Seeking a Career with Real Style?
Pima can help make your fashion dreams a reality

by Jamila Stewart
If you have a thirst for creativity, style and originality, then a career in fashion design might be tailor-made for you.
“Creating garments from start to finish has always been my passion,” said Susan Peterson, an independent designer and Pima Community College Fashion Design graduate who continues taking classes to keep up with new techniques.
Peterson started sewing in the 1970s on a borrowed Singer foot treadle machine. She was a self-taught sewer until her husband died and her sons persuaded her to enroll at Pima.
“That was when I decided to follow my passion and turn my hobby into a career,” Peterson said. “I love the creativity I get to express and I enjoy sitting down with my clients and designing something that’s just for them.”
Pima offers an Associate of Applied Arts degree with a concentration in Fashion Design and recently added a certificate in Fashion Design. The Fashion Design program prepares graduates for entry-level positions with apparel manufacturers, clothing retailers, specialty clothing shops, and tailoring or alterations businesses – or to start their own businesses.
PCC Fashion Design student Rose Genzman, a native of the Philippines, realized fashion design was what she wanted to do after her brother’s family lost everything when a fire destroyed their home in the Philippines. She began sewing dresses for her five nieces using an old sewing machine at her church.
Genzman became interested in “fine-tuning” her sewing skills and enrolled in Pima’s Fashion Design program.
“I love creating patterns,” Genzman said. “Designing clothing is something that comes from within.”
One of Genzman’s designs won first place in a citywide design competition held during the fifth annual disABLED Divaz Fashion Show sponsored by the Aurora Foundation. Local designers made custom-designed outfits for models with disabilities. The models got to keep the outfits.
“Winning this award is a special honor,” Genzman said.
As winner of the competition, Genzman earned the opportunity to create a custom-designed garment for Grammy Award-winning singer Kelly Rowland.
Genzman also has designed garments for ballet performers in the El Cascanueces: The Nutcraker Ballet and other ballroom studios through an internship at Jazz Skins. She was offered a part-time position at Jazz Skins after the internship and a patternmaking job with a local company.
“‘Working at Jazz Skins gave me the knowledge and confidence to work with different materials, especially stretch fabric,” she said. “There is no such thing as hard-to-do.”
Nancy Spaulding, PCC Fashion Design instructor, said students have had internship opportunities with several local design businesses, doing such work as making patterns and recreating historical designs for the Arizona History Museum. Pima’s Fashion Design students also have the opportunity to showcase their designs during an annual fashion show at the end of the spring semester.
“Students learn the hands-on, technical skills, such as fashion sketching, creative design, draping and pattern drafting, along with the theoretical skills necessary to succeed in this field,” Spaulding said.
In Pima’s Fashion Design program, you “learn by doing,” said student Dulce Douglas, who plans on pursuing a bachelor’s degree in Fashion Design.
“I wouldn’t trade my experience at PCC for anything,” she added. “The instructors are amazing and have real-world experience in the fashion industry.”
Douglas knew she wanted a career in fashion design at the age of 5 when she began making clothes for her and her sisters’ Barbie dolls.
“If you truly have a love for fashion and dream of becoming a fashion designer, follow that dream!” she said.
Pima also offers certificates in Fashion Merchandising and Retail Merchandising, an Associate of Applied Science degree in Fashion Consumer Sciences and an Associate of Arts degree for transfer in Retailing and Consumer Sciences.