Last week, I had the opportunity to attend Nicholas Carbonaro’s discussion on how we can make the best impressions of ourselves with our style.  I found this talk interesting because it brought to light the simple ways in which people can take care of themselves to present the best versions of themselves. This could be through using certain conditioners for your hair, or wearing certain clothes that display your personality. I found this discussion interesting, because Nicholas described how certain subtleties in your appearance can depict a lot about your personality and can affect jobs, and future opportunities that people have. For example, I didn’t think that the way in which people presented their hairstyles would depict certain characteristics about yourself such as whether you are a risk taker, an introvert, etc.  I also thought it was important how Nicholas said that in order to develop into our “idea professional self” in the future, we have to start preparing for that role in the clothes that we wear, the hairstyles we choose, etc. A lot of times when I imagining the type of “professional” I want to be in the future, I often forget that forming this “persona” of myself is going to be a journey and not a persona that I can immediately acquire over time. This discussion has allowed me to evaluate how I can be the professional that I hope to be in a few years and the steps that I can take to achieve that in evaluating the types of clothes that I wear, how I wear my hear, etc.  Although someone hearing this may think that these terms sound superficial, the way Nicholas was explaining these ideas, it didn’t sound that way.  Thinking about how you present yourself to the world is a big indication of how you take care of yourself which for me personally is difficult to balance in college. However, I’m realizing that to embody the “persona” I want to be in the future, I will have to start working towards that right now.

Additionally, I was interested by how Nicholas formed his career in hair styling, restoration, painting, wax figures and wardrobe. I thought it was interested hearing how he had formed his career based on taking skills he had in design in a unique context by working in Broadway and working with wax figures. I was fascinated by how Nicholas extended the “traditional” boundaries of what design entails to his current career, because typically when I think of designers they of people working with hardware/software, or in the fashion industry. Nicholas has encompassed, fashion, art, hair-styling, as all interdisciplinary topics that depict him as a designer. As I am also interested in pursing a career in design, this discussion got me thinking about how I can encompass a wide variety of my interdisciplinary passions and still be a designer. In my case, I would tie together my interests in environmental science, health, writing, and game theory.  Overall, Nicholas brought to light the importance of changing my daily schedule to accommodate how I want to present myself to the world which was a helpful reminder to me.