From Chefs to Ballerinas: The Importance of Childhood Dreams

Photographer: Simone Bollinger

As children, we are in our most malleable state. We consume media, make friends with everyone we talk to, and change interests every week. As a child, I dreamt of becoming an art teacher and a scientist. Besides my excitement for the newest episodes of Project Runway, fashion was the furthest path from my mind. And yet, my peers and I still chose fashion. Below is a collection of talented young Fashion Industry creatives whose paths were not always linear. Even though we’ve all chosen the same major, our childhood dream jobs let our individualities shine through creativity, talents, and paths within fashion. How did our childhood dream jobs lead us to fashion? Let’s find out.  

Meeting the Dreamers 

The Chef
Kadence McCalla 

Kadence McCalla (she/her), a junior Fashion Industry & Merchandising major, is an enthusiastic foodie. As a kid, she was constantly switching channels between the Food Network and HGTV. Since real estate was never Kadence’s niche, the Food Network inspired her to take up cooking. She began baking at a young age since she “could put the ingredients together and then ask an adult to put them in the oven for [her]." Kadence’s love for cooking continued into her junior year of high school when she worked in salad preparation for a pizza kitchen, cutting the ingredients and tossing lettuce all day. Living in New York meant fashion was also always a large interest in her life. Her mother had walked in a fashion show, and Kadence was “enamored when [they] met the designers.” Between cooking and fashion, Kadence knew that her passion aligned more with the latter, especially since she grew up surrounded by well-known colleges with top-ranked fashion programs. While cooking may now be her hobby instead of her dream job, Kadence still loves to eat out and go to happy hour every week.  

The Fashion Designer
Madison Pfaff 

Madison Pfaff (she/her), a senior Fashion Industry & Merchandising student, knew that she loved fashion from a young age. At six years old, she was “using tape and tissues to make the dress from Haunted Mansion on [her] Barbie doll” and had her sights set on a career in fashion design. Her mom was involved in the fashion world and promoted Madison’s exploration of this adolescent interest. Despite her curiosity, she was not very interested in design and found matching pieces more enjoyable. After taking a product styling class in her sophomore year, Madison’s childhood dream job transformed into a path toward a career in styling. With her overflowing passion and consistent love for fashion, the stylist dream is very feasible for this talented FI&M senior. Young Madison, in her mom's high heels, would be proud to see that her childhood interest wasn’t a mere fleeting idea.

The Ballroom Dancer
Sabrina Morin 

Sabrina Morin (she/her), a senior Fashion Industry & Merchandising major, has been dancing her whole life thanks to her Cuban American roots. Her parents met while dancing salsa, a ballroom dance, which inspired Sabrina to enter the field. Fashion entered her mind when designing her dance costumes, first for herself and later for her little cousins. When asked why she didn’t pursue fashion design over FI&M, Sabrina stated, “I can already design, and I can easily pick up any technical skills on YouTube. But business skills? It’s harder to pick those up on YouTube.” Recently, she has been taking dance classes in the Rittenhouse area and plans on trying out for a Philadelphia sports dance team this coming winter, but the name will remain anonymous so as not to risk jinxing it. Dance will always be a part of Sabrina’s life, even if her primary career is in the fashion industry.  

The Ballerina
Cindy Lin

Cindy Lin (she/they), a junior Fashion Industry & Merchandising major, admired the effortless grace of ballet. Even though she never danced ballet, her childhood dreams consisted of leaps, pointe, relevé, and everything in between. Since fields in the arts can be risky, Cindy’s mother worried about the prosperity of her talented and beloved daughter. This caused Cindy to shift gears to another path, a path deeply inspired by her hardworking mother. Growing up with a seamstress mother who worked in sweatshops exposed her to fashion early on but also revealed to her the struggles behind the glamour of the industry. Fashion, like the arts, doesn’t always guarantee sustainable income. Often, garment workers are underpaid, underappreciated, and are forced to deal with unfair working conditions. While she did not always dream of fashion, Cindy states, “I am confident in my passion and drive to highlight the workers behind the scenes and, hopefully, better their livelihoods.” Cindy is not only motivated by her future success but also by her mother's.

The Fashionista
Hannah Adele Brong

Hannah Adele B. (she/her), a senior Fashion Industry & Merchandising major, knew her life would lead to a career in fashion from kindergarten. She wasn’t aware of the many fields in fashion, but young Hannah dreamed of directing designs, planning runway shows, and styling other people. Her mom allowed her to explore and express herself through fashion, inspiring her to style her Barbies in homemade designs. As she entered her senior year of high school, Hannah’s childhood dream gained focus after extensive research on fashion business, merchandising, management, operations, etc. Her search led her to fashion buying and a future dream of being a creative director, the same dream she held as a child before she knew what it was. Dedication has led her to her senior year at Drexel, and she states, “I am beyond satisfied with the path I am going down and headed towards. I am always thinking of that little girl bedazzling and selling her custom Old Navy flip-flops; everything I do today is for her.”

The Doctor
Joy Weinsoff 

Joy Zorina (she/her), a junior Fashion Industry & Merchandising major, dreamed of a career as a doctor or veterinarian until the age of sixteen. It was such a large interest of hers that she delved into college degrees and different paths that she may take to achieve her dream. When Joy realized how expensive an undergraduate education followed by medical school would be, she moved away from a doctor's career. Her search for a dream began anew, reminding her of the time she spent in a family friend's second-hand clothing store. This inspired Joy to explore a career in fashion, leading her to discover the vast array of career pathways during her time at Drexel. Last fall and winter opened the door to fashion journalism for joy, as she was a guest writer for the Fashion Talk newsletter, founded by Amarissa Imoukhuede. Her writing skill is evident in her piece titled “An Industry Made by Women, Run by Men,” highlighting the gender gap in the fashion industry. As Joy continues to write and provide a voice to the more secluded sides of the industry, her career in fashion journalism is sure to take flight. 

The Costume Designer
Sadie Patterson 

Sadie Patterson (she/her), a senior Fashion Industry & Merchandising major, is a movie and TV buff. Horror movies, general media, period piece dramas, and everything in between significantly influenced Sadie’s childhood dream job to be a costume designer. Her mom’s friend was another inspiration in this path since she worked in costuming for Sex and the City and other popular TV series. Sadie dreamt of following in her footsteps to create the visual appearance of characters in film since she was enamored with historical fashion and period piece media. While she once believed she was interested in designing costumes, after entering college, she soon realized that styling costumes was more in line with her passions. After completing her co-op in a styling position for URBN, it was clear that Sadie’s focus had moved away from costume and towards the art of “putting pieces together.” Her love of costumes and all forms of media still remains in her current dream job since styling and costuming overlap in many ways. Instead of being the name next to the costume designer, you may see Sadie Patterson given credit for styling your next favorite TV show.  

The Hairdresser
Carla Scarpato 

Carla Scarpato (she/her), a senior Fashion Industry & Merchandising major has always loved getting her hair done. Four-year-old Carla admired her hairdresser so much that she wanted to pursue the same path. Since Carla regarded her as “the coolest person ever,” this dream remained until she turned seven years old. Many other interests came and went, but fashion never phased out. When she was around eleven or twelve, Carla was exposed to fashion content on social media, revealing to her that fashion could be a career. It is a social industry, like hair styling, and an opportunity to work with people in fashion and use her friendly personality to gain meaningful connections. Through her time at Drexel and her co-op job experiences, Carla discovered her new dream job as a fashion buyer. While her hairdresser dream was once very prevalent, its impact is not very large in her current path. Carla's admiration for her childhood hairdresser and her experiments with hairstyles as a kid lives on through her love of doing her own hair.  

Importance of Childhood Dream Jobs 

Envisioning your classmates as anyone but a FI&M major is not easy to do. From chefs, ballroom dancers, and doctors to hairdressers, members of the FI&M student body have a path to fashion that is more than what meets the eye. From the survey used to gather the models for this piece and casual interviews conducted during the shoots, it’s evident that childhood dream jobs shape students’ paths to the fashion world. Despite not pursuing their initial dreams, these FI&M students stay true to themselves in their current fashion roles. With a wide range of post-graduate aspirations, FI&M students continue to hold drastically different goals for their future in the industry. Everyone has an individual role to play in the fashion industry. What path has your childhood dream job led you to?