Creative Advertising and PR Grad, Vanessa Yousif, Lands Luxury Fashion PR Internship Through Campus Magazine Connection
Yousif’s Novella Paghera PR internship took her from events at Manhattan’s iconic Chelsea Hotel, to work with celebrity stylists and the New York elite
By: Lily Stroup
Using her connections from VIM fashion magazine at Michigan State University, 2025 creative advertising and PR graduate, Vanessa Yousif, landed in the fashion world without the hassles of cover letters and interviews.
“It was a very nice opportunity to be given by someone who is an alum. We had worked on VIM together but hadn’t known each other personally,” said Yousif.
VIM and MSU alum, Anna Webber, is a public relations coordinator for fashion, PR, and communications agency Novella Paghera PR.
Webber and Yousif had shared the creative director position at VIM at separate times. but had reconnected when Yousif reached out for advice about a different internship.
“I wanted her input on it because she had worked with the company before,” said Yousif. “She ended up saying that Novella’s company was a bit more established and that they were looking for people anyway. She kind of just asked me to come and intern there.”
Yousif then moved to New York, working for the agency as one of three interns in Manhattan’s Chelsea neighborhood. Daily tasks for Yousif involved tracking samples from four luxury designers: Alejandro Alonso Rojas, Haikure, MSGM and Scarosso.
“I had my own personal email to talk with stylists and editors, anybody who was looking for pieces. I would check and see if what they were looking for was available if they know what they wanted, or I would send recommendations and find things that would work for their event,” said Yousif.
Yousif said the agency had social media influencers Alix Earle and Lily Chee attending Michael Rubin’s infamous 4th of July White Party. When Novella Paghera sent items Yousif had pulled, she said the company crossed their fingers that the celebrities would wear the items to the events. When this happened, Yousif would proceed with the routine of pulling the clippings for social media and publicizing the designers they represent in different media outlets.
In her internship, Yousif says she uses Canva, Adobe and Office 365, which she had experienced from her AD+PR classes. She says her classes gave her an advantage, enabling her to handle tasks such as creating news clippings about represented designers and tracking loaned samples.
While Yousif acknowledges the fashion PR industry is challenging to access without connections, she says there are things students can do to give themselves an edge.
“Be confident, but not arrogant…you will not know everything going into it and that’s OK, but be able to show that you are versatile and that you can take on creative projects,” said Yousif.