AN INTERVIEW WITH ELLEN CHA
COLLEGE LIFE CAREER PASSION FASHION INDUSTRY “it’s very easy to become…I don’t wanna say “fake” but “pretentious” after being in the sale environment for a while”-Ellen Cha
I sat down with 24 year-old Ellen Cha on a cold February day at a coffee shop across the street from Nordstrom Downtown Seattle. Working a fulltime job as store manager at BCBG, taking four classes at the Art Institute of Seattle and getting ready to graduate with a Bachelor Degree in marketing, it was very nice of her to spend a few hours of her super busy day for a quick interview with a classmate. I have known Ellen for over two years, but yet never had a chance to learn more about her life and working experiences besides a few casual talks about weather. Q: When did you start working in retail Ellen? A: It was a bout four years ago; I started out as sale associate at the Gap Working in retail environment for a while, what do you like the most about it? What I like most about it that you get to learn how to adapt with the pressure of time and responsibility. You have to be early at work, you have to meet deadline, you have to make sale. You feel more matured after you work in retail for a while. I know you are a store manager now at BCBG, so do you think there is more pressure when you’re a store manager than when you were sale associate? Definitely! It requires multi-tasking skill, you have to watch and help sale associates, take care of customers, answering phone calls, sometimes work with visual merchandiser.
Let’s say if there’s not much different in the paycheck between a sale associate and a store manager, what position would you rather be in? Store manager… Because you get to be more flexible in what you do. I can’t stand having somebody to tell me what I do wrong or being under the pressure of making sales and pushing customers. As your major is fashion marketing, do you think the knowledge you get in school helps you with your work or your working experiences help you to do well in school? It’s both ways! But working is the most practical way to know the industry. I still appreciate the degree though. Without it I probably would not get promoted to be a store manager. What are some of the things that you learn through working experiences that school does not teach you? The major thing I’ve learn from working is effective communication and dealing with difficult customers. It’s not the same how you talk at work and outside work. Especially being a store manager, you want to get people to do things without sounding like a control freak. You mentioned “difficult customers”? Do you have a strategy to deal with them? Because I remembered when I worked at Abercrombie and Fitch as a sale associate, if customers give me a hard time I just have one genetic respond “Let me call my manager” but you are already a store manager so it must be hard? It’s very easy to be out of control when you deal with a rude or unreasonable customer want to return a dress she accidently spilled coffee on. Something like that. I usually just talk to them about the store policy or offer exchange instead of return if I can. The number one rule is “don’t argue with customers” that’s a “no-no” Do you think the retail environment changes you as a person in some extent? It does have an effect. There are certain parts of you in terms of knowledge and social skills get better, but it’s very easy to become…I don’t wanna say “fake” but “pretentious” after being in the sale environment for a while. You feel like at times you have to say things you don’t mean? Totally! You can’t just say “oh that shirt just does not look good on you” to customers right? As you are Korean American, raising up to two cultures simultaneously (Asian and American), does it give you the advantages or disadvantages as you working in the fashion industry? There are some people have bias about Asian but not a lot of them! Most of the time I give more advantages because I can speak two languages, I have a mix perspective about things so it makes conversations more interesting What’s your ultimate goal? How do you see yourself in the next five years? A: I want to save up enough money and have enough experience to have a boutique on my own. You need to be your own boss at some point right? What is your perspective about corporate world? Wouldn’t you want to claim up the ladder rather than starting your own business? I thought about that too. One thing about corporate world that worry me is you need to have connections to make things happen and I don’t feel like I know a lot of people. But we will have to see!