Why I teach

I really wanted to write for a living — studying advertising and communications at SUNY/Fashion Institute of Technology. When I graduated with my bachelor’s degree, I was not out of school long when the chairman of the department Arthur Winters, Ed.D., encouraged me to talk with business seniors about the experiences of getting and keeping a first-time job in a competitive industry.

At the end of the discussion, I remember two things. Newton Godnick, chairman of the Fashion Buying and Merchandising department congratulating me for the session (following up with a heartfelt thank you note I treasure) and Winters asking me if I ever considered teaching.

That subsequent Labor Day weekend I spent reading the assigned student textbook for AC 111/Advertising and Promotion, a course in the Fall 1985 semester. Hurricane Elena battered the west coast of Florida that weekend, ruining my short vacation, but I returned to New York City and never looked back.

I remain an advertising executive, but as a tenured adjunct professor I stay tethered to marketing communications and teaching college students about the business fundamentals. This is a dynamic industry that has taken audiences from the static discipline of print ads and direct mail to intimate messages within social media, activations and influencer marketing in a little less than two generations, and I wanted to study it as much as I wanted to teach it. I remain determined that as I taught my course I would continue to work in marketing communications, attending conferences, bringing my presence and experiences (and sometimes my colleagues’ as well) into my classroom.

My students continue to inspire me each and every semester. So many are full-time employees studying in the various art, design and business majors. They dedicate their “free” time to taking a full-time course load including classes like mine that will help them navigate the media landscape to build their personal brand. They bring a unique energy to the classroom (both in person and online) and they never fail to contribute to my greater understanding of their consumer roles as Millennials, Gen Zers and, soon, Gen Alpha.

I didn’t choose teaching, teaching chose me. I went from a proud alumna of FIT, to communicating the main ideas for our agency’s clients as my profession, to illustrating the relevance of marketing communications in today’s world for future entrepreneurs. It has been quite a journey for me as both student and teacher as I navigate a new world filled with bright and eager future fashion marketers of the world.