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Julie Gee
Julie Gee graduated from the University of Missouri-Columbia with a B.S. degree in textile and apparel management and a business minor. During her college years, she also took advantage of the Fashion Institute of Technology's visiting student program and spend her junior year in NYC obtaining her associate's degree in Fashion Merchandising Management. While in New York, Julie's ‘passion for fashion' truly took a hold of her, while she gravitated towards all the amazing opportunities the city offered and got fully involved. Outside of class at F.I.T., Julie interned with BCBG Max Azria, volunteered with Seventh of Sixth fashion, which puts on Fashion week in New York and worked with GenArt at various fashion events such as Fresh Faces in Fashion. Upon graduation, Julie returned home to Chicago to be closer to family and friends and began her retail career with Nordstrom's as a sales associate. Julie quickly worked her way up the career ladder at Nordstrom's and held several management positions in the Bridge and Special Occasion's departments. Wanting to travel more and take a different direction in the fashion industry, Julie accepted a position on the wholesale side of the industry as an account executive for the handbag company Whiting & Davis/Inge Christopher. She traveled all over the country to NYC, Las Vegas, LA, TX, MN, IL, OH, WI, IA, IN, and MI, visiting various specialty store accounts and attending national tradeshows. While back in town, a seemingly rare occasion at the time, Julie took advantage of one of the great networking events Chicago Fashion Foundation put on during Chicago Fashion Week in September of 2006. It was there she met Laura Stuefen, a senior buyer for Macy's, who inspired her to get her career back on the buying track of fashion, which is the direction Julie initially intended to take. After exchanging a few emails and asking Laura for her expert advise, Julie found herself in an interview for a position on the talented designer buying team for Macy's North, headquarted out of the State Street Macy's location. This is where Julie now resides as the merchant assistant for St. John and European Designer. Julie recently became the Retail Membership Chair on the Chicago Fashion Foundation board. |
“You have exceptional but expensive taste” is something Julie Gee has heard from her mother over and over since she was a little girl. Julie has always had an interest fashion and shopping and loved looking through fashion magazines at expensive gowns since she was a child. It was in college where she learned about ways to turn this passion into an exciting career.