Ashlyn Mulnix '19
My experience at the Beach has been truly amazing! I dormed my freshman year with Steph Argent, the best roommate ever. We instantly got along and have remained best friends throughout our entire college experience. We learned how to be independent and away from our families together while managing the workload of college. I also made many other close friends where we would attend the Homecoming games together, study in the Library, and explore Long Beach/Los Angeles area together.
During the summer going into my Junior year, I went on the Paris Study Abroad course offered through the Fashion department. This trip was my first time going to Europe and it was unforgettable. I learned so much about my field on this trip as we paired up with the French fashion school Mod’spe, as well as participated in private seminars with Dior touring their flagship store, an embroidery session with Lesage (a couture embroiderer) and visited the Yves Saint Laurent museum.
In my senior year, I also completed a senior thesis about determining millennials shopping channel preference (turns out they prefer shopping in brick and mortar stores) and completed an internship with the fashion brand Cleobella. I will always cherish my time at the Beach as it helped me discover who I am, my career goals, and how to be an adult in this fast-paced, ever-changing world.
When applying to colleges, my top choices were UC Santa Barbara and CSU Long Beach, even though I had never been to Long Beach before and just had a feeling about it. Then while waiting to hear back, I received an email to apply for the Honors Program and President Scholarship at CSULB so I applied for both. I ended up getting accepted into both UCSB and CSULB making it a hard decision for where I wanted to go. But the day after I received my acceptances, I found out I was accepted into the Honors Program and would receive a President’s Scholarship which would pay for my tuition all 4 years at Long Beach. I also discovered Long Beach offered Fashion Merchandising as a major, a big passion of mine, making it clear Long Beach was where I was meant to go.
I’ve begun working full time with Cleobella, the company I interned with, as a Whole Sale and Sales Assistant in Huntington Beach. I’m very excited to begin my career with this fashion company in order to learn more about the industry and gain real world experience. My plans are to continue growing in the fashion industry, study for a fashion Masters degree, and eventually open my own store.
I got involved with the myBEACH Program and CSULB Alumni in order to stay connected with CSULB in my last year and life after college. It helped me be aware of activities and events going on my last year, as well as graduation information. I know when I graduate I want to become an official alumni so I can remain connected with Long Beach and fellow alumni.