Her Story
About Ava
Ava Moussalem holds a degree in fashion media marketing from Lasell University, located just outside of Boston in Newton, and expanded her studies by attending the London College of Fashion during the spring of her junior year. She entered the fashion field through an internship at Marc Jacobs, which transitioned into a full-time role and led to her promotion as supervisor at one of the stores, where her responsibilities include tending to in-store and international online clients, collaborating with corporate on product needs, and handling visual merchandising alongside social media tasks. With roughly one and a half years of experience, Ava attributes her professional growth to integrating academic presentations and concepts with hands-on luxury retail work during her student years, and she emphasizes values centered on making her contributions meaningful by incorporating both career and personal experiences into everything she does.
Her Interview
Ten minutes with Ava
01What do you attribute your success to?
Definitely going into it still being a student. I was taking everything I was learning in class, and then I would work Friday, Saturday, Sunday, when I was in school, so being able to see like the presentations I was seeing in class, and being able to actually lay them all out and be in a luxury retail position where I got to see all the stuff I was learning come out into play. That honestly played a huge role into being able to understand like the nitpicky things of this position and this field.
02What’s the best career advice you’ve ever received?
It honestly came from my parents. Since I had a very drastic career shift going into college, they always told me no matter where you end up, it's going to be the right place for you. And that honestly what helped me go into the fashion world.
03What advice would you give to young women entering your industry?
It's obviously not going to be easy. Being a woman in today's world comes with its challenges. But just make your presence known. Your presence is important. Whether it may or may not feel like it in that whatever moment you're in, your presence and your knowledge and your experience no matter what it is, it's important and it's valuable.
04What are the biggest challenges or opportunities in your field right now?
Sometimes it really is just trying to find what is best for the customer, because of course at the end of the day we are still like a luxury fashion brand so we have what may cater to a specific customer. Especially when everyone has such individual needs. So being able to find that specific bag that's going to be perfect for them, that's going to help them leave happy. Sometimes that can be difficult if we may not have what they're looking for.
05What values are most important to you in your work and personal life?
There's a bit of like crossover when it comes to personal and professional. It's definitely just taking my experiences whether it be like career-wise or just personal experiences and just putting them all into everything that I do to make sure that everything I do is still meaningful to me and what I value in general. Always making sure that I'm doing what feels right for me and just what feels the most me.
Join Influential Women and start making an impact. Register now.