Singaporean Jewelry Designer Provides UC Fashion Design Student with a Global Experience

Working for an international jewelry designer was a dream come true for second-year fashion design student, Natalie Altieri. Over the spring semester, Altieri had the opportunity to complete her first co-op semester as a design intern at an internationally growing, Singaporean jewelry label,

Carrie K

, through

UC ProPEL

’s

The Singapore Experience

.

The Singapore Experience is a semester-long, unpaid internship in Singapore, where participating students earn cooperative education credit or academic internship credit for their work experience. The program is available every semester and is open to all undergraduate University of Cincinnati majors, freshmen through seniors.

Since 2012, ProPEL has been partnering with The Academic Internship Council (AIC) to offer UC students professional work opportunities in East Asia. Altieri was one of 10 students to participate in the spring 2015 program and was the first University of Cincinnati fashion design student to participate in the program.

“I was very nervous being the first fashion design student to partake in the Singapore Experience, but the company I worked for was wonderful, and my time there proved to be such a beneficial learning experience,” stated Altieri. 

Altieri’s co-op experience was quite phenomenal. Not only did she receive global, career-related, industry work experience, she was also exposed to key business functions of Carrie K, from production to marketing during her co-op abroad. 

“I think it's an understatement when I say that I was very fortunate to work with the employer that I did while in Singapore," stated Altieri. “I was able to work very closely with the production, marketing and design teams. I designed multiple bespoke pieces, experienced many of Carrie K’s retail outlets, conducted marketing research, helped prepare and conduct follow ups for Paris Fashion Week, and aided in visual merchandising. ... The Singapore Experience allowed me to build a global awareness both culturally and professionally and provided me with an understanding of communication within the industry, with other labels and our consumers.”

Assistant Professor of Professional Practice Beth Anne Herrin is a strong proponent for the The Singapore Experience and encourages students to take advantage of the extraordinary opportunity during their cooperative education, whether it be their first co-op semester or their last. Herrin believes that Altieri saw the benefit of seizing the unique opportunity. “Natalie has acquired a global perspective on design and marketing that will most certainly set her up for advanced understanding of world practices in her future co-ops,” said Herrin. “I hope others follow her example with the same enthusiasm and commitment!”

Students interested in participating in UC ProPEL’s Singapore Experience, Hong Kong Experience or Toronto Experience this fall semester can attend an information session in Swift 720, at 4 p.m. Thursday, May 21.

Applications can be found below:

The Singapore Experience

The Hong Kong Experience

The Toronto Experience