Mary Beth Taylor earned her dream job, a new position made for her in New York City that she will begin in June.

The senior fashion merchandising major said she interned with shoe designer Stuart Weitzman last summer and began working with the wholesale team as a major account-marketing analyst.

“After I left, [Stuart Weitzman] created my job I will have after graduation off of the work I did for them in the summer,” Taylor said. “I went up to New York, met with the president of the company, and he told me we could build a job off of what they needed and what I wanted to do.”

Design, merchandising and textiles department chair Janace Bubonia, Taylor’s teacher and adviser for the past four years, she said she could not wait to see what Taylor did with her career.

“She is totally a go-getter and very driven,” Bubonia said. “To have the ability to create a new position at Stuart Weitzman is a great achievement, and I think it speaks very highly of her. They really wanted her to come back and work for the company.”

Taylor said the fashion department was a major part of her college life, but it was not the main reason she came to the university.

Taylor said two factors influenced her: Her dad was a TCU alumnnus, and she grew up around the university.

“Even before I knew TCU had a fashion program, I wanted to go here,” she said. “When I figured out that they had one and I learned more about the fashion program, that was even more of a deciding factor for me.”

The fashion program helped her figure out what she wanted to do, and the classes gave her a broad overview of all the different avenues of fashion, Taylor said.

The fashion program was structured to give students perspectives of all aspects of the industry. Bubonia said Taylor was prepared for the job, and the experience she gained from her internship would be a springboard for what she would do in the future.