Power Suit

I'm getting prepared for summer school. I'm teaching two 6-week intensive stats classes that meets three hours a day, four days a week. My summer vacation whizzed by, and I need to get back in a zen state of mind; nighttime yoga videos, significantly decrease sugar intake, i.e., no more donut ice cream sandwiches, get power suit dry-cleaned, and freshen up my cosmo girl haircut.
My suit is a no-nonsense so-stylish-its-not-very-stylish brown Anne Taylor that I overpaid for in a panic the day before my job interview. The sales lady was very smart and steered me clear from the quirky fashion choices I'd make on my own.

I remember out of college when I did my rounds of job interviews, I wore a very tight XOXO skirt suit with a Baby Phat ruffled tuxedo blouse and three inch black pumps. I looked like I walked off the set of Gossip Girl rather than walking into data analytics companies. This choice in attire did not bode well for me. At the time, my role models for bad ass business ladies were Samantha, Carrie, Charlotte and Miranda, who never shied away from sex appeal. My naiveté on how to present myself professionally was compounded by being approved for a high credit limit Macy's card. To all the youngins out there, get a real, in-the-flesh, mentor so you don't have to rely on extreme characters from HBO series for career advice. Fuck it, thats a lesson you learn from time, so go ahead, Millenials, and show up to your job interview looking like Hannah Horvath, it might work out for you.

I had both the kids in Anne Taylor, so it was a shit show. The sales lady didn't seem to mind, too much. I ended up pairing the suit with a navy blouse, by her suggestion. I was eyeballing a caribbean blue blouse that had a gigantic clown bow collar. It was pretty and feminine with an 80's vibe. She let me know, in a Dutch accent, "No! You could maybe get away with wearing a blouse like that in Latin America, but not here!" And I was directed to wear navy, or an array of off-whites. She was right because I got the job, and it had a lot to do with not letting my clothes overshadow my personality.

I like clothes, and being stylish, but I have a hard time combining clothes I like with jobs I work because the clothes I wear make me look like I have a lesser brain capacity than I do, and that I enjoy being sexually harassed, both of which are things I don't want to portray. When I was studying abroad during my undergrad, I emailed my dad and told him I wanted to drop out and go to fashion school. He told me that would be fine, but I better start working a couple more jobs because he wasn't going to give me any money for that. I didn't quite have the passion for fashion that would propel me to fund my own education, so stuck it out with Statistics.

The other morning I was watching a motivational Oprah video. She explains there is no wrong path, so don't be overwhelmed because failures ultimately happen to point you in the right direction, toward your personal destiny. It is nice to consider how my poor clothing choices during job interviews steered me from going further down a career path I had no interest in. I don't think fashion school was part of my destiny either, so thanks dad. I don't remember the name of the sales woman from Anne Taylor, but I consider her a bit of a saint, saving me from myself, and keeping me from taking another detour.