#SenecaProud

Pat Perdue  00:00

Hey, I'm Pat Perdue and I want to introduce you to my latest podcast. This is a co-production between my company YCastr and Seneca College in Toronto. Seneca College is a really great school. I know because over the past couple of years, I've been teaching some marketing and business and customer experience courses there. People come to study at Seneca from all over the world, which makes it a hotbed of innovative thinking. And a big part of that thinking is driven by our amazing faculty, many of whom are well like me, professionals, who are thriving in their own businesses, and teach at Seneca as a way to share their passion for what they do. But needless to say, I've been hugely inspired by the people I've met. And what happens when I get inspired? Well, apparently, I launch a podcast. So here we are. Welcome to the Seneca Proud podcast, where I get to introduce you to some of Seneca College's amazing faculty. So subscribe, download and join me as we meet some of the super inspiring folks who teach here at Seneca College in Toronto. I'm Pat Perdue, and I'm glad you're here today.

Welcome back to the Seneca Proud podcast. I'm Pat Perdue, and I'm super excited about today's show because it's unlike any show we've ever done. I'm going to start with a question. This podcast is called the Seneca Proud podcast. But what does ‘Seneca proud’ really mean? In all of our previous shows, we've had faculty and some department chairs and even President David Agnew talk about what makes Seneca special as well as talking about their programs. In each of those episodes, there arose some common themes that you can find in each of the conversations. Those themes are the dedication of the faculty, the participation of the wider business and industry community to help mentor and nurture students and the prevailing Seneca proud spirit. As President David Agnew called it "a Seneca thing” that seems unique to this institution. Sure, industry participates in programs. But what does industry participation really look like? Sure, faculty is dedicated. But what does that really mean? In this episode of the Seneca Proud podcast, we set about actually discovering and hopefully experiencing what ‘Seneca proud’ really means. 

So how do we do that? Well, for starters, I thought I'd take you out of the studio, and to an event that brings the students, faculty and the wider industry community together. I recently attended an event called FIELD, which stands for: fashion, industry, education, and leadership development. As you might have guessed, it's with the Fashion Business Management program. Many programs have a similar type of event. Very briefly, FIELD is an event in which teams of third year Fashion Business Management students present a solution to a project brief that is provided by a client sponsor. These 10-minute presentations are the end result of about a year's work in product development, marketing and go to market strategy. But that definition doesn't come close to describing what FIELD actually is about. Much like the idea that a student goes to college and attends classes doesn't begin to describe the student experience at Seneca. So, for this final episode of season one of the Seneca Proud podcast, I thought I would bring you along with me to the FIELD event, so you could hear from the attendees themselves about what this event means, and maybe answer a bigger question: What does Seneca proud really mean? Join me as we attend the FIELD 2019 event. We'll get things started by meeting some of the attendees both faculty and industry, some judges, remember it's a competition, and even some family members. And ideally, in about 30 minutes or so, we'll be a little closer to understanding what ‘Seneca proud’ really means. Stick around, it'll be fun. 

We kick off our conversation as attendees begin to gather in what is known as the Great Hall before the presentations get started. It's a large auditorium with a stage at the front and over that stage are massive presentation screens. And it's been set up with about 150 seats for the audience. People are gathering outside the hall, getting pictures taken, meeting up with friends and colleagues and generally getting excited about the presentations. That's where we'll spend some time meeting faculty, guests and even family. You'll also be hearing from individuals from the fashion brand, RW&Co. It's RW&Co’s project brief that the teams are presenting on tonight. As you can imagine their presence here is particularly important. All right, here we go.

 

Michel Côté  04:52

My name is Michel Côté. I'm the fashion arts program co-ordinator and also a faculty member of the Fashion Business and Fashion Management programs.

 

Pat Perdue  05:01

The event hasn't begun, but you've seen all the presentations up until now. Share with me your sense of pride or accomplishments, because you've seen them. You've seen all the presentations sort of start and then move and shift a little bit, and grow and evolve. What are your thoughts around that?

 

Michel Côté  05:19

Well, the students have been working on this project since last September. So basically, in total is seven months. It's quite amazing starting from basically just a little spark of ideas, doing all thi research and developing a complex project that they're presenting today. They've worked so hard, and their accomplishment is actually amazing. We are so impressed by what they've been developing. And I've been working with them and semester, last Fall, and also this winter, so I've really been with them every step of the way. It's an amazing achievement that they're doing tonight. 

 

Pat Perdue  05:57

What has surprised you overall, in terms of all of these groups collectively in their achievement?

 

Michel Côté  06:03

It's their way, their approach, basically, to look at a problem and trying to figure out all the different angles that are related to that problem and finding the best solution marketing wise to put it back onto the market. It's amazing. They start with just a little case study with a few sentences. And they've developed into this. If you want to see the document, it's about 200 pages in total of research and strategies and tactics that they developed over the last seven months.

 

Gitte Hansen  06:36

I'm Gitte Hansen, I'm the chair for the School of Fashion. This is a big event. And they've worked really hard, individually and collectively. And I think that's one of the things that we all look forward to seeing this evening. It is how they've come together as a team, how they've been able to take the design brief, the business brief from RW &Co, and then have come up with really interesting, unusual, but also very reflective, I think of them business solutions. So you know, I think it's exciting.

 

Pat Perdue  07:06

There are folks going to be in the audience tonight from industry as well. Is that correct?

 

Gitte Hansen  07:11

Yes, actually, a lot of our supporters who have been field clients in the past from Walmart from Novice, from various companies like that are going to be here this evening. And then alumni who are working for various companies. So it's a really great opportunity. And of course, next year's clients, they will be here as well.

 

Francois Fortin  07:31

I am Francois Fortin, Vice President of Planning Allocation for RW&Co. It all started for us when we came and saw last year's group last April. We obviously were quite impressed with their presentations and wanted to partner with Seneca. We saw the students and the store in September. And, you know, I would say the first highlight for me was back in December when I got to see their first midterm, where I was very impressed at the level that they were at. And I would say that going into tonight, I'm very excited to see how far they went because they went very far. And I'm curious to see how much more you know, it could be versus where we saw in December, like the progress. So very, very looking forward to it in terms of the event, the presentations, I know they work very hard, so very excited for tonight.

 

Alain Lessard  08:25

I’m Alain Lessard, Vice President of Merchandising for RW&Co. I've been with the company about six years. And I was lucky to reposition the company five years ago with the two words ‘Polish cool’. That made us really on the road to success.

 

Pat Perdue  08:43

Good for you. That's an excellent bragging right.  

 

Alain Lessard  08:45

So basically, I'm happy to be here tonight. I was asked to judge the contest. I'm all fresh. You know, I haven't really seen anything. I looked at the curriculum that the students went through this past year, since September, I’m going to be really happy to just see the final project.

 

Pat Perdue  09:05

Are you a fully a blank slate or is there something secretly, I'm looking over my shoulder here, that you're hoping to see or hoping that's discussed?

 

Alain Lessard  09:13

I'm really hoping to, to look at a fresh point of view from the student's part. You know, I've been in business for many years. And I think it's really nice to see what students thinks about RW. What the they see retail is all about. There are huge changes in retail, different channels. It's not only stores anymore, we have a lot of ecommerce, we have social media, that's part of it. So I can't wait to see how they interpret that. 

 

Pat Perdue  09:45

Great. Well, thank you so much for joining us tonight. 

 

Christine Wang  09:49

My name is Christine Wang, Womenswear Buyer for Saks Off Fifth in Canada.

 

Pat Perdue  09:52

And you're the buyer. So, when I ask my students here what they want to do, they all say, “I want to be a buyer”. That's the thing that people want to do. What goes through your mind when you hear a comment like that?

 

Christine Wang  10:03

It's funny because you don't really realize exactly what it is until you do it. But it's exciting to know that everybody wants to get into that industry and really get a good, you know, well rounded vibe of what it is to be a buyer. And so, I came to speak to a class here a month ago, and kind of just gave them a full background from school to buying, how to get there and what the steps are. And basically, every day in the life of a buyer.

 

Pat Perdue  10:28

I'm sure they really, really appreciated it.

 

Christine Wang  10:30

Yeah, they did. They were very receptive. We got lots of contacts after that, so we can kind of, you know, help them with the steps in their future.

 

Pat Perdue  10:36

That's very generous of you. And now you're here tonight as a judge. Have you judged previous events like this in the past?

 

Christine Wang  10:43

I haven't I have spoken at a different university for a fashion panel before. But it's really exciting to be here to judge for it, because this program in the third year didn't exist. When I was here. I am an alumnus as well. So, it's going to be really exciting to see what they've come up with.

 

Renee Tull  10:59

My name is Renee Tull.

 

Pat Perdue  11:00

Renee, you've been through this program, and now you're returning as a judge. What are your thoughts going in? You were here, was it last year or two years ago?

 

Renee Tull  11:11

Three years ago. 

 

Pat Perdue  11:13

Three years ago. If you can cast your mind back to three years ago, what was going through your mind just before you're going to present?

 

Renee Tull  11:20

Extremely nervous, and excited as well. A lot of work goes into the presentation. So, on the day of you've got so much going through your head. I was very excited to just present everything and have the process over with.

 

Pat Perdue  11:39

Just wanting to get it behind you. 

 

Renee Tull  11:41

Yeah, because there's so much build up. And then it's literally just 10 minutes. 

 

Pat Perdue  11:45

So much build up, right, like, a year's worth of work, right? If you were to go back to yourself three years ago, and give yourself some advice, or maybe give the people tonight presenting some advice. What advice might that be?

 

Renee Tull  11:59

I think I would tell myself not to focus so much on my cue cards, and to remind myself that I know the material and to just go with the flow.

 

Pat Perdue  12:08

That's great. Well, thanks so much, and good luck being a judge. 

 

Marina Strauss  12:14

This is Marina Strauss. I’m the retailing reporter for The Globe and Mail's, Report on Business. It'll be interesting to see how they look at it through different channels, particularly with the expansion of e- commerce. How can they tell their story in ecommerce? How can they tell their story in different media and social media today? That will be part of what they need to tell us today.

 

Pat Perdue  12:44

Awesome. Thank you very much. And I think they're waiting to take your glamour shots. Thank you very much. 

So that was pretty cool, right? We heard from faculty; from the brand sponsors at RW&Co whose senior leadership team flew out from Montreal to attend; former students who are now working in their industry; as well as even the media. But that doesn't tell the entire story of what Seneca proud is all about. Let's hear from some of the family who are here.

 

Joris M.  13:14

I'm Joris. I'm Christina's father, from Park Hill, north of London near Lake Huron.

 

Pat Perdue  13:24

You must be pretty excited, like what are you thinking on behalf of Christina, I know she and her team have been working really, really hard on this presentation tonight. What are your thoughts?

 

Joris M.  13:33

Well, I'm very excited to see how she presents. I know she'll present very well, because I've seen what she did at home.

 

Pat Perdue  13:43

Awesome. Well, as her professor, I can tell you, she's an awesome student. So, you should be very, very proud.

 

Connie M.  13:50

I'm Connie. I'm Christina's mother. And yes, we're very excited as a family minus her brother, to come and see how she presents and just to observe what she's been learning at school and see it in action.

 

Pat Perdue  14:06

That's great. Well, thank you very much for making the trip. But I know it's going to be fabulous. So that's awesome. I'm also standing here with your sisters. There's a distinct family resemblance. Do you guys hear that all the time? 

 

Guest  14:19

Yeah, we similar but different. We all each have our own spin on ourselves and a bit of a mix of both of our parents.

 

Pat Perdue  14:26

As you should, as you should. So, did you all make the three-hour trek as well?

 

Guest  14:31

No, I actually live with Christina here in Toronto. Actually, I like to say she lives with me. I work for Johnson and Johnson in Markham. Made the 15-minute drive.

 

Pat Perdue  14:43

And you've also you've made the three-hour drive? 

 

Guest  14:45

No, I go to McMaster University. I was just one hour, from Hamilton. 

 

Pat Perdue  14:50

And you all came from different directions to be here tonight. Well enjoy the presentation and thank you very much for your comments.

 

Shelly Powell  14:58

Hi, I'm Shelly Powell

 

Pat Perdue  15:00

And you are the parent of one of the presenters here tonight? 

 

Shelly Powell  15:04

Yes, my daughter, Sara Powell. 

 

Pat Perdue  15:06

Excellent. And have you come far to watch your daughter Sarah present?

 

Shelly Powell  15:10

We're from the Peterborough area about an hour a little over an hour's drive.

 

Pat Perdue  15:14

You must be very proud of Sarah and her accomplishments. And tonight's kind of a big deal. There's lots of interesting people here tonight. So what are your thoughts?

 

Shelly Powell  15:22

I'm excited and nervous for her because I know that's how she's feeling.

 

Pat Perdue  15:27

Okay, nice. And I'm also standing here with Sarah's dad. Would you like to say a couple of words? What's your name? 

 

Doug Powell  15:34

Doug Powell.

 

Pat Perdue  15:35

And so also you must be very proud of your daughter Sarah. 

 

Doug Powell  15:39

Very proud. 

 

Pat Perdue  15:40

Has Sarah shared with you guys any of the presentation so far? 

 

Doug Powell  15:44

Not a lot. This may be my first time seeing it. 

 

Pat Perdue  15:47

Okay, okay. Are you excited? 

 

Doug Powell  15:49

I am. I'm very proud of where she is right now. 

 

Pat Perdue  15:51

Excellent. Well as her Prof., she's awesome. 

 

Doug Powell  15:54

Looking forward to her getting a good job. 

 

Pat Perdue  15:27

That's what it comes down to. Thanks so much to both of you. 

So much support from industry, faculty, and family. Let's now take a listen to the tail end of the actual event. So that you can hear the energy in the room. And then we'll have some reactions from two others in attendance. Lora Tisi, President of RW&Co, and Seneca College President, David Agnew, as well as the winners of tonight's competition. 

Okay, let's check out part of the event. I bring you now to Fashion Business Management Program Co-ordinator and Host of the evening, Anna Cappuccitti.

 

Anna Cappuccitti  16:32

Thank you to our Fashion Business Management students for impeccable presentations. You should all be feeling a huge sense of accomplishment. Keep this feeling with you as you move on to your next chapter. Whether it involves starting your career or continuing to further education. We look forward to watching the many successes that you will have. Now to the very difficult task of awarding the Tony Stoneham award to a Fashion Business Management student that has an exceptional academic standing and demonstrates an aptitude for the industry. Our recipient has been a pleasure to teach, taking every opportunity to challenge herself and always exceeding our expectations. A team player role model and leader, congratulations to Christina. 

 

Pat Perdue  17:31

I just have to point out that closer to the start of this episode, we met Christina's parents, Joris and Connie, and her sisters. Cool, right. Let's get back to the show with the Field Event Co-ordinator and former guest on this show, Lorissa Dilay, with more of the event’s proceedings. Okay, back to the event.

 

Gitte Hansen  17:52

It is certainly my pleasure to thank our sponsor, RW&Co, for being our client this year. It has really been a pleasure. It's very exciting to have a company of your magnitude and recognition working with us here at Seneca College. And for the rest of you, you'll be hearing more from them at the end. I also have the pleasure to introduce next year's client and I would like to invite Maria Meyer, Vice President of merchandise for YM Inc to come up to the stage

 

Maria Meyer  18:35

Hi, everybody. What amazing presentations tonight I'm very impressed with the creativity and innovation that you all showed in tackling a real-life industry opportunity. I'm Maria Meyer. I am the Vice President of Merchandise for YM Inc. YM is a dynamic, fast paced entrepreneurial company and being in fast fashion, this market segment really keeps us on our toes. We are continuously evolving and adapting to the changing retail landscape. When Anna and Larissa presented this opportunity to be next year’s industry partner, we really jumped at it. YM values the contribution of fresh minds and believes in giving young people a leg up in the industry. Several Seneca Fashion grads have been hired into our organization across many departments. One of my divisional merchandise managers is actually a Seneca alumnus and her department would not be the same without her. We have an exciting project in mind for next year's cohort of students. We are very excited to put this challenge to you who and to watch it develop and run with your bold new ideas. Thanks very much for having us this evening. I wish you all great success in the next stages of your education or your professional career. Thank you

 

Francois Fortin  20:00

The winning team, very difficult close call, I have to say. The team of Natalie, Marina, Christina.

 

Pat Perdue  20:19

And that was part of the field event competition. I wanted to share it with you because I wanted to give you a sense of who's in the room, and how seriously, participants take the work that the students are doing. Now let's hear from the RW&Co President Laura Tisi, Seneca College President David Agnew and finally, the winning team.

Thank you very much, Laura, for joining us tonight. You are the president of RW&C. Thank you so much for taking time out of your schedule and judging the presentations. What are your initial thoughts?

 

Lora Tisi  20:52

Oh, my gosh, you know what I was here a year ago, the first time I was introduced to the program. And I was completely wowed a year ago by what these young men and women were able to create. And I would say that tonight is even a step up from the “wow” that I had a year ago because of course, they're talking about a brand that I know and love. And to see their considerate, thoughtful, strategic, passion, enthusiasm, and then the way that they come up there and talk months’ worth of work in 10 minutes. For me, it's just extraordinary.

 

Pat Perdue  21:23

And you eat, live and sleep the brand. And here's some folks sort of from the outside of that bubble, providing their insight and their perspective into that. And, how does that connect with your own perception of the brand? And what's happening internally at RW&Co?

 

Lora Tisi  21:38

It's a good question. I mean, for me to be able to have someone who is completely neutral about who we are and what we do, on one hand validates a lot of the things that we're doing and on the other hand, challenge us in a brand-new kind of a bold way, and then see four versions of that. 

 

Pat Perdue  21:54

Any surprises tonight? 

 

Lora Tisi  21:56

Yes, I would say that there was a couple of them. You know, for me, there was a couple of themes that came through certainly the social media aspect of it. That they validated our current price strategy, that to me was very obvious that they understood that attention to detail, and that they really got who our customer was for me. That was incredible.

 

Pat Perdue  22:13

That's great. Well, thank you so much for your brand's participation in the field program. And your time with us tonight. Thanks so much.

 

Lora Tisi  22:20

Pleasure. Thank you.

 

Pat Perdue  22:22

I'm joined with David Agnew, president of Seneca College.

 

President Agnew  22:26

This is such a fabulous time of year because you see students who have put their heart and soul and three years of work into a presentation and it all comes down to, wow, 10 minutes in front of these scary judges, and a roomful of their colleagues and their teachers and their parents and their friends. And they all did an absolutely fabulous job. It was so poised. And you could tell, I mean, they had to do it in 10 minutes, but you could tell just by the way, they talked about it, and particularly about the way they answered the questions, how much they knew and that reflected a whole bunch of deep research and thinking. 

 

Pat Perdue  23:07

So that's three years of preparation. 

 

President Agnew  23:10

That's the three years. And, but you know, we like to talk at Seneca about sort of real-world learning and experiential. Well, this is the real world, you know that? I mean, you don't go into a client and say, Oh, hi, do we have three days to talk about my idea? They're saying, “Okay, give it to me, give me the elevator pitch.” And so that's what they did so well is they got all that thinking and research and conceptualizing down to 10 minutes, beautifully supported by some great PowerPoints. I liked that while there was a theme, but in all four, they're all very different. Andif I were in RW&Co’s shoes, I'd be going oh my gosh, can I get all four?

 

Pat Perdue  23:52

Awesome. Well, thanks so much for your time tonight.

 

President Agnew  23:54

Oh, thank you and bless you. You faculty, you should be so proud of what you do. I know the students are terrific. But they're obviously reflecting so well on what you teach them. It's fabulous.

 

Pat Perdue  24:07

Thanks so much. Have a great night tonight. 

Can I get some comments from the winning team? How are you guys feeling? Your name was announced.  And then what?

 

Guest  24:18

I broke down in tears. So that's literally what happened. 

 

Guest  24:23

And then she became concerned about her makeup because it's expensive. 

 

Guest  24:28 

And then I told them, it was worth all the fights.

 

Pat Perdue  24:31

So what are your thoughts like? Did it surprise you? This is the first time that you've seen the other presentations. Let's start with that. When you looked at the other presentations, what as some of your thinking?

 

Guest  24:41

I really had no idea what a lot of them were doing. But everything seemed to come together really well. Everyone had a lot of different concepts. But it seemed there was a common thread of the customer that they wanted to reach and how to reach them was pretty consistent across all teams. 

 

Pat Perdue  24:55

That's what everybody was saying that it was so cool that you each approach the common thread from a different perspective. How did you feel after you did your presentation? Were you happy with it were you hypercritical about it? 

 

Guest  25:07 

Relieved!  That's why we wanted to go first.

 

Pat Perdue  25:11

Well done. So tonight, it's party time? Tonight it’s...

 

Guest  25:14 

Sleep!

 

Pat Perdue  25:17

Awesome! Well, thanks very much team. Congratulations, you earned it!

 

Guest  25:21 

Thank you, Pat.

And that is what I'm talking about. You get it, right? And just think of everything that went into making that event possible. From the dedication of the students. All the teams presented amazingly, by the way. It's a shame that we couldn't devote an entire podcast episode to them. They were fabulous. They're all champions. To the dedication of the faculty. Huge shout outs to Lorrisa Dilay, a guest on this podcast, who was also the co-ordinator of this entire project. The whole event was the result of her dedication, and Anna Cappuccitti, who is the co-ordinator of the program, as well as a faculty member.  Michel Côté, who provided the students with a huge amount of guidance. And the families; parents, siblings, friends, some of whom drove hours to provide their support to the presenters. And then there's the participation of the industry. A huge amount of the RW&Co senior leadership team came out to provide their support for the event, not to mention RW&Co’s coaching, guidance and participation throughout this entire school year. Huge thanks to Francois Fortin and everyone at RW&Co. And next year, as you heard, it's going to be YM Inc. You know them as Urban Planet, Sirens, Susy, Stitches, Bluenotes Urban Kids, Amnesia, and West 49. All of that together, is where the learning happens. And all of that combined is what Seneca Proud is all about.

This is the last show of the season. Thank you so much for listening. Thank you to all of our guests this season. And a huge thank you to Julio and the team at the Seneca Sandbox for all of your help. And also, a huge thank you to Kayla Lewis, and especially to Lisa Perez, and Tiffany Shea from the Seneca College Marketing Department for all of your amazing help and coordination. Have a great summer. Until next time, I'm Pat Perdue. Keep it proud Seneca!