CONGRATULATIONS CLASS OF 2020!
DAY 2
FASHION | BEAUTY
TODAY'S SPEAKERS
TASHIANNE YASMIN
Stylist + Designer
JORDAN KRAUSS
Fashion Business
JOANNA CAROLL
Sustainable Fashion
TAYLOR ARNOLD
Fashion PR
ROBIN GUESS
Entrepreneur
PRAYVA HUSSEIN
Beauty Ecommerce
SHARON CLAWSON
Model
WILLA TSOKANIS
Sustainable Fashion
LIZZY YUSSUF
Model | Activist
DANIELLE SHAPIRO
FASHION AND BEAUTY FOR THE NEW ERA
TASHIANN YASMINE
Tashian Yasmin a stylist, designer, and business owner started her career in modelling when she moved to NYC in 2016, that was also when she started her business Girlstrike. At first it was just an outlet to be creative and make money, but it soon turned into passion. Her modeling career was doing great but she didn't feel like it was her calling so she started to try other things, she started styling her friends and from there she landed an internship with Patty Wilson, which is where she found her true passion styling. Her brand Girlstrike evolved from there to where it is today, a jewelry brand with a confident stylist that truly shows how to embody Girlstrike jewelry on all body shapes and sizes. Since then she has styled many artists and models for photoshoots for her brand and others. Tashiann and her brand is uplifting and impacting the female community in a positive way as she moves forward to a build name and a space for her brand on the market.
Tashiann Yasmine - Find Your Purpose and Succeed Doing What You Love | Couch Commencement | Day 2
IG:@tashyasmine
JORDAN KRAUSS
A small town Long Island girl explains how she started a business from the bottom up at 21 years old. After realizing college wasn't for her, Jordan Krauss turned to working in retail. Shortly after learning the ins and outs of business management, she opened Love and Honey Boutique, a fully female owned and operated business. Jordan Krauss is a 21 year old who grew up on the north shore of LI and now owns Love and Honey Boutique in East Meadow, NY. After graduating high school, she went to Suffolk County Community College and shortly realized it was not for her. She then worked retail for four years before opening her boutique. Fashion and business are two things she is passionate about and her self-sufficient nature is a huge part of her success. Since opening her store in December 2018, Jordan has successfully gotten her name out on social media and started up an ecommerce site. Owning a business at such a young age is no easy task, but Jordan hopes her mantra “positive attitude, positive outcome” resonates with you.
Jordan Krauss - When College Isn’t For You | Couch Commencement | Day 2
IG:@jordankrauss
JOANNA CARROLL
Trend-setter and boss lady Joanna Carroll hashes out what it means to work in a co-operative fashion environment. This encouraging talk will inspire collaboration amongst a community and help any and all aspiring boss ladies to find a way to meld passion with functionality when opening their own small business.
Joanna Carroll is an eclectic, go-getting business owner, who in 2017 decided to take the plunge and open a vintage pop-up store in the quaint city of Rochester New York, the place which she now calls home. With a degree from Alfred University's School of Art & Design-concentrated in painting and photography- and a steady job in the field, Joanna’s decision to open The Op Shop was surely a bold divergence from the path she had originally seen for herself. Her passion for clothing and community came together when she created a co-operative shop environment that welcomed different rotating vendors. Since the near two and a half years since The Op Shop was founded, it has grown from a rented floor space, to a two story storefront, nestled into an old house in the heart of Downtown Rochester. In addition to the physical growth of the shop, Joanna’s determination to run a business centered around fueling her community has paved the way for the development of a collaborative collection of over 20 rotating pop-up vendors that offer vintage clothing, antique jewelry, handmade goods and so much more. It is glaringly apparent through the success of this business and the wealth of its community involvement, that Joanna and her shop partners, have created a space that emphasizes the importance of supporting your peers and their individual success while on the path to creating your own.
Joanna Carroll - A World of Opportunity at The Op Shop | Couch Commencement | Day 2
IG: @msfrizzle_is_me
TAYLOR ARNOLD
Taylor Arnold, PR associate for global fashion brand Alice + Olivia, explains how she went from marketing student to fashion PR girl. She discusses the ins and outs of public relations, events, and media in the fashion world. Arnold is a 23 year-old PR associate at New York based fashion label, Alice + Olivia. Originally from upstate New York, she currently resides in Williamsburg. She attended the Fashion Institute of Technology as an Advertising and Marketing Communications major, where she then went on to work as a PR assistant at Marc Jacobs. In her current position, she helps Alice + Olivia coordinate celebrity styling, collaborates with editors, and manages events like fashion shows and charity dinners. She has worked with many celebrity stylists and famous editors at publications like Teen Vogue and Elle.
Taylor Arnold - The World of Fashion Public Relations | Couch Commencement | Day 2
IG: @taylarnold_
ROBIN GUESS
Robin Guess shares her story of creating a business out of her passion after being laid off from a Fortune 100 company. In this lighthearted talk, Robin, the founder and CEO of Beau Gâchis Cosmetics, shares tips on becoming an entrepreneur. Robin Guess is the founder and CEO of Beau Gâchis Cosmetics (@beaugachis), a makeup brand dedicated to selling high quality makeup brushes and tools at an affordable price. Born and raised in Tampa, Robin worked for a Fortune 100 company before being laid off in 2011. As a result, her family of four was down to one income and she became a stay-at-home mom. One day, Robin decided to splurge on a pair of makeup brushes, only to find how expensive most quality brushes were. With this, Beau Gâchis was born and launched in 2013. The name was inspired by her two daughters, whom Robin refers to as her “Beautiful Messes,” the French translation of Beau Gâchis. Since then, Robin’s mission has been to create quality beauty tools affordable to everyday people. Her relatable view on beauty, her passion for creating quality products, and her friendly personality have contributed to the success of her business, having sold millions of products since its launch.
Robin Guess - A Beautiful Mess Leads to a Profitable Business | Couch Commencement | Day 2
IG: @beaugachis
PRAYVA HUSSAIN
Want to try K-Beauty but don’t know where to start? Prayva’s here to help. In her informative talk, Prayva discusses her work in customer service at K-Beauty e-commerce site Soko Glam and how she helps foster community and connects with customers in a growing online beauty landscape. A Philadelphia suburb native based in New York, Prayva loves the beauty community. With skin concerns from a young age, she dived deeper into skincare, and eventually products and lifestyle of Korean beauty, to find a solution. After discovering what these communities meant in her personal life, her career goal centered around sharing her story and results with others. She worked at an Estée Lauder counter as a beauty consultant before moving to Soko Glam, an e-commerce K-Beauty site, where she’s been working with customers for almost two years now. As the Customer Experience Associate, she helps people shape their own skincare routines through Soko Glam Skin Care Concierge service, whether it’s educating on ingredients or helping them navigate the Korean skincare world. In addition to Soko Glam, she works in customer experience for Then I Met You, a premium skincare line. She also contributes to Soko Glam’s content site, The Klog, where she writes about skincare advice and product reviews with readers.
Prayva Hussain - Skincare, Community, and Confidence | Couch Commencement | Day 2
IG: @pray.va
SHARON CLAWSON
Life is not linear. There are many bumps in the road and COVID-19 happens to be a major one right now. In this video, plus-size model and body positivity activist Sharon Clawson shares her story while asking students to reflect on past bumps that have led them to where they are today. Sharon Clawson (@sharontheclaw) is an American plus-size model and body positivity activist from Malaysian, Sri Lankan, and German descent. Born and raised in Sacramento, California, she is striving to change the way we look at beauty. In the summer of 2018, she signed with Northwest Models and Talent. In September 2019, she relocated to Southern California and signed with Role Models Management. Sharon has since worked on campaigns for Pacifica Beauty, Guide Beauty Cosmetics, AMA Apparel, and more.
Sharon Clawson - Acknowledging the Detours of Your Life | Couch Commencement Day 2
WILLA TSOKANIS
Join Willa Tsokanis, co-founder of esa New York, as she discusses finding her place in the fashion industry. In this talk, you’ll learn about Willa’s early struggles and disillusionment with the dark underbelly of the industry, her time at the Fashion Institute of Technology, and how she decided to take action and start her own business. Willa discusses the community she has created and how esa New York has grown to where it is today. Willa Tsokanis is a graduate of the Fashion Institute of Technology with a BS in Textile Development and Marketing. At FIT, she helped develop the first large-scale composting system for natural fiber textiles. Willa co-founded esa New York in 2016 to mend the disconnect between our relationship to clothing and the fashion industry through the power of community, experiences, and education. Events at esa New York, such as the biannual Do + Brew, garner over 300 guests. This past spring Do + Brew was held in collaboration with Donate NYC. Willa believes that common people have collective power to hold corporations accountable by creating a world that works for and supports everyone. She aims to create a natural conversation that promotes growth and mindfulness in every aspect of the fashion industry.
Willa Tsokanis - Forming A Sustainable Fashion Community | Couch Commencement | Day 2
IG: @willa.fortune
LIZZY YUSUFF
A model on a mission, Guyanese-American Lizzy Yusuff shares her ultimate goal of starting a financial literacy program for lower-income youth all while shooting editorials for Mara Hoffman and i-D Magazine. In this talk, she discusses modeling as her creative outlet and how she plans to help increase social mobility in underserved communities. Lizzy Yusuff is a Guyanese-American model and Humanities and Justice graduate with a passion for social justice reform. Throughout her modeling career, she has walked for brands with the likes of Ganni, Maryam Nassir Zaddeh, and Gabriela Hearst, and has worked with publications including WWD, GQ, and Paper Magazine. Born and raised in New York City, she’s always been deeply aware of systemic poverty and its destructive toll on marginalized communities. As a child of immigrants, her parents hailing from the South American, West-Indian nation of Guyana, she feels as if it's her duty to make her mark while also striving to make transformative change in communities that are often not given the resources to succeed. She has used her education and platform to perform journalistic work on poverty reduction and social mobility and hopes to further her philanthropic endeavors in New York City and Guyana. Her goal is to one day create a financial literacy program geared towards the youth of lower-income neighborhoods in both regions.
Lizzy Yusuff - Advocating for Financial Literacy | Couch Commencement | Day 2
IG: @elizabethusuff
DANIELLE SHAPIRO
Danielle Shapiro is the Account Coordinator at Fourth Floor. The idea on exceling right after graduation sounds tough and somewhat challenging. In this talk Danielle talks on exactly that, thriving post-graduation. Danielle graduated from Bloomsburg University of Pennsylvania majoring in Organizational Communications. She made her way up quickly in becoming an Account Coordinator by starting off as an Onboarding Coordinator for a few months then Recruiting Coordinator.
Danielle Shapiro - How to Thrive Post Graduation | Couch Commencement | Day 5
SCHEDULE FOR COUCH COMMENCEMENT WEEK
.png)