By ARIANA WILSON
While working one job seems like a burden to some college students, working at two retail stores and holding an on campus position is a necessity for one Saint Rose Communications major.
Ashlie Garcia, a sophomore, currently works at two stores in the Crossgates Mall, Lane Bryant, a plus-size women’s clothing store, and at The Children’s Place, the first since mid-October and the latter since May. While working both of these jobs, taking anywhere from eight to 24 hours of her time weekly, she is also a full time Communications major at the College.
With a concentration in Public Relations and Advertising, she is thinking of adding a Marketing minor to her repertoire. Garcia also holds a job on campus in the Public Relations office promoting events for the school on social networking sites like Twitter and Pinterest. She usually works five hours a week for the school.
Garcia hopes to one day apply her degree in Communications and love for make-up into her future profession, aspiring to one day work at MAC Cosmetics or Estee Lauder. However, her current jobs don’t focus on make-up prep, as much as prepping mannequins; a tedious job that customers usually find vulgar and unwieldy. Even with the awkward glares she gets, Garcia finds the job to be comical.
“Don’t look at me like that, I’m trying to dress the mannequin,” Garcia said while laughing, eyes searching for sympathy.
Despite Garcia’s ability to jest about awkward job responsibilities, she doesn’t joke about her work ethic.
“She is always willing to go above and beyond what is expected of her during the day,” said fellow employee Ashley Stoddard of The Children’s Place. Garcia doesn’t need to be told what to do; she does what needs to be done.
With three jobs, and a full-time student schedule, Garcia still finds time to spend with friends. She is an active member in Spectrum, a welcoming community for African, Latino, Asian, and Native American students. Garcia just recently completed the models’ make-up for the Spectrum Fashion Show in February.
Garcia’s busy schedule doesn’t go unnoticed, and she is acknowledged for her hard work by co-workers and upper management.
“She is so driven,” said Morgan Hirsch, manager at The Children’s Place, “she inspires others to be like her.”
With Garcia’s lack of scholarship money, she relies on her many jobs to pay for bills like off-campus rent, groceries, and student loans. She was forced to decline summer internships for Hearst Magazine, owner of “Seventeen” and “Cosmopolitan”, as well as New York Fashion Week, dream jobs for the aspiring public relations practitioner. She simply can’t afford not to have a paying job over the summer.
She plans to continue working at The Children’s Place over the summer months whether here in Albany, or at home in the Bronx. Regardless of what happens with The Children’s Place, Garcia doesn’t plan on continuing her career at Lane Bryant.
As many working college students know, it isn’t easy to maintain a job, nonetheless three, as well as keep an outstanding grade point average. Her grades suffered last semester due to her difficulty in balancing her schedule, but paying bills is a part of life. For Garcia it’s simple:
“Go through the tough times now so you don’t have to owe it later.”
