -- and
Alyson, her little sis, does THE best impression of
Mariah Carey. Hands down.
Do you remember koosh balls? We had some sick koosh rackets -- and I'll never forget the time that her and I were both going for the koosh and collided skulls. It still hurts to think about it. There was even the time that her and I wore our matching skort (yes, skort) outfits to school, returning to my house and drenching my older sis and her friends with neon silly string. We thought we were so bad.
As time passed, we endured many changes -- new friends, new schools, diverging paths, ya know. Although there were times when her and I weren't as close as we should have been, she never ceased to amaze me. Kathryn, like I said, excelled in everything she did ... and still does.
I'm not surprised that she recently received a full-ride scholarship to the Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising (F.I.D.M.) in Los Angeles, California. The school gives away 10 full-rides a year. However, there are only two given in each of the five categories, and of the two, one goes to a high school student and one goes to a high school grad. Kat was the one gal in the entire nation to be the older recipient of the award for Fashion Executive of Tomorrow. Damn girrrL! That's GOOD.
So what did the project entail?
According to Kat, she had to pretend that she was the Buyer of Accessories for a major store in her hometown and plan a back-to-school event, including the demographics and psychographics of the target clientele.
For her visual, she had to show 7-10 items/accessories that she would sell/place at the store. Then, she had to plan a promo event for the store (including advertising, promo material, etc.). Her planned advertising consisted of a direct mail piece, online ads, in-store ads and sales competition among Nordstrom BP employees.
She decided to focus on high school girls in the Denver Metro area by including a creative story about three girls -- one from Cherry Creek High, one from Highlands Ranch and the other from Overland. She chose these particular schools to better explain how she would target all socioeconomic groups. According to her, "Everyone can afford the stuff at Nordstrom's BP section."
Details of the actual event:
"Come to BP on a specific Saturday between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. Spend $100 or more on back-to-school clothing and get a free consultation with one of our fashion experts! They'll help you accessorize YOUR new clothes to YOUR liking. Free gold bangle with consultation." (Kat loves those bangles!)
To polish off her great work, Kat went the extra mile and made her portfolio into a purse. That's right. There was an actual handle attached to the side for the judges to simply carry her project around like a real purse. And, of course, she attached a dangling charm with her name on it. Perfect way to stand out, right?
Although Kathryn's not heading off until the fall for the 9-month intensive program (that she doesn't have to pay a DIME for, thanks to her hard work) at F.I.D.M., she's going to continue doing great things until then.
You may see her working at Lola in Boulder on The Hill from time to time. If you do, she'll probably be sporting one of her fancy schmancy necklaces loaded with only the sassiest of girly charms. She makes awesome necklaces -- and while I won't give out her contact info (unless she allows me) -- e-mail me and I'll let her know you want one. Boys -- don't be shy -- you know you know a gal that would die for one of Kat's hand-made accessories. Or another dude? Who knows!
Kat, you're going to go places. I'm honored to witness it all as it happens.
Keep kicking a** girrrL.
xoxoxo