Making the grade: Recent IU grad wins prestigious scholarship, then lands purchasing job

Dolls weren't in her childhood lexicon; Shanita Hunt's interest in fashion didn't appear until the end of her freshman year in college at Indiana University.

That's when she taught herself to sew —and this first-generation college student from South Bend unknowingly jettisoned her career into Neiman Marcus land. That's where she landed a job one month after graduating this year from Indiana University's Eskenazi School of Art , Architecture + Design, an achievement that came after she won a prestigious scholarship founded by the late fashion designer Virgil Abloh.

Neiman Marcus is an American chain of luxury department stores headquartered Dallas, Texas that offers merchandise for women, men, children and home accessories. It currently has 45 stores in 17 states.

Designing clothes begins

Her parents' oldest child, Hunt always tried "to set a good example for my younger siblings growing up under me," she said in a recent email. "My family has been very supportive and are undeniably proud of me."

Hunt originally had turned to YouTube videos for advice on what to do with clothes she no longer wore. "I started off with a 2XL T-shirt that probably belonged to my dad once upon a time, and I upcycled it into a strapless dress!"

Since then, she has turned hoodies and sweaters into two-piece sets, and dresses into rompers and more.

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IU helps with a bright future

Now she's becoming an assistant buyer for the trend-setting, fashionable Neiman Marcus, an American grouping of super sumptuous department stores. As she takes classes with professionals at the company, she learns how to choose and what types of items to look for.

"In merchandising we learned the analytical side of running a business in the retail industry," she said. Her Eskenazi School courses included retail math, manufacturing and quality analysis and digital merchandising.

She already seemed to have a natural business sense, partly because of her upbringing. "I have had many examples and role models within my family who are very business oriented."

Although she doesn't identify as an artist per se, Hunt always has felt artistic by nature.

"Because merchandising is more of the analytical side of the fashion industry, I would say that it is not required to be an artist in this field." In the fashion design field, however, she said, "there needs to be some sense of artistic or creative aspect to your character in order to be unique ."

She continues searching for pre-owned fabrics.

"I have designed a brand that I am slowly growing and developing. I sew and upcycle old clothing and revamp them into new (and) modern pieces in order to enhance my sewing skills."

Help from IU professor, Virgil Abloh scholar award

Hunt's IU instructor, retired senior lecturer and merchandising professor Janis Shaffer saw Hunt's potential and submitted her for a 2022 Virgil Abloh “Post-Modern” Scholar Award from the Fashion Scholarship Fund founded by late fashion designer Abloh. The fund nurtures inclusion in the fashion business, and the prize is $7,500 plus mentorship and networking for gifted students of Black, African American or African descent.

Hunt's case study, one of 23 from college students, proposed a collaboration between luxury department store Nordstrom and the Black-owned emerging Telfar line of handbags. Hunt worked with Shaffer to prepare the study for the contest.

"(Janis) does a remarkable job of connecting Eskenazi fashion and merchandising students with professional opportunities," said Yael Ksander, Eskenazi School's director of marketing and communications in an email.  "Janis has nurtured partnerships that have produced renewable career opportunities for Eskenazi grads."

Shaffer is co-director for the IU Center for Innovative Merchandising, which builds relationships among the Eskenazi School and the retail merchandising world.

"I had Shanita for the first time in my retail math class last fall, and she stood out ... as being smart, motivated and engaged," Shaffer said.  "I don’t think she had known about the (class) before then, and when I ...  suggested that she do it, there were only six weeks left before competition. She joined the case studies class late, but jumped in and pushed forward with so much drive to catch up with other students who had been doing research over the summer and had started on the case two weeks earlier."

One thing in particular stood out even more boldly: "Shanita is very willing to support others and give back," Shaffer said.

"Some high level executives in the industry also were very encouraging to (Shanita) and offered to help her as she looked for a position after graduation. She was so appreciative and it was wonderful to see how she has gained confidence in herself and her future."

This article originally appeared on The Herald-Times: Indiana University grad nets Neiman Marcus job after Virgil Abloh award