T-Shirt, Baseball Cap, Hat, Adult, Female, Person, Woman, Boy, Male, Teen

Barbara Solis,
Merchandise Planning Intern

My journey started when I decided to pursue my Study Abroad year in the Netherlands. I studied for a year at Erasmus University in Rotterdam. My first months studying in the Netherlands were full of different experiences, as I had to adapt to a different education model and a new country to live in. In the second half I needed to find an internship. During the weekends, I spent my time fixing my CV and my LinkedIn profile, until I found the Merchandise Planning Intern position at PVH and decided to apply. I always get nervous during interviews, but this time I enjoyed getting to know my manager and speaking with her about my experience. I felt confident during the interview because I was interested in the position I was applying for, and I was excited to combine my engineering and data skills within the Fashion Industry. I tend to reach my comfort zone very easily, but these past months at PVH have been challenging me in a way that I learn something new every day, which is something I always look for in the workplace. With that said, I plan to graduate and pursue a career within the Fashion industry in the future.

Face, Head, Person, Smile, Coat, Dimples, Adult, Female, Woman, Blazer

A typical day at work

I normally went to the gym before or after my office hours, so sometimes I arrived at the office after going to the People’s Place Gym and I always got a breakfast smoothie. When working, I always like to have my “To-Do” list with all my tasks in order of priority. I try to work on all my tasks and try to advance as much as I can so I can show it to the team in our afternoon meeting. During the meetings, I received feedback so I could fix the details and finish the files. Every stage of my internship was a different experience as I worked on many different projects. I enjoyed each of the projects I worked on and I’m happy to have contributed to the Merchandise Planning Team by creating an easier and cleaner way of working with different documents.

My favorite event

I enjoyed the Market Launch this year because I have never experienced anything similar. I study Engineering in Business Management, so I know different parts of a company or business such as Logistics, Marketing, Innovation, Finances, etc. and I liked to experience how the combination of all the teams led to the collection’s launch into the market. This gave me a higher understanding of the business and the party afterwards was a lot of fun.

A place on campus I love

I enjoy going to the People’s Place Gym because it has a lot of different classes and I know I will never get bored there when it comes to working out. I also enjoy it when I go to a class with my work colleagues. I also love the Bel Bar because they prepare the best matcha and I always go with my manager on Fridays as the office is a bit quieter, I used to secretly call them our “Matcha Fridays”.

Adult, Female, Person, Woman, Business Card, Paper, Text, Face, Head, Photo Frame

My biggest role model during the internship

My manager Jenny was the biggest role model during these past months. I admire her way of working and managing a lot of tasks considering she is a very busy person. I learned a lot from her way of working, taking on meetings, connecting with colleagues, and managing a great work-life balance. She played a very important role during my onboarding process with the Brand Merch team, and she always finds a way to challenge me so I can get out of my comfort zone and always learn something new. I appreciate how she considered all my skills and incorporated them into my internship, as I have some engineering skills that were not directly relevant to the position, but she considered them for me to work and serve in the best way to the team. Jenny made me believe I can always manage to achieve everything I have in my plans, even if that involves multitasking because I can always find a balance within the tasks I do.

The people I worked with during the internship

This was the first time I was a part of a bigger team in an internship. I was used to working directly with my manager and no one else. This was a challenge as I learned to report my advances on projects to the entire team, communicate more strongly receive feedback, and align it with every team member. Every single member of my team was very nice to me and helped me a lot with the onboarding and the challenges during my internship. They made me feel comfortable asking questions to them every time I got a problem, and I learned a lot from their way of working. I truly believe teamwork makes dream work and it is very impressive how we can create a synergy if we set up the goal to do so.

My learnings

These past months have been full of lessons, learning, and growing (personally and professionally). My biggest takeaway is about the importance of teamwork. I learned how to work in a team and value our different strengths and weaknesses to support one another along the way. I also enjoyed networking with other teams during the Thursday Socials or the events at PVH. I found out the importance of networking because that made my internship much more comfortable for me to work with other people, ask questions, be curious, and learn from other teams as well. I enjoyed experiencing how the teams are connected to pursue a main goal and the way each team member plays a significant role in what we get to see in the stores.

Curious about our Early Talent Program?
Read all about the program and what you can expect here.

Early Talent at PVH EMEA

Barbara Solis,Merchandise Planning Intern