Have you met our wonderful selection panel? This season always presents us with some tough decisions but our panel is top notch. Here is a bit more about them:
Judy Davis is a two year board member of the Fashion Institute Midwest Board and the Fashion Institute Guild. She currently serves as treasurer of both organizations.
Outside of the “fashion world”, Judy serves the community as Philanthropy/Event Chair on the American Red Cross Board, Board Development Chair on the YMCA Board, Chair of the Iowa West Educational Advisory Committee, a member of the Iowa Western Community College Black Tie Committee, and a board member of the Council Bluffs Guild of the Omaha Symphony.
Judy served as Campaign Consultant for the new Charles E. Lakin YMCA in Council Bluffs and is currently serving as Campaign Consultant for the Council Bluffs Athletic Complex. Judy is married to husband Ron, has three children and six grandchildren.
Meghann Schense is creative consultant & grit of EsotericVelvet.com She is a founding, executive board member for the Fashion Institute Guild, a style ambassador for Harper’s Bazaar, and “Au Courant” trend columnist for Inspired Living Magazine.
Meghann’s expertise includes media production, writing, art direction, styling, graphic design, photography, event planning, market research & analytics, e-commerce, branding, public relations, email marketing, and social media.
Vanessa Barrett has a long history with design and fashion. She began as a window dresser, with many experiences along the way including boutique owner, buyer, interior design, editor of The Scout Guide Omaha, and photographer. Vanessa is currently working in jewelry design and as a fashion/interior stylist.
Autumn Foland leads the sales and customer service efforts at Design Parliament. With over 15 years of retail and wholesale experience, Autumn has solidified a reputation for being a key player in the nation’s designer specialty and department stores. She has purchased at wholesale showrooms across the country, as well as such venues as New York Fashion Week, LA Fashion Week, Dallas Market and Style Max Chicago.
Autumn has developed relationships with hundreds of fashion designers and top retail executives through her various buying and selling activities. Autumn is also very involved in her local community, serving as Board Member of the Midwest Fashion Institute Guild, Member of the Board and Chairperson of the Heart Ministry Center Fashion Show and a Team Captain Volunteer for The ICAN Womens Leadership Annual Conference.
Robyn Kortan was a Senior Buyer for Dayton Hudson Department Stores headquartered in Minneapolis, MN. She was responsible for managing multi million dollar businesses for several departments. In this position, Robyn also had the opportunity to travel for the Associated Merchant Corporation and was involved with design and development of merchandise for private label to be used by Dayton Hudson/Marshall Field and several other major department stores throughout the U.S. Before retiring from retail, Robyn moved to Human Resources and was responsible for the Merchant Trainee Program and conducted professional and personal training for the Executive Merchant Team.
With these folks on the panel, we have no doubt that the August 2015 lineup will be wonderful!