Hi, my name is Jon Stewart Ridgeway, and I’m a rising junior in the College of Arts & Sciences at Wash U planning to graduate in 2022. I’m currently majoring in Economics with a minor in Astrophysics. I am working for Korédé, a fashion startup focused on creating handbags that fit the functionality needs of the modern woman without sacrificing style.

When I first applied to the Skandalaris Internship Program, I was really just looking for something to do over the summer. I saw it as just another stepping stone towards finding a career. After meeting my venture host owner, Ronke Faleti, and learning more about the mission Korédé was trying to accomplish, I realized I had found much more than just a summer job, I had found something I was excited and proud to put work into. Korédé designs and sells handbags and accessories, but it is also a resource for celebrating womaning. Womaning is defined as a hero, doing the job of many, at times uncelebrated and often stylish. To me, celebrating womaning is acknowledging the many roles that women take on and recognizing the success that they have found in these roles.  When learning about this, I was reminded of my mom and the many roles she takes on as both a career woman and mother, which brings a deeper personal significance to the term womaning and the project of turning Korédé into a resource.

I have had the privilege of working on several projects geared towards celebrating womaning as well as promoting the success of Korédé as a whole. I have enjoyed applying previous skills and knowledge to my work as well as acquiring new ones, many of which I never expected to learn. If you can’t tell by my fields of study, I previously had no knowledge of the fashion industry or fashion design. I’ve had to work through many tasks while learning how to do them. After just 7 weeks of interning at Korédé, I have been able to understand the complexities behind designs, learn how design contributes to cost, and gain insight into fashion markets. I have also been able to contribute to projects in ways even I did not expect such as producing a podcast as part of the company’s community engagement initiative. Above all, I believe this internship has taught me how to work while learning and how to adapt to any situation. The experience working for Korédé has given me has been incredibly enriching to me both personally and professionally.