About
I'm a 19 years old and a student at the Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising in Los Angeles majoring in Apparel Manufacturing Management. Currently, I am working for Paige Premium Denim in Beverly Hills, and am soon beginning an internship with Paige and her design team. I'm detail obsessed, diligent, and straightforward with everything that I do. Sometimes I'm a little crazy- but it makes things alot more fun and easier to get done!
Originally from the Baltimore area, I grew up in an extremely conservative household, needless to say, I've diverted from just that, and have embraced my own beliefs.
My parents who are still going strong in their 26 years of marriage, have gone above and beyond being supportive in this endeavor of following my dream. Everything from to money for school, loans, advice, and constant encouragement- my parents have truely done it all.
However, if it had not been for their insistence and relentless pressure during our family's most difficult struggle- I would never be where I am, I would have given up a long time ago.
Two months before I was scheduled to leave home for classes at FiDM, my father, a marathon runner, was diagnosed with Pancreatic Cancer. Immediately undergoing major surgery, he was hospitalized at Johns Hopkins for nearly a month. During one of my visits, he expressed to me how badly he wanted me to design, and how much it meant to him that I was taking such a big step in my life.
Fast foward a year, after my dad's successful surgery, chemotherapy, and radiation, he is alive and well. Running marathons again and living a normal life. Until about a month ago, he started throwing up profusely which put him back into the hospital. Currently there is a spot of cancer on his liver, and the lining of his stomach has been eroded by the acids which aren't being filtered out of his food by what's left of his pancreas. Doctors can't give real answers, there is no 'game plan' for what we are going to do. He has cancer, and just like last year, we have to figure it out and take it step by step. He is now 118 pounds or so, and my family is hopeful that the Lord will give us a miracle one more time. The only thing that keeps me encouraged is one thing he told me a few weeks ago, 'Emily, my job is to be a man of God about this and take it how it comes.' In my eyes, it takes such a strong person to say something like that. I'm proud of him for not putting blame on anyone, I'm proud of him for being a man.
My family is in the middle of the biggest heartbreak of our lives. My father is everything I hope to be, and has been nothing short of the most amazing man that I've ever known, and I would love nothing more than to have something beautifully designed and put on my body to remember everything that he has done for me.
If anyone has been through any type of cancer-- you all know where my heart is at! I want to thank my roomate, Sara-- the girl who listens to me cry, the girl who puts up with my crazy moods because of all of this- and always, ALWAYS gives me a shoulder to lean on. And thank you to everyone else who understands where I'm coming from-- it means alot!!
Please help me make this happen :) :) :)