Columbia grad Courtland Thomas is taking on the fashion world

Here Courtland Thomas, CC 16, explains how he made the transition from small town Floridian to New Yorker, well-versed in the arts of networking and choosing the perfect coffee spot.

With his entrepreneurial skills, Courtland has well and truly made the traditional liberal arts degree his own by paralleling ancient texts to established fashion houses and using independent study classes to further his own research into a world he longed to be part of since a young age.

From his four years at Columbia, Courtland has compiled a plethora of stories and valuable advice which he now shares on his own blog, College Advice.

We found out more about where it all started, his life at Columbia and his path to the tech/fashion scene of NYC.

Tell me a little about yourself: name, age, year and major

I studied psychology and business, class of 2016. I’m originally from FL, but knew I wanted to move to NY at a very young age… I was about 14 when I saw the first promo for Gossip Girl – and that’s when I decided I had to move to New York. That was it.

Tell me a little about your life before Columbia.

My hometown was very small, felt very old, everyone is a horrible driver, that sorta thing. My interests were within fashion and media, but even at a young age, about 13 or 14, I knew it was a passion for something more. I wasn’t sure what it was exactly that sparked my interest, but I remember being so impressed by style and how people can communicate what they’re thinking and how they’re feeling through what they’re wearing – that’s what definitely interested me.

I ended up doing a fashion show for my high school philosophy class. You were supposed to be taking some ethical stance on garbage. It was a lame project, nobody really cared, and it was kind of a BS class, so I thought I could do something related to fashion and no-one was going to be doing something like that. Looking back, the designs were really shit, but the process of coming up with an idea and creating something inspired me.

Tell me about one of your first projects in NY.

I’m a big advocate for passion projects, like you with your YouTube series. I think that everyone should have a passion project, because it really motivates you to get you through the non-passion stuff.

For me, that was getting into Fashion Week. I knew it was going to be Fashion Week when I arrived in NY, so I scoured every blog on how to get in. One of them mentioned volunteering in PR, so I emailed every agency in New York, and found one who was willing to take a risk. They told me to meet them on the day of my flight and I said “yes.” I took a taxi from LaGuardia to the Meatpacking District and showed up with my luggage. It was funny, because when I looked up the agency online, I had the impression it was an international agency with a massive outreach. When I got there, I met three people in this small room the size of a closet. But they gave me chance and I took it; I ended up working with them on a designer’s first presentation up until the real Fashion Week. I remember I had to miss my second French class at Columbia for it; my professor had no idea why it was so important, but he told me to do it. I had no regrets.

How did you start your College Advice blog?

That was completely by accident. I went to a small public high school in Florida, and basically 80 percent of those who go to college go to a college or university in Florida. The state government has many policies to encourage attending an in-state school, but I knew it wasn’t for me. I was a very arrogant 17-year old and wanted to go to an Ivy [laughs]. I told this to my guidance counselor, she said: “Oh why would you go to Columbia?” That day, I was so offended and upset. She recommended that I avoid applying, and even my other teachers were saying that I wouldn’t get in because my GPA wasn’t high enough. That spurred my interest into writing the blog – sort of a retaliation against the people that I said I couldn’t do it.

What was the purpose behind the blog?

The blog was a way for me to make sense for the application process, because I was basically going through it alone. It was a way for coming up with guides for myself, and also making the whole college app process fun. I was always being satirical and sarcastic, making fun of different processes and policies, and trying to make it a lot more lively and a lot more exciting. I had about a few subscribers during the first year or so, and then I got accepted to Columbia, so I carried on because I had such a fun time doing it and I had so many passionate people writing to me. They would say that advice helped them get into UPenn and other schools.

Me being at Columbia made the blog a lot more reputable because I actually did “it.” I kind of got the golden ticket into Columbia. So I would share things about Columbia that weren’t currently available on the internet. I would also get a lot of questions, like hooking up in the stacks and hooking up with professors… that one I didn’t actually answer [laughs]. I unknowingly created something that was an inside look into being in Columbia and in New York.

Since Columbia’s degrees are generally not geared towards preparing students for the fashion industry, what are your tips to prepare yourself or personalize your degree for applying for jobs in this field?

At Columbia, I was always chasing a professional dream and trying to incorporate my dreams into my studies. In an essay for Contemporary Civilization, one of the philosophy requirements for second years, I compared Kant and Rousseau to Chanel and Dior. This was bringing something I loved and what I was interested in into classes I had to do. I ended up doing that for a lot of my classes. For my drawing class, I drew silhouettes of brands I really loved. I was also very lucky to do a media workshop class, which was an independent study where you get to study a topic related to media. My case study was “How do Alexander Wang and Phillip Lim use social media to engage their audience?” I recommend anyone take this class if it’s still available.

What are you working on now and what are your plans for the future?

I just started working for beauty e-commerce retailer Soko Glam. It’s actually a really cool concept, it’s all Korean beauty products that you wouldn’t otherwise find in the US. Our team gets to try the products from top brands in South Korea and then curate the best ones for thousands of fans. For me, it’s an interesting transition from fashion, but I love it. I head-up digital marketing and analytics, so everything that goes between the internet and the customer. I’ve worked for many different companies, big and small, and I think my track record has shown that I work better with small teams at growing companies, so this is the best I could ever ask for.