UNFILTERED WITH ELIZABETH WICKHAM - COLLEGE PROGRAM ASSOCIATE AT PRINCESS POLLY

DURING YOUR TIME AT THE UNIVERSITY OF IOWA, WERE THERE ANY CLUBS OR INITIATIVES YOU WERE PART OF?

"I was in my major student [organization] which was called, “Future Communication Professionals.” I was the Marketing and Recruitment Coordinator for that, so just a lot of social media advertising, honestly being like, ‘Come join!’ I was also in Her Campus which was awesome. I got to go to their Her Conference in New York City. I think that was summer after my sophomore year. That was pre-pandemic era, that’s how I kind of categorize everything. I was on the executive board; I was the Executive Assistant and [it] was just awesome to be in a community of women like that and have the opportunity to attend that conference. I met so many different people - all good things to say about Her Campus. I was also a Rent the Runway Campus Rep, that was a great experience too. I was a Campus Rep for GoPuff which is [a] delivery app. [That] was awesome 'cause it was just something I genuinely used and was just a part of my college routine, so that was cool. I also was an affiliate for Hype and Vice, which is a college merch website. It was like, you know, kind of elevated spirit wear. It's a little more trendy than what was in our Iowa bookstore, so that was awesome because as I’ve said, I’ve been an Iowa sports fan forever, not even when I was going to the university. And senior year I was a ‘Hawk the Vote,’ which is kind of like our, ‘Rock the Vote Ambassador.’ Then my one thing that I did my freshman year, was I applied to work on our school newspaper’s Snapchat discovery page. You know how there's Daily Mail, The Sun, stuff like that? I don't really know how it came about [and] it was just a total random thing. I think I got an ad for it on my Snapchat to apply, [that said], ‘We want people to work on this!’ It was pretty short lived; I was an on-camera host for that and that is not one of my greatest talents. But it was just cool to have that position that turned out to be in social media in such an early stage of my college career, even though I was not feeling super confident in my role that I was doing, but it was all great experience just like everything.”

YOU MENTIONED HER CAMPUS TRAINING IN NEW YORK - THAT SOUNDS INCREDIBLE. WOULD YOU SAY THAT PROPELLED YOUR CAMPUS AMBASSADOR JOURNEY, OR DID IT START BEFORE THAT?

“I joined my Her Campus chapter on my campus before applying for all these campus ambassador roles, and that was a great thing to have because you already have a community of people you can market this brand that you're representing to. That's an amazing first step. So that was my sophomore year. And then the summer after being in it for a year was the conference. And honestly that was the best summer ever because PINK training was the same summer and I think I went on a bunch of trips with my friends - it was just a really great summer. To go back to Her Conference specifically, it was kind of more of a networking event but I think there was so much strength in it just being a networking event because I could really feel comfortable [in-person] with walking up to people and talking about my life even though I was a rising junior and didn't really know how to give an elevator pitch quite yet. There was just a bunch of different women who were Her Campus alumni who worked for different companies in New York City. For example, you know the website maker GoDaddy.com? There was someone high up in [GoDaddy.com] who's much older than we were, and I just remember talking to her and her genuinely listening to what I had to say about myself and my questions and stuff like that. I feel like that just kind of gave me confidence to just continue shooting my shot and knowing that there are older people out there that will support you, even if you don't really know them. If you have that one little connection it's a huge thing to jump off of and you can create a conversation and relationship just from one little thing."

DID YOU ALWAYS WANT TO BE A COMMUNICATIONS MAJOR OR WAS THERE ANOTHER PATH YOU THOUGHT YOU WERE GOING TO TAKE?

“I actually came into Iowa my freshman year as an American history major. I think I just chose that because that was what I was into when I was in high school - my best class in high school was AP US History. I felt so confident in that class so I was like, ‘This is what I know that I'm good at, I'm just going to do it.’ But I kind of always knew I wanted to do something like media marketing - something more creative.”

HOW DID YOU GO ABOUT LANDING YOUR JOB AT PRINCESS POLLY?

"Honestly landing a job with a company like that, I did not expect. I did not expect to land a job that’s so on-trend and relevant and all my peers know - and also in the online retail space. It just lined up so perfectly with my college career, I could not ask for a better first real job - beyond blessed. So how I went into my job search - I just really was a LinkedIn stalker. I was always on LinkedIn. I remember that I would sort job postings by how recent they were posted, that was kind of my strategy - just get in early on any post. And as I said, I didn't think I was going to be with a company like Princess Polly, so I really was applying to anything and everything that sparked my interest. I was applying to quite a few different positions. I applied to be a Social Media Coordinator at several companies, probably an advertising associate at several companies - I really was just applying to anything that could be interesting to me at all. I kept a list for my junior internships and my postgrad search in an excel sheet so I could check off if I got an interview or when I got rejected - because there were a lot of rejections before Princess Polly – I’m going to make that clear. It was not the first thing that I applied to. It didn't go without hard work and for a while. For this specific job, I say that because for the Princess Polly job it was probably July after I graduated that I was doing that interview process, so I would have applied to hundreds of jobs before then and gotten a lot of rejection emails. I actually did a few interview processes to pretty far steps and didn’t get it before then. When I found this Princess Polly job it was on LinkedIn and I applied super early within hours of it being posted. Seriously, when I say LinkedIn stalker, I was checking it like Instagram. I was beyond on another level with it. I don't know if I recommend that for your mental health, definitely have fun in your senior year, do not spend all of it on LinkedIn. Honestly, the interview process started so quickly after for that and I just had a good feeling about it.”

WHAT ARE SOME PIECES FROM PRINCESS POLLY THAT YOU'RE EXCITED ABOUT FOR SPRING AND SUMMER?

"I am obsessed with the color purple. Anything lavender for spring, I love. There's this dress that I’ve seen that I've been wanting to purchase. It's called the 'Recycled Fibers Star Shining Mini Dress Purple.' It’s from our Earth Club range which is extra fun. I would also say for spring our, 'Love Galore Romper' is so popular I'm sure you've seen it without even knowing on Instagram. It's just so cute, looks great on everyone and comes in so many colours; so I'm sure that my feed will be filled with it this spring.”

IF YOU COULD CHOOSE ONE ESSENTIAL FASHION PIECE FOR SPRING, WHAT WOULD IT BE?

“I feel like my essentials are more than one. I feel like every time you ask for one thing, I put more than one thing. I feel like everything that makes an outfit is like a cute pair of sneakers, basic gold hoop earrings and a good little purse. I feel like I could throw on pretty much any clothing item with that and then it automatically makes the outfit so much more elevated. Pretty much for whatever season, but I feel like even with a cute, kind of more girly spring dress or romper - sneakers and hoops take it up to the next level. Those would definitely be my essentials.”