This document contains a learning contract and internship report from Nicolette Amodeo's internship at My Vintage Academy. The learning contract outlines her job responsibilities, which included organizing the company's archive closet and managing their social media presence. It also describes the supervision she received from Anna Cederus and her learning objectives of gaining marketing skills and understanding how a small fashion company operates. Her report provides an overview of My Vintage Academy's history and structure. It also summarizes an interview with her supervisor Anna Cederus, who discussed her career path and goals. Finally, the report covers industry topics related to the company's location in Florence and competitors in the accessories business.

1. Nicolette Amodeo/ Marketing
Faculty Supervisor: Tamara Evans & Simona Michelotti
Work Supervisor: Anna Cederus
My Vintage Academy/ Marketing Intern
May 4th, 2015
Word Count: 5455

2. Table of Contents
COVER PAGE 1
SECTION 1-LEARNING CONTRACT 2
SECTION 2-BUSINESS REPORT 3
SECTION 3-COLLECTION OF WORK SAMPLES AND ARTEFACTS 4
SECTION 4-CONCLUSION 5
SECTION 5-CV 6

3. Nicolette Amodeo
Section 1- Learning Contract
1) Job description: describe in as much detail as possible your expected
role and responsibilities.
My expected role and responsibilities at work consist of working in the archive closet and hands
on with the new merchandise they have arriving. Since they are receiving new product I will be in charge
of organizing all of the new jewelry and rearranging it in the closet so it is placed in a very organized and
structured order. I will also help my advisor manage our social media pages because they want to try and
market their product more to the public. This consists of uploading pictures to our Facebook page as well
as posting about events like future workshops that we have coming up. I will also have to tweet about
events we have coming up along with pictures from these events after they take place to show to the
public what takes place at our workshops. As for our Instagram page I will be in charge of taking photos of
the new merchandise and editing them myself to add to the account. I will have to post professional
pictures from the workshops as well with catchy phrases to get people to attend our future events. I will
also be assisting Anna with our homepage website where I will have to upload all of the new merchandise
with the prices and description of these pieces so they are available to the public to rent. I will also be
responsible for helping with English translations. Since they are working closely with American clients
they want their pamphlets for workshops and events to have English translations so I will help write these
with Anna to make sure that they are written correctly and make sense.
2) Supervision: describe in detail the supervision provided; what
assistance will you receive and from whom?
I will be receiving majority of my assistance fromAnna, who is the graphic designer for the
company as well as an assistant to Barbara. She is in charge of managing the archive closet as well as
monitoring the companies social media sites and the website. Anna and I will be working on many
projects together like organizing the jewelry for the thesis paper that we received as well as all of the
jewelry that will be arriving after finishing that portion. She will be in charge of assigning me tasks and
daily work as well as answering any questions that I have along the way. Since it is only Anna and I in the
archive closet we will be working very closely together so she will be assisting me with the organization
and placement of the new jewelry because it cannot just be placed anywhere, it has to be by year, style
and design. She will also be in charge of making sure I know how to edit the photos on Photoshop
properly for the website. It is important that I know how to do this because they don’t use regular portrait
shots of their products, they must be uploaded as a sketch and if you want to see the actual pictures you
have to rent the pieces, which is how the company makes a lot of their profit.
3) Learning objectives: what do you hope to achieve during this
internship?

4. I hope to achieve more marketing skills and insight on the company as a whole. By this I mean
that I want to acquire skills that are needed to work within a small company since I have only had
experience in larger corporations. I am interested to see how their teams work together to produce these
products as well as how they go about marketing their products since they are growing and becoming a
very well known company. I want to become more familiar with jewelry and how it should be displayed
and marketed to customers since I have only had experience working with merchandise like RTW,
handbags, and shoes. I feel that it will be a good experience and change for me to get to work hands on
with jewelry and learn more about these pieces as well as the production of their other merchandise.
Overall I am hoping this internship will allow me to achieve more knowledge about the fashion industry
and how it functions within smaller companies.
4) Learning activities: a) describe how your activities in the workplace
will enable you to meet your learning objectives; include meetings, research,
projects, conversations, etc. and relate them to what you intend to learn.
I feel my activities in the workplace will enable me to meet my learning objectives in many
different ways. One way is when I am working with the company’s social media sites because it will help
me enhance my marketing skills since I will be working with the advertisement of their product. I will be
posting pictures as well as posts about the new merchandise when it arrives so the public can see what
we have in the archive closet. When sitting in on meetings with clients it will help me become more
familiar with Italian because it gives me the opportunity to listen to what they are saying and try my best
to understand it. It will also encourage me to learn the language and understand it better so I am able to
communicate with them when sitting in on these meetings. When working on projects it will help me
become familiar with jewelry and how to work closely with accessories like leather goods and jewelry as
opposed to RTW and shoes. It will give me insight on how companies go about interacting with clients and
how they get their merchandise out there for the public to see. This will also help me learn more about
public relations and building close relationships with clients because when sitting in on these meetings I
will get to see how the boss builds close relationships with her clients and how she pitches her product to
them. Since she is a very dominate woman I will definitely be learning a lot because she knows how to
carry herself well and build strong relationships with people so I am excited to be a part of this interaction
and hope that it will help me with my social networking.
b) Describe how your activities outside of the workplace (such as
reading, writing, trips and so on) will help you meet your learning objectives.
There will also be many activities outside of my workplace that will help me reach my learning
objectives and goals. Field trips that take place in my marketing class will be very helpful in the way that
we learn about window displays on one of our trips, which allows us to see different window displays,
ones that will attract consumers and then others that will not catch the eye of the consumer. This is
useful information for me because when I am in charge of displaying the new jewelry that arrives at work,
as well as organizing them on panels this will help me see how a proper layout should be set up. Even

5. though it is different in the sense that a stores layout usually has RTW and I will be working with jewelry it
still allows me to see that there should be a color pattern or theme and that the layout should almost be
able to tell a story. It will also allow me to see how the jewelry should be displayed in a sense of style and
category so it looks more organized and neat for when customers go to look at them.
5) Self evaluation: how will you know what you have learned, or that
you have achieved your learning objectives?
I think I will know what I learned as well as what I have achieved by the end of this internship
pretty easily because it will be something that is very obvious. By this I mean that I will have the
opportunity to look back on all of my projects and see the outcome of all of them by the end. If I have
organized the jewelry in the archive closet, created different panels for all of the new pieces, managed
the social media sites properly and completed all of the projects assigned to me by my boss then I would
consider that achieving my learning objectives. My reflected work will allow me to see If was able to work
within a smaller company and adapt to the changes easily which was something I hoped would come
easily. If I was able to complete all of my assigned tasks and thoroughly understand the projects that I was
being assigned then that would also prove to me that I was able to achieve my goals. I want to gain an
experience of working with new merchandise and learning more about the jewelry and history behind it
and after seeing what my role consists of I feel that I will really be able to get that opportunity when
working on all of these projects for Anna. I am excited to see what comes about this internship and if I
am able to gain the experience that I am looking for.

6. Nicolette Amodeo
Section 2- Business Report
1. Structure and history of organization-
My Vintage Academy started up as an archive, as the result of a 30-year work
and experience in their luxury fashion workshop. They are cooperation that works closely
with famous designers who helped guide them through the necessary skills needed to
develop their creative inspirations. Over time they have developed new and unique trends,
which led them to be categorized with all the best-known brands of the fashion market.
Barbara Ricchi, the owner of the company and a well-known entrepreneur of the fashion
industry along with Giorgio Linea decided to make this great experience public for
everybody to see by opening her showroom. Over the years this company continued to
grow drastically, starting with a draft of a drawing to being able to see their own ideas
come to life, from worktables to the most important fashion shows throughout the world.
This is what led them to the creation of MVA, a space and archive that is used as a research
instrument for the made in Italy. It is a web platform that collects pictures of different
samples and prototypes of products and accessories of their making and details. It is a
collection of studies and proposals for spring and fall collections from the past 30 years.
Throughout my internship here I always worked closely with Anna Cederus, who is an
assistant to Barbara. Her role in the company consists of graphic design for the website,
networking their social media sites, and overall working with the archive product. It is only
Anna and I who work in the archive closet, the only other person that I come in contact
with is Alida who works next door and also assists Barbara. I see Barbara from time to time
when she comes in for meetings or to meet with Anna about future workshops or projects.
When Anna took me on a tour of the company I was able to see the different teams and jobs
that took place. Every team had a different work ethic, for instance, the design team for
handbags worked very close together to create these leather goods. Communication was
key in the development of handbags because they worked in an assembly line so they
would discuss the design of it and how to go about adjusting the product as it moved along.
As for the design team for the jewelry and accessories I noticed that they all worked more
individually. They each had their own section in the factory where they would be cutting
out and measuring different fabrics to create a specific design for the products. If they had a
question about the design or were unsure of something they would go to Barabara or her
brother Christain who is a modeler-craftsman. I worked closely with Anna while being
there because she mentored me in the way that she had to show me the archive and how
everything was set up and was in charge of assigning as well as helping me with projects. I
enjoyed working with Anna very much because she is a very intelligent, hardworking and
creative person. She taught me a lot like how to manage a website since she was a graphic
design major and I didn’t know much about Photoshop or creating a page. She was very
helpful when it came to assisting me with projects, she always answered any questions I
had and made sure that I had a complete understanding of what I was doing. Although I
didn’t get to work with other people in different departments I enjoyed my position and
with whom I worked with. I was able to form a close relationship with my supervisor and
was also able to learn a lot by just working one on one with someone so I was very happy
as well as satisfied with the work environment that I was in.

7. 2. Interview-
I decided to interview my boss Anna Cederus for this section because I
worked very closely with her and was interested to learn more about her as a
person. Before having the interview with Anna I prepared about 8-10 questions so I
would go into it knowing what I was going to ask her. These questions were pretty
basic ones such as information on her background, previous positions she held
before this organization and why she chose to work in this field, etc.
Anna came from an artistic background, with a bachelor in Fine Arts. She
started working in the fashion business by designing digital textile prints for
accessories and clothing. Over the years she came to know many different
companies, and it became a natural process of professional growth for her. Recently
she has come to working more towards the product development of accessories,
which is the area she works in now. Giorgiolinea and My Vintage academy are two
different companies with the same owner but they are divided within two completely
activities. Anna handles the product development of handbags with Giorgio linea’s
clients such as Emilio Pucci and Altuzarra. My Vintage Academy is a historical
archive that offers workshops for students as well as live events. Anna is responsible
for this archive, which means that she is in charge of coordinating everything from
the planning of events to updating the websites, writing press releases and working
in the archive.
When I asked Anna why she chose this career path she responded, “ I did
not really choose this career path, it chose me.” She said that after graduation she
wanted to find a job where she could apply her artistic skills as well as work as a
graphic designer. She learned about a company looking for a textile print designer at
the time and since she loved fashion she thought it seemed like the perfect position
because it consisted of both art and profession. Although this position that she was
introduced to wasn’t a career that she ever imagined having before it was one that
helped her grow into her current role. I then asked her if she enjoyed working within
this field and she told me that she really loved her job. She explained that it is
exciting to be part of the development of new products that are going to be the
fashion of tomorrow. She said it is enjoyable because it is very dynamic job where
assignments and tasks are changing constantly which makes working more
interesting and exciting from day to day.
I asked her about some of her skills that she has acquired after
experiencing different areas in the fashion field and she told me that she had really
gained and learned a lot that has helped her to enhance her skills over time. Other
than being a graphics and digital print designer she acquired an in depth knowledge
of product development as well as materials and the different processes employed
when making a handbags and leather accessories. Lastly I ended the interview with
a question about her career goals and asked if she had anything planned for the
near future. She explained to me that after she had her baby about a year and a half
ago her goals changed a bit but she knew she still wanted to work in the fashion
industry. Her new goal/dream situation was to work freelance as a digital print
designer in order to organize work and still manage to have time to spend with her
family.

8. Overall I was very happy that I chose to interview Anna because the
conversation was very interesting for me and she was very honest and realistic with
her responses. Anna is a very hard working person and very passionate about what
she does. I could tell by talking to her that when she takes on a role she is someone
who dedicates herself to that position above and beyond what is required because
she wants to aspire and be the best that she can be. When I was talking to her she
was able to tell me all of these different positions that she had taken on whether it
was with digital printing, product development or graphic design I could just see the
commitment she put towards each individual position. In the archive I could even tell
from personal experience the hard worker that she was because she would get lost
in a project and just couldn’t stop until it was completed and perfected. She worked
through lunch breaks and even took the computer home to do more work on in her
free time because she was just so dedicated to the projects she was assigned. I
admire Anna greatly for this because she had such an impeccable work ethic, which
is something I would definitely like to follow in my future career path. Even though
our careers goals are different in the sense that she is more into the design part of
fashion and I am more interested in the marketing/ merchandising part of it I feel that
we still have the same idea when it comes to our work ethic. I want to be able to love
what I’m doing in my future career so I can dedicate myself completely to my
assignments as she does because like Anna I always want things to be done
precisely and to the best of its abilities.
3. Industry Topics-
The location of My Vintage Academy is significant in the way that the
company works as a supplier for the fashion industry and is also part of a Florentine
tradition of craftsmanship. They help fashion companies develop their designs into
sellable products. Florence and Tuscany are both known their high quality leather
goods, production and MVA is a part of this tradition. Since the company operates in
the accessories business their main competitors would be the other product
developers that make handbags, leather belts and small leather goods for the
fashion industry in the local area. They are not directly competing with factories in
developing countries because they do not handle production but only samples for
runways and special VIP orders. When it comes to competition clients would choose
this company over others when they need custom solutions. MVA is a small
company that focus’s on sample production for catwalks and mini collections. They
care about detail due to their very passionate and hardworking team. They have the
ability to offer a fast and highly personalize service that is that is suitable for high
fashion brands and clients with smaller productions and high demands on quality
and skilled craftsmanship. In terms of the external, political, and economical factors
currently affecting the industry as well as its future success I learned that the fashion
accessories goods sector just recently entered a new crisis. Important brands are
now leaving supplies and in this moment the future looks dark. Even though
production in for example a country like China is not a direction competitor, the mid-
market brands have difficulty staying in the businesses and as a result orders
diminish and fashion brands begin to make less samples and try to keep the costs

9. down before production. The result for Giorgio Linea is definitely negative but trying
to change for the future, they are currently aiming at bespoke, custom made fashion
and hoping that private clients and special orders are going to get them back on
track.
4. Networking
While interning at My Vintage Academy I feel that I was able to build
strong relationships with different people that I could one day use as a connection or for
a recommendation. One of them was my boss Anna Cederus, who is currently the
graphic designer and archive coordinator for the company. This opportunity arose
throughout my time working within this company because I worked very closely with
Anna and I was able to assist her in several different ways. I worked on projects for her
in the archive closet, which consisted of rearranging and organizing all of the new
jewelry that was arriving. I also helped her manage our social media pages because
she was very busy from time to time so I would update them and keep a track of what
was trending when she didn’t have the chance to. I feel that Anna would be a great
source of networking because I have helped her complete many tasks and she has
continuously reassured me of all the help that I have been, she also told me that she
wouldn’t have been able to handle the assortment of all of this new jewelry without me.
Towards the end of my time being there she asked me if she could write a post on my
LinkedIn page, talking about how I have been such a great asset to the company as
well as all of my accomplishments. I was overwhelmed with joy when she told me she
would do this for me because I did not even have to ask her to but she told me she
wanted to because she wanted to help me. She also informed me that if I ever needed a
letter of recommendation she would be more then happy to do so after all I have done
to help her. I also feel that Anna is a strong connection because since it was always just
the two of us we were able to form a relationship outside of the work field. We would
discuss personal things taking place in our lives at the moment like talking about our
families as well as future plans that we have. Although we still kept it professional it was
nice to be able to form a friendship with one of my coworkers because I was able to feel
more then comfortable in my everyday work environment and it made work a lot less
boring with good company.
llaria Santoro, who is the company manager, would be another reference I could
use for potential networking. Although I did not work closely with her she was still
someone that I came in contact with from time to time. She also interviewed me along
with Anna when I was applying for this position so she was aware of what I was capable
of as well as my work ethic because we discussed all of my work experience throughout
the interview. I was originally supposed to be working with both Anna and llaria but
Anna informed me that right before I began my internship that Barbara had moved llaria
down to the office to work on other tasks since Anna would have me to assist her in the
archive closet. llaria was still well aware of all of the projects as well as tasks that I was
working on because she checked in with Anna from time to time to see how she was
doing with the archive closet as well as the social media pages. Anna told me that she
would inform her with all of the progress we made and how much help I have been
throughout this whole project. llaria would also come up to the archive closet and see
me sorting through all of the jewelry as well as tagging and labeling the pieces so she

10. could see that I was a hard worker and determined to get the job done. She would also
just come up when she had the chance to say hello and to see how things were going
as well as to see if I was enjoying my time there. I always reassured her that I was more
then happy with what I was working on and how I loved being able to work hands on
with the jewelry because the pieces were so exclusive and interesting that it was fun for
me to sort through them all.
I was also able to build a relationship with three different members of a company
known as Bemis Associates Inc during my time here. They came in for a meeting with
Barbara one day to discuss the design of a handbag that they had been working on
together. It just so happened that Anna was not in the office this day because she was
sick so when they came into the archive closet for the appointment with Barbara I
decided to take the initiative and introduce myself because I noticed they were
American. When I began speaking in English to them they were in shock because they
just assumed I was Italian and did not speak a word of English. After introducing
ourselves I offered them each an espresso and since they were American I knew that
just one wouldn’t be enough given that we American’s like our coffee. I made them each
a double espresso shot and they were impressed that I took the initiative to do so
because it was exactly what they wanted. They asked me why I came to Florence and
what I studied in school and I explained to them that I was doing an internship in at My
Vintage Academy for credit as well as taking two courses, one in Italian and one in
marketing. They asked me why I wanted to come abroad to work when everyone else
comes to travel and I told them that I wanted a different experience from everyone else.
I explained that I still wanted to travel but I also wanted to expand my horizons and work
in a different country where I would be challenged to learn and understand a different
culture. They were impressed by my answer and told me that I was very mature for my
age. We also discussed how I was a double major at URI in both Fashion
Merchandising Design as well as Business and they told me I was on the right path
because with the fashion field being so competitive it is always good to have a business
degree. I began to ask them more about their company and what they designed and
they explained to me that they were the design team for this company Bemis and they
were working with Barbara to make adjustments on a chestnut colored pocketbook.
They showed me how they designed this special stitching on the bag as well as the
material that was used for the inside of the bag. I told them that it was beautiful and I
would personally love to own a bag like that because it was the perfect size and had
great quality. Before Barbara came in for the meeting they told me that they were
astound by my social skills and how well I carry myself. They thought it was great that I
went out of my way to greet them and how I showed an interest in what they stand for
as well as there company. I feel they would be a great source of networking because
they each handed me their personal business cards and told me that they thought I
would be a perfect asset to their marketing team. They then asked me when I graduated
and when I informed them that I had a year left they told me to contact them after
graduation if I was still interested. I told them that I would be more then interested and
that I would definitely stay in contact. I sent them each a follow up email thanking them
for their time and we were in touch for a little while after that.
Daryl R. Johnson is the applications specialist of the company who works with
more of the technical side of the design team as opposed to the actual designing of the

11. products. He is the one who complemented me greatly on my social skills and told me
he was very impressed with the way I carry myself and to highly consider their
marketing team. I informed him that I would love to do so and that I would definitely be
interested in learning more about the company and what they have to offer when the
time comes.
Nida Suhail is a designer for the handbags made within this company. She was
the one who explained to me the handbag that they were working on and what little
adjustments they were making to perfect it. Her specialty was making the stitching of
the bags, she made them in a way that they barley seemed visibly which made the bag
look more clean cut as well as more ecofriendly.
Jessica Hemmer was the Sr. Designer for Apparel Innovations and the one who I
kept in most contact with. She seemed very interested in me joining their marketing
team after graduation because she was telling me all about the team and what they had
to offer. She said that she felt since I have had experience working with PR that I could
really help the company with the advertisement of their products such as exploiting
them more to the public. I was honored that they all had such sweet things to say to me
so I feel that if I were to reach out to them as a connection in the future that they would
be more then glad to help me.
Since I had never heard about this company before meeting them and did not get
the chance to discuss more with them about what they represent I decided to look into it
myself. The brand’s main fundamental is consideration, not just for the people but for
the planet as well. They are a company that offers several different products such as
apparel and consumer’s goods but what caught my attention was that all of their
products are sustainable. They don’t make any of their products without considering
their footprint. They use Sewfree for all of their merchandise because they feel it is a
more of a conscientious choice then sewing or using glues. Their products contain
virtually no volatile compounds and they use the most thoughtful methods for their
manufacturing, recycling whenever possible. They work with a wide variety of
manufacturers to help replace these outdated components and methodologies. Their
main goal as a company is to customize and optimize their consumers to achieving their
desired results because the customer’s satisfaction is what matters most to them. After
reading more about the company and what they represent I would definitely be
interested in working for them after graduation. I love that they are so passionate about
what they do and stand by sustainability and making their products eco friendly. When
Nida was talking to me about the stitching of the bag and how it was Sewfree I was
confused on how that made it environmentally friendly but after doing the research I was
able to understand it better. Sewfree bonding is what they feel will be the next
generation of cut and set. It’s a complete ecosystem of high-performance products,
process, machinery and services that’s revolutionizing the design and construction of
garments and soft goods. I found this method that they go by to very interesting and is
something that makes them distinct from other companies because they are very
passionate about their company and what they represent.

12. These two photos are pictures from our Instagram account that I have edited and
posted. The first one on the left is a picture that I personally took of some of our new geometric
earrings that had just arrived at the time. We received all of this new jewelry from a company
known as Artigiana Fiorentina Bigiotteria. Valentina, who is the owner of the jewelry, delivers
us new pieces weekly for us to add to our archive. The business originally started off as her
parents company but after a while she took over and starting running it by herself. All of these
unique and exquisite pieces were created and designed by the artisans that work within this
company. Unfortunately the company recently went out of business, which is why we are
carrying over their jewelry to display in our archive closet. Barbara partnered with Valentina to
display and rent these items out in which Valentina will receive a percentage of the profit made
off any of these pieces. Anna was very excited about these new geometric earrings because
she found them to be very interesting and inimitable pieces so she wanted them to be
displayed for the public to see. She asked me to get creative with it and make them look cool
because she wanted to post them on our social media pages. I decided to display them on a
black backdrop to intensify the metallic, silver color that they were made of. I then staggered
them one next to the other at a tilted angle so you were able to see the style and geometric
shape of them. I also wanted to capture them from a side perspective so you can see the width
of the earring, which usually gives people an idea on the weight of the earring. I edited the
photo on an app called Afterlight on my phone, which helps intensify the lighting of photos as
Nicolette Amodeo
Section 3-Collection of work samples and
artefacts
1. Instagram

13. well as the clarity and color. Anna was impressed by this app because it helped the photo to
appear more clearly. I increased the brightness, color and shadow of the picture so you can
see the earrings and the detail on them very clearly. The photo on the right was taken
professionally at our painting on leather workshop. I chose this photo to post on our Instagram
account because this was one of our most popular workshops and a very creative one as well.
I felt that the leather watch bracelet that was made at this event was a very distinctive piece so
I figured it would attract the public eye since it is very unique and not a piece of jewelry that
you usually see. It shows that at our workshops you are able to use your mind and get creative
to make fun and personalized pieces. This mini project helped me become more familiar on
how to market merchandise via social media. It gave me the opportunity to learn more about
the company’s workshops and what they have to offer because I wanted to understand what
was taking place at these events before posting about them.
This is an example of the catchy phrases that I would talk about in my journal for our Facebook
page. When we had events coming up Anna and I would choose a photo that shows what took place at
these workshops, then she would edit it for the page and I would post it with a catchy saying to attract
people to come to these events. She would ask me to just post something about what these workshops
have to offer and the benefits of attending them. She told me that she usually just posts the name of
the event with the location and felt it was too boring and needed to change it up with something
different. This was a fun project for me because it helped me with my advertisement skills and gave
me insight on what took place at these workshops because I wasn’t here when they took place. Before
they were posted they had to be run by Anna as well as Barbra and they loved the ones that I came up
with. Above you can see an example of one of the posts that I came up with for our leather jewelry
making workshops, it was one of my first post’s and Barbara liked it a lot because it was simple,
catchy and to the point! She wanted me to keep them short and brief because if they were too long
they would become boring and lose the attention of the reader. It was important that I kept this in my
mind when making these posts because there was so much to talk about that took place at these
workshops but the point was to have people attend them and find out for themselves.
2. Workshops

14. These three photos are what I referred to in my journal
as tagging, labeling and making panels for the pieces. When new
pieces would first arrive I would separate them by year and
style and then place them on panels, which you can see in the
first two top photos. The first one on the left shows four panels
that are created for earrings that had arrived from the 80’s.
After grouping them together I would then have to tag them
with a My Vintage Academy black tag, which can be seen in the
bottom left picture, and label it with a number as well as the
panel number that it was being displayed on. Attaching these
pieces to the tag was a tedious job because although you might
not be able to see it in this photo it was not as simple and easy
as it may look. First the earrings had to be attached to a black
string, which had to be cut a certain length and then I would
burn the tip of it with a lighter so it would fit through the hole
of the earring. It was not a hard job but it was just very time
consuming and you had to have a lot of patience. The reason for
this is so when customers come to look at these pieces and
want to remove the earring from the tag; they are able to pull it
out but only to a certain length so the pieces don’t easily lose
their tag and number. The pictures on the top right are some of
the earrings from the Thesis paper I had also discussed in my
journal. These are what they all look like displayed after being
tagged and labeled properly. Creating these panels help me
learn more about visual and product display. It gave me the
opportunity to get creative and display the merchandise in my
own way. It also gave me the chance to pay close attention to
the detail of each piece because they had to be grouped by style
and design and since there were so many panels you had to be
careful with where you placed them.
3. Archivio- Bijoux

15. These two photos above are pictures of the boards that I made for the My Vintage Academy
Pinterest page. Anna made this Pinterest account for the company so you can find photos of our
merchandise as well as pictures from past workshops that we had. She felt that it was boring and
not enough for the page so she wanted to add boards that consisted of inspirational jewelry. By this
she meant she wanted pictures of jewelry that we inspire to have one day to rent to our consumers.
She wanted people who follow us to see that we are up to date in the fashion world and are aware
of the different styles of jewelry that were currently trending as well as in season. She asked me to
do some research and see what is popular for the upcoming summer and winter seasons. I did so by
browsing websites online and looking at their jewelry collection as well as observing in stores such
as Zara and H&M while shopping there to observe what current styles were trending there. After
research I created two boards, one with summer/spring jewelry. This board consisted of chunky,
oversized colorful necklaces. It also consisted of a lot of oval shaped pieces for more simple long
necklaces as you can see in the first picture above. For bracelets, it seemed that cuffed bracelets
were in, by this I mean bracelets that do not close completely with a clip, they have a slight gap and
remain in place by squeezing it tightly around the wrist. As for the fall/winter jewelry I also noticed
these same bracelets but they weren’t as colorful they were more simple gold, and silver cuffs,
which can be seen in the top right photo. I also noticed a nature theme going on in this collection
because there were all different leaf rings, necklaces and bracelets. The leaf’s were displayed in all
different sizes, colors and styles, some were tiny charms daggling from bracelets while others were
oversized on a long chain necklace but they were a very common trend that I noticed. When I
showed Anna these boards she loved them because these are styles she would actually love to
display in the archive closet so when receiving more jewelry she wanted to pick out pieces that
looked similar to these so we were up to date with the season. She asked me to post them on our
Pinterest page so they are now displayed there for the public to see. This helped me get more
insight on what was currently trending in the fashion world of bijoux since I had to do research to
find out more about it. It was fun for me because a lot of the pieces I found were necklaces and
jewelry that I would love to purchase myself and that I see a lot of young girls wearing today. Some
of my roommates have necklaces with a leaf hanging on it as well as the cuffed bracelets so it was
cool to see that what I researched and came up with was actually true. My boss also pulled out a lot
of leaf earring pieces, as you can see in the photo below, when Valentina brought us more jewelry
so I was happy to see that she chose to display these pieces based off of my research and what I
thought was popular at the time.
4. Pinterest

16. These two photos above are pictures I took of merchandise from the thesis paper for our Facebook
page. Anna wanted me to take pictures of the new merchandise that was arriving for our social media
pages like I did for the Instagram account to show people the new items that we have received for rent
in our archive closet. I chose to post these two pictures because the oversize cuff bracelet, earrings and
necklace in the left picture were very unique pieces that I thought people would find interesting. I also
edited this photo on the app that I spoke about earlier, Afterlight, to intensify the color of these pieces
because the jewels on them are actually very vibrant in person so I wanted people be able to see that. I
decided to take the photo of these pieces on a white backdrop because I thought it also helped
intensify the color as well as the brightness of the photo. On the right is a photo of different types of
earrings that I also found to be very interesting because they were different shapes and colors. I
thought these pieces were distinct from the rest of the collection because they were in the shape of
flowers, and stars with colorful studs in the middle, which made them stick out from the solid gold and
silver pieces. I also intensified the brightness and highlights of this picture so you were able to see the
detailing of these pieces because up close you can see they have little dots and cut outs on them. Anna
had me post these pictures on our Facebook page so customers could see some of the unique and fun
pieces that we had arriving! This gave me the opportunity to learn more about photography and how
to take pictures of merchandise. Although I am not a professional photographer I had to think like one
when taking these photos. They didn’t need to be the best quality being that the company does not
have a professional camera and I had to take it on my iPhone but they wanted them to still come out
with good quality. I had to take into consideration the placement, lighting and setup of the pieces when
taking the photos because I wanted the pictures to have high clarity and for the consumers to be able
to see the detailing of each individual piece. Anna was very happy with the pieces I chose as well as the
pictures I took so I was very pleased to see that my pictures were exploitable for our social media
pages.
5. Facebook

17. This picture above features some of our jewelry that I had to edit and upload to our website’s page
for rent. This was a tedious process because all of these pieces were photographed as regular
pictures but then I had to upload them to Photoshop and edit them to give them this sketch effect.
The company displays these items like this because in order for people to see what the pieces
actually look like they have to rent them for 25 euro so that is how they make their profit off of them.
I would then have to upload them each individually with the name of the company, which was
Artigiana Fiorentina Bigiotteria, the number of the piece, the price and a description of these pieces
with an English translation. This was a tedious project because there were so many pieces that had to
be uploaded individually but it gave me the opportunity to learn more about Photoshop and how to
use it as well the chance to become more familiar with the website. It also gave me the chance to
learn more about the pieces such as what they were made of and the inspiration behind them. I think
it is nice to see that the company displays this information because usually online websites only
provide you with an image and the price of the product, but with these photos you are able to see
what the jewelry is made of as well as background information about the piece so you can see what
you are purchasing.
6. Website

18. Overall this internship was such an amazing experience and has impacted me
greatly as a person. When I decided to come for the internship program as opposed to the
classes I honestly did not know what to expect. I was nervous enough to be going off to
foreign country on my own for a semester so deciding to work on top of it just made it that
much worse for me. I was stepping outside my comfort zone for the first time because I
decided to do something different from my friends. They were all going for the course
program but I wanted a different experience, I wanted to be able to take full advantage of
my time in a foreign country and I knew an opportunity to work in Florence didn’t come
very often so I had to take the chance while I could.
I expected that the internship was going to be challenging because adapting to a
different culture other then your own is hard enough as it is so I figured that work wouldn’t
come very easily as well. I was also nervous because I have only worked within large
corporations so working within a smaller company run by only two to three people was
going to be a new experience for me. I also felt that I was going to feel out of place and
isolated when going to work on a daily bases due to the language barrier. I had no prior
experience with Italian and even though we were taking an Italian course I knew I wouldn’t
be fluent in the language for quite sometime. My biggest fear was not being able to
understand my tasks or what they were assigning me due to this so I was very determined
to learn and actually understand the language because I wanted to be able to communicate
with my colleagues.
When I began interning with My Vintage Academy I expected that my role would be
maintaining and organizing the archive closet because they told me that they needed the
most help in that area. I was excited because I was being given the opportunity to work
with unique and distinctive jewelry from earlier generations so I was interested to learn
more about these pieces and to see the different styles that were popular throughout each
decade. I didn’t think the jewelry project that I was assigned was going to be as in depth as
it ended up being but after being with the company for three months I realized the
importance of these pieces. I was given a lot of responsibility when it came to these
projects because I was in charge or organizing and displaying the jewelry for the customers
to see. I was also in charge of pulling pieces that I felt were unnecessary and arranging all of
these different items by section and style. I was honored that Anna trusted me enough to
work on these tasks on my own because I was able to get creative with the display of the
items and really become familiar with the pieces. Since I have worked previously with a
merchandising team I was used to working with visual display because I was in charge of
Salvatore Ferragamo’s creation’s shoedisplay this past summer. This gave me the
opportunity to use those skills I had acquired and build on them by working with
merchandise other then shoes because I never worked closely with jewelry before so it was
nice to be doing something different for a change. Since my boss Anna spoke English the
language barrier was not a problem like I thought it was going to be. I was able to
understand all of my tasks and complete them properly without any miscommunication. I
was still able to get use out of learning Italian though because they wanted me to
understand the language so sometimes Anna and Alida would have conversations in Italian
and I would listen and try my best to understand them and respond. I was also given the
opportunity to practice the language when another intern named Elisa came to work with
us. Since she only spoke Italian she was able to help me learn the language by just simply
Nicolette Amodeo
Section 4-Conclusion

19. communicating with me and I would help her with her English as well. I would also help
Anna with the English translations for our website and workshops. I was happy that I was
able to do this for Anna because although she spoke English perfectly, writing it was a little
more challenging for her so it was nice that we were able to help each other throughout my
time being there.
As you can see this internship far exceeded my expectations. I was able to expand
my knowledge of the fashion industry and work with such an amazing and passionate
company where I learned and gained so much. I was able to adapt to working within a
smaller company and very close to my colleagues where I was able to build strong
relationships and connections for my future networking. I was able to see how a small
company functions in marketing their products and growing as a whole. I was given the
opportunity to work closely with the advertisement of their products and different
merchandise, which are skills that I acquired and will carry with me throughout my
journey in the fashion industry. Although I worked on the same project continuously
throughout my time being there I wouldn’t have changed a thing because it gave me the
chance to really commit to what I was working on so I could perfect it and get the job done
properly. I was also really proud of myself when Anna told me that I did such an amazing
job when working with the jewelry because when Elisa came she kept me on the project
and had her do something completely different because she was so happy with my work. It
is the little things like this that pay off and I could not be more grateful for my experience at
this company.