SCADShow was packed October 29th, as students and the public flocked to hear words of wisdom from Christene Barberich, the editor-in-chief of fashion and lifestyle site Refinery29. SCAD’s own Michael Fink, Dean of Fashion, interviewed Barberich about how she got her start in publishing and how she ended up as one of the four creators of Refinery29. From working at the New Yorker and publishing giant Condé Nast to working at her own magazine, Christene Barberich gave it all up for a one-shot deal to form a startup that would become the lifestyle site that we know today.
After navigating the crowd through her professional journey, Christene Barberich switched gears and spoke about how to navigate the world of social media as a publisher or as a personal brand. This led into the Refinery29 editor-in-chief giving the audience a homework assignment. You would never have thought to have seen so many people excited for homework. The assignment included simple exercises for building your own social media empire by exploring the who, what, when, where, why and how of building a social media brand. They ranged from figuring out who your demographic is and what platforms they thrive on to establishing your online persona and why viewers should care about the content you’re offering.
When the presentation ended, Dean Fink opened up the floor for questions from the audience. Sttudent questions ranged from how to find their niche in their field to the state of the need for photographers in an ever-growing cellphone camera world and how to get potential companies to notice them for internships and employment. When the short question-and-answer portion ended, many of the audience members stayed to get a photo with the editor, get a copy of her hit street-style book signed, Style Stalking, or just to hear her advice.
When asked about how they felt about the talk, third-year photography student Rachael Horst said, “I thought Christene Barberich was really down to earth and very real. Her career journey is really inspiring and she had a lot of advice that could be applied to any creative career, not just necessarily fashion. Almost everything she had to say in regards to creating your brand was relevant and easily applicable to our lives as students.”
Refinery29 is not going anywhere, anytime soon and make sure to check them out in all their lifestyle glory at Refinery29.com.
