Drawing from her undergraduate experiences at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa College of Tropical Agriculture and Human Resilience (CTAHR), alumna Jada Rogers is now thriving in her fashion retail career. Rogers, a Kentucky native who chose to study at UH Mānoa to combine her love of fashion with her desire to live in Hawaiʻi, is now a retail buyer at Maui Divers Jewelry.
Rogers focused on fashion merchandising during her time at UH, and she credits a retail buying class taught by Professor Abbie Cristi for clarifying her career aspirations.
“That class helped me realize my passion for retail buying because I love math and I love fashion, and retail buying is essentially combining both math and fashion into a career field,” Rogers said.
In addition to her coursework, Rogers participated in an internship at Mikinola, a local boutique, where she gained hands-on experience in aspects of small business operations, including working on inventory, helping with store events, assisting on the sales floor and processing online orders. Rogers expressed that working at a local company made her a “more well-rounded person” and broadened her understanding of how a business operates.
Another formative experience for Rogers was a fashion show production class, which enabled her to work with design students, help produce a fashion show in 2021 and 2022, and find a professional mentor.
“The fashion show was completely virtual [in 2021] because of the pandemic,” Rogers said. “There were a lot of trials and tribulations and figuring that out, but we worked as a team and we did it! Through that class, I got to work with fashion producer Lynne O’Neill in New York Fashion Week. I am fortunate that Lynne and I have stayed connected after graduation.”
