Caroline Sheridan

As she looked at the displays inside the New York City Bloomingdale’s store over spring break, Caroline Sheridan couldn’t help but dream what she would have done if given the chance to set up the displays herself. She’d find a large glass table and layer paisley and striped, knit and woven scarves on top of it. Above them, she’d strew lockets, rings and an assortment of jewelry pieces. Sheridan was already anticipating the fall of 2010 when she would begin the road to making those design decisions herself.

Come next fall, Sheridan will be attending Stephens College, an all girls school with less than 1000 students, located four minute’s walk from Missouri University. At Stephens, most girls focus on either fashion design or apparel marketing. Sheridan was originally interested in the fashion design side but is now looking more into the marketing aspect.

“I just felt that I was going to have more opportunities after college starting off with a business background under my belt that just a designer having to start on my own,” Sheridan said. “After watching her dad John work in the apparel business for 20 years, Sheridan realized that the marketing side would be a better fit for her. As a sales rep for Gear for Sports and Under Armour, John would receive samples of the garments to go out and sell to golf courses, and Sheridan would help him organize the new collections. Sheridan liked organizing the collections which would then be sold to customers.

Getting into the marketing side of fashion will give Sheridan more opportunities in the business world, ranging anywhere from planning fashion shows to coming up with new styles for upcoming seasons. One of her top choices would be being a visual merchandiser. As a visual merchandiser, Sheridan would work for an upscale department store such as Bloomingdale’s or Nordstrom. She would travel to each store and teach them how to display clothing, accessories and bags in an eye-catching and creative way for the upcoming season.

“I just want to learn different ways to merchandise and effectively display product,” Sheridan said.