From Longwood to London: 2024 grad wants to change the world with fashion career

Fast forward two years and Taylor, who graduated on Saturday with a business degree and concentration in marketing, is headed back to London this fall to pursue a master’s degree in Fashion Marketing and Sustainability at the London College of Fashion. It’s a dream come true, or rather a goal realized for Taylor, whose 10-year plan in high school included going to Europe and making a meaningful impact in the fashion industry.

“My dream job is to make a difference and change the world, especially when it comes to fast fashion,” she said, referring to low-quality apparel produced rapidly and sold at cheap prices.

When Taylor got the email saying she had been accepted to the second-best art school in the world, she could hardly believe it. She hadn’t even been asked for an interview. “I told my friends that I’d gotten in, then they looked it up and everybody started screaming,” she recalled. “They were like ‘Jimmy Choo is an alum!’”

Taylor arrived at Longwood as a transfer student at the beginning of her sophomore year. She spent her freshman year at George Mason University and her decision to transfer was heavily influenced by Longwood’s effective Covid-19 response. She had friends at Longwood who were able to be on campus, go to classes and have some social interaction, with proper precautions. At the same time she was feeling isolated. She was also drawn to Longwood because of the convenient campus and adjacent quaint downtown, plus she liked the Civitae core curriculum.

She joined the Cormier Honors College for Citizen Scholars and her Citizen 110 class was taught by Jacob Dolence, an honors faculty member who also works for Longwood’s Small Business Development Center. The class was focused on making positive change in the world and her group developed The Ville, a domestic violence prevention app targeted to rural communities. It won second place at a SOVA RISE pitch competition. That experience was valuable for Taylor, who would later rely on the public speaking and pitch skills she learned.

One class Taylor took while in London was International Fashion Business. It was taught by two buyers from Harrods, the famous department store. The culminating project was to create a business that is necessary for the future of the fashion industry. She and her project partner visited the college’s textile library and when she saw a fabric made out of recycled plastic water bottles, Taylor knew they had their business concept.

“I was like, this is it, we’re making handbags,” she said. “So our project was pitching this idea, doing the cost breakdown, figuring out how to source the material, and so forth. We were the only group that finished pitching in time.”

Taylor has been passionate about sustainability since high school, when she saw a statistic that 40 percent of all landfill waste is textiles. She said living in a rural area like Farmville has given her a broader perspective on the issue.

“I think there’s a huge lack of understanding about where sustainability can be applied,” she said. “Some think that it only works if you live in a place where there are resources available for you to be sustainable. I don’t think that’s fair. We can’t move into the future, especially future fashion, and not think about the average person.”

As part of her application to the Fashion College of London master’s program, Taylor submitted a paper she did about the leather industry in India for Dr. Chene Heady’s Hinduism class. She also submitted case studies she had done for her consumer behavior class with Dr. Meg Meng. She said those two additions to her portfolio gave her an edge.

“Longwood really prepared me for this program in more ways than I could have expected,” she said. “One thing I’ve learned is how to speak up for what is right and how to voice my opinion. I have Longwood to thank for that.”

She especially praised Dolence, whom she described as her “mentor through and through,” for creating a comfortable and supportive learning environment. She worked closely with Dolence this year as an intern for the SBDC and she did a lot of work on the marketing plans for the SEED Innovation Hub that is set to open next year.

As her time at Longwood draws to a close, the new Innovation Hub is just one of the exciting things on the horizon for Longwood and Farmville that Taylor said she will miss. She will also miss the many unique traditions—crown hopping, dips in the fountain and hunting for CHI droppings to name a few—as well as the strong bonds within the campus community.

“It’s the people that make Longwood, Longwood,” she said. “The support and the sense of community here is completely unmatched. Longwood very much embraces everybody’s little differences and encourages finding a place where you belong.”