Taylor Monkman

Taylor Monkman is a final year Fashion Business and Management student. She grew up in the Caribbean, spent time in Greece and France before moving to Manchester and starting her degree at Manchester Fashion Institute. During her first year she undertook a summer internship over in Las Vegas before she secured a placement at Coach in New York in her second year. 

Your Placement

“I knew I wanted to do a placement from the second I started University. I was extremely determined to get as much experience as possible, as my tutors always said how important it was. From this, I got an internship in the first summer of university in Las Vegas as a PR coordinator and Dresser. From then, I knew that this would help me get a placement. I think it was essential to do a placement and I still think it is important.

I learnt so much about the fashion industry in my placement year. My role was Womenswear Visual Merchandiser at Coach, New York and I learnt so much about the how to lay out walls and manage samples. Enforcing my own methods for tracking my samples also increased my independence! I learnt what every single department does including, Production, E-commerce, Social Media, Creative, Merchandising, Design, Buying and business Development. My lovely manager allowed me to have time with the teams I was most interested in, and I gained a lot of knowledge about their day-to-day roles. I learnt about the global and international side of the business, and how a global brand communicates with China, Japan and Europe.

Through my time with Coach I have developed analytical skills, and would love to become a Merchandiser or Planner. I was very happy to make such a life-changing decision about what I want to do and be in the future. I also learnt that I am more independent than I ever thought! I appreciate things so much more now and my motto is to live life to the fullest because life is too short! I became a lot braver throughout my placement year, after living in New York (specifically Brooklyn) I can handle anything now!”

Your course

“Honestly, my favourite element of my course is my tutors and professors. They have believed in me so much, especially when I had no faith in myself. They are so helpful and guide me a lot with my projects. I study Fashion Business and Management at Manchester Metropolitan University and I recommend it so much. Academic-wise I love all the elements of my course but especially the CRM and customer journey sections, they are so important in the fashion industry as well as data analytics. I feel like these skills are transferrable and so useful. Of course, the placement team are an amazing part of my course as I secured my dream placement.”