Classroom Events

Guest Speaker: Talia Shiff, Coveted Market

April 2, 2019 ·

Talia Shiff Founder of Coveted Market and Humber College Alumni joined our Innovative Fashion Promotions class to share insight into her entrepreneurial path. After gaining experience at TJX Canada/Winners Merchants International L.P., Holt Renfrew, Aritzia, and Fairweather, Talia wanted to venture out on her own. With a marketing perspective, Talia introduced us to her clean beauty e-commerce business covetedmarket.com. She provided a thorough behind-the-scenes look including details on how she developed her corporate identity and her brand building visuals and photography. Talia explained Coveted Market’s customer friendly tools to support a transition to clean beauty products and reviewed how the business employs other marketing tactics, building an online customer base, and her process to source the assortment offering of local and sustainable oriented products. Students enjoyed hearing about the background on her stunning Instagram content and even some of her favourite “hero” products.

A sincere thank you Talia for spending the morning with us.

Please show support by shopping at Coveted Market for your clean beauty needs and follow the Coveted Market socials.

Ecommerce: covetedmarket.com

Instagram: @covetedmarket

Facebook: @covetedmarket

Pinterest: @covetedmarket

Workshop: Take Better Pictures With Your Phone

March 23, 2017 ·

This month as part of my Fashion Promotion and Social Media course, I hosted a few ‘Take Better Pictures With Your Phone’ Workshop sessions for my students. We took a class mini-trip to the Humber Fashion District’s brand new Photo Studio to improve our skills. We focused on three main areas:

Camera Set Up
Image Set Up
Photo Editing

In advance of the Workshop sessions, some preparation was needed. With a budget to furnish the new studio space, I sourced and purchased some photography equipment and props to help create great images. A student handout was also prepared with summary notes to help everyone follow along.

Students were asked to post at least one photo they created during the Workshop online. To accompany their photo post, students used our custom hashtag, #HumberFashionPhotoWorkshop and the geotag, Humber Fashion District, for hands-on experience of how these types of tags work from a marketing engagement perspective. The posts created buzz in the Humber community as students from my other classes and Humber Alumni were asking how they could get involved too!

Check out our hashtag #HumberFashionPhotoWorkshop on Instagram and various other social media platforms to see the results. Our Humber Fashion District geotag is also another great way to view our posts!

Engaging Students Beyond the Classroom

February 16, 2017 ·

Engaging students is a top priority in a learning environment and I try to boost student engagement beyond the boundaries of the classroom.

For the second year, students in my classes were given the opportunity to incorporate the hashtag #TheBlondeSaladGoesToHumber into their social media posts for fun. Students were encouraged to share content about preparing for their in-class LIVE CHAT sessions discussing The Blonde Salad Harvard Business School Case Study. With no marks attached to posting using this hastag, students were still motivated to get involved and share a glimpse into their preparation for the assignment. These students went above and beyond class requirements showing their dedication and passion!

At the time of writing this piece, #TheBlondeSaladGoesToHumber has engaged an audience. In addition to the student created content across various social media platforms, the #TheBlondeSaladGoesToHumber posts have generated over 1500 likes and well over 100 comments this year! The posts even garnered attention from influential accounts such as Harvard Business School @harvardhbs, Harvard Business Review @harvard_business_review, Riccardo Pozzoli, Co-founder of The Blonde Salad @riccardopozzoli, and The Blonde Salad Crew @tbscrew to name a few. Another observation was the sense of community generated by #TheBlondeSaladGoesToHumber. My former students who had completed the assignment last year actively commented on social media, reminiscing about the case study assignment and one even added a new post this year too!

I would like to thank the students who got involved and exceeded expectations. The industry is looking for people like you, who go above and beyond requirements. You have demonstrated not only determination and character but also showed that you truly enjoy what you do.

Photographic Credits:

Arvin Ayala Instagram @xxayalaarvinxx

McKenna Baldock Instagram @mckennabaldock

Keisha Barran Instagram @keishab97

Nicole Bautista Instagram @nickibats

Jheanelle Blagrove Instagram @jayallanah

Tanie Charles-Alfred Instagram @thetaniexperience

Carolyn Gagnon Twitter ‏@carolynmgagnon

Jane Gautama Instagram @janeguatama

Stephanie Inglis Linkedin + Instagram @gorgeousdoll14

Rachel Hayward Instagram @rachel_hayward_

Nimisha Khanna Instagram @localladki

Bailey Larmour Instagram @bailey_larmour

Kate Mendonca Instagram @kate.mendonca

Jade Morrell Instagram @jadeandfashion

Luiza Neves Instagram @luizaferro

Colleen Orr Instagram @stacyann_j

Mananshi Patel Instagram @bunnie.jpg

Arianna Popat Instagram @styles.ari

Rizwana Saleh Instagram@rizwanasaleh

Henry Tran Instagram @highendhenry

Gabrielle Vanstraelen Instagram @thegabbygab

Live Chats at the Centre for Entrepreneurship

February 13, 2017 ·

In early February, I organized LIVE CHAT sessions with my classes to discuss The Blonde Salad Harvard Business School Case Study. In small groups, students examined and discussed super-influencer Chiara Ferragani’s pathway as an entrepreneur turning her digital property, The Blonde Salad, into a multi-million dollar business.

As an extra twist to this assignment, this year some of the LIVE CHAT sessions were set up in Humber’s brand new Centre for Entrepreneurship (CfE). After a few weeks of prep, small student groups gathered in the G204 Boardroom for in-depth discussions of the case and how it relates to the current landscape of the blogging industry and fashion marketing. Chiara’s entrepreneurial spirit, always seeking out change, innovation and continuous improvement, is a huge take-away from the case. The CfE was a fitting place to think critically about the strategic decisions she has made to adapt her business in the quickly-evolving digital world.

The overall LIVE CHAT experience had numerous benefits for my students. Not only did they engage with leading-edge industry content in a unique assignment format, but they also were able to explore a great new student focused addition to Humber’s Lakeshore Campus. It was a constructive afternoon, stepping outside the classroom and exploring this destination on campus. We thank the CfE team for making this memorable experience possible!

Student Feedback:

Thanks for this unique exercise! It was a very enjoyable experience to think critically w[ith] fellow students. I’d like to add that the intimate environment allowed everyone the opportunity to speak up, this was great considering how many different cultures and personalities are part of our cohort. Your grading guideline for the case was helpful in determining areas of external research, it was clear that you were encouraging us to think from different angles and bring new ideas to the table.

– Fashion Management and Promotions Postgraduate Student

#TheBlondeSaladGoesToHumber

Quick Feedback Using Technology

January 29, 2017 ·

In the 2016-2017 teaching year, I have been experimenting with providing students with useful real-time feedback with some new technical tools. I am happy to report some success with this initiative!

To provide some background, one of my professional goals involves experimenting with various evaluation methods each designed to provide students with instantaneous and meaningful in-the-moment assessments. I am also participating in The Business School’s Microsoft Surface Pro Faculty Deployment Study lead by Associate Dean Peter Madott. With the Surface Pro, I am working to use technology to enhance the learning experience for my students in our classroom. I have combined both these areas of interest in a simple and innovative way with proven results. These efforts have been well received across different program types, underlining the adaptability and effectiveness.

How does it work? Before their presentations, students submit their electronic PowerPoint files and I have these files ready on the Surface Pro. While students are presenting I can follow along slide-by-slide and use the Surface Pen to write feedback notes directly on their e-file. After the presentation, the written feedback is saved as a PDF and can be returned to the students with their grading rubric immediately. The transparency of my approach, the timing, and the technical delivery work in combination to benefit my students.

The important part, what did my students have to say?

Re: Feedback. 1)Timing: Excellent – I think the timing is perfect as we received your feedback very soon after our presentation. 2)Feedback format (electronic format) and how I benefit from it: I like it and I think it’s a great idea. I can save the feedback in my laptop for future reference so that I can remind myself where and what I can improve on in my presentation skills. And plus, it protects our environment.

– Fashion Management and Promotions Postgraduate Student

Thought I’d give you some feedback! I really liked how you evaluated us last semester, both in terms of the technical execution of the feedback (writing actually on the project file), as well as the timing of the feedback. It was very prompt and detailed, and you ensured that any marks deducted were explained thoroughly so that there was no confusion. Also, having written on the project file in real-time, it almost felt as though everything was justified in terms of your marking, as you were noting certain points as they were happening during the presentation (if that makes sense). Sometimes, I can find it hard to accept a lower-than-expected grade when a teacher is simply grading based on memory of a presentation, rather than jotting specific points down on each slide during the presentation – so I found this to be extremely useful (also for pointing out exactly where we went right and where we went wrong).

– Fashion Management and Promotions Certificate Postgraduate Student

To be honest, the way you quickly provided feedback last semester worked perfectly. I also appreciated the notes that were made on submitted presentations too! It’s nice to get immediate response to ease nerves after a presentation!!