Finding that perfect pair of jeans is not just a hobby for one ETSU student, it’s her future career.
Sharon Gystad, 20, a junior at ETSU, has taken her love of fashion and brand names and turned it into the beginning of a career. She recently accepted a position to work at three popular boutiques in Greenwich, Conn. to help her determine what she would like to do with her fashion sense.
But Gystad, however, was not always so sure about what she wanted to do with her life.
She did know she had had enough of her medical courses. “I was getting ready for class and I broke down and called my friend,” Gystad said. “I told her I did not want to do this.”
Class was becoming tedious and she could sense the other students did not like her, Gystad said.
Toward the end of the fall semester 2003, Gystad was starting to think that maybe an X-ray technician career might not work out. “I chose this career because of all the high school classes I took, and my parents thought it would be a good stable job,” Gystad said.
Apprehensive that her family would not like the thought of a fashion career path, Gystad took some time to think about what she could do. Her friends at work helped to convince her that she should look into a career that she would really love, like the fashion industry. “Sharon has very exquisite taste,” Mae Keplinger said, Gystad’s co-worker for two years at Proffitt’s department store.
Advisement for the spring 2004 semester was coming up and Gystad decided to talk to Dr. Anna Roberts of the Family and Consumer Sciences Department at ETSU.
Roberts guided Sharon towards apparel merchandising. “During my advisement, I was so excited. All I could do was smile,” Gystad said.
She told her mother about her choice and was surprised that she slowly came around to the idea. In fact, since Gystad’s family is based in Greenwich, where a lot of name-brand boutiques are located, her mother decided to talk to a family member who works for Brant Allen Industries. Brant Allen Industries is a producer of newsprint paper for color printing and have mills in the U.S. and Canada.
Through these connections, Gystad was able to get a job at a boutique owned by Allison Brant, where she will be monogramming accessories. Brant is the stepdaughter of super model Stephanie Seymour.
Working for Brant, Gystad will also get the opportunity to work at a Theory boutique and another small clothing boutique on Greenwich Avenue as well. “I am looking forward to gaining the experience, getting this on my resume and just having fun,” she said.
On weekends, she will be working with the head of the polo department promoting the Greenwich polo club at polo matches. She will also be handing out brochures and selling T-shirts. “Hopefully this will get me out there,” Gystad said.
Her sister, Sheila, 17, has some mixed feelings about her older sister leaving for the summer. “I’m kind of sad, we do a lot of things together,” Shelia Gystad said. “But, I’m happy because I get to borrow her clothes all summer.”
Gystad has taken Sheila shopping many times to show her how to dress and what to buy. Shelia has caught on to her sister’s fashion sense, Shelia said.
Whenever Gystad has time to leave town, she loves to visit Atlanta with her sister for shopping at Saks. “I tried on a pair of $120 jeans and I thought, mom will kill me. Sharon said, ‘look at how good they look on you,'” Sheila said. “She was right, so I bought them.”
Gystad is very excited about living in Greenwich for the summer, but has a few things she would like to address before she leaves. “The way I dress, they dress totally different up there,” she said. “I have to buy new clothes, which isn’t all that bad.”
Her family is already teasing her about her accent too. Although Gystad lived in Greenwich for seven years of her childhood, she has picked up an East-Tennessean accent. “I don’t think it will effect her,” Jackie Raffa, Gystad’s aunt who was able to get her the jobs, said. “Connecticut has a lot of people from down South up here.”
Once Gystad has graduated, she either would like to own her boutique that would feature brand name items as well as inexpensive things so that she could attract a large base of customers or become a buyer for a store or a celebrity stylist.
Wherever Gystad’s career leads her, she would just love to stay in fashion in some way. “If I could do anything, it would have to do with fashion,” Gystad said. “It’s my favorite thing in the whole world. It would make me so happy.

Author