Episode 2: When the Student Becomes the Teacher, Part 1

Jacqueline Walker 0:01 It's Black Friday and the kickoff of feature Fridays on the Marketing EdVenture podcast. Welcome on into the room. Today I'm here with my very first guest who is no stranger to me. She is Briaana Lark of fashion marketing educator and adjunct instructor at Skyline Career Development Center in Dallas, Texas. What's unique about Briaana being a teacher is that she was once my student in the very program she's teaching now, her story is a true testimony of the influence of CTE programs and participation in a CTSO, after graduating from the fashion marketing program at Skyline, Briaana continued her education at Stephen F. Austin University to obtain her degree in fashion merchandising with the business minor. Over the last 10 plus years, she's flourished in her career in retail management, and visual merchandising. As I began to plan my exit from teaching, I made a list of potential replacements, Briaana was number one on the list. After three years and several NOs, Briaana finally accepted the role of fashion marketing educator. Now I'll let her tell you about that. Just as I knew she would, she hit the ground running and has brought so much energy, perspective, relatability and tangible industry experience to the program and connects with the students in a real way. She has accomplished so much in her two and a half years of teaching. She's taken students to ICDC two years straight, awarded the Dallas ISD CTE level up award, and her campus accolades is that she's gotten teacher of the month. She has been the rookie Teacher of the Year, and she serves on many committees and is also a mentor on her campus. She also has been a campus counselor, a camp counselor for an accounting camp during the summer. Our conversation was so juicy and full of valuable insight that it's a two part series. You ready? Come on into the room.

Jacqueline Walker 2:15 You're listening to Marketing EdVenture, the hub for business, fashion, marketing and other CTE educators who integrate marketing into the learning experience. I'm your host, Jacque' Walker. Each week, I'll cover marketing, education concepts, strategies, tips, trends, frameworks, and other information to equip you to connect your classroom to digital natives while cultivating an engaged learning environment. So come on into the room, where your favorite beverage snacks and even your cell phone are all welcome.

Jacqueline Walker 2:57 So welcome to Marketing EdVenture with Jacque' Walker. And we're gonna get into an interview with our first guest at the show Miss Briaana Lark, we have so much to talk about. I'll tell you just a little bit that Briaana is a former student of mine who is now teaching but I'll let her tell you about herself. So, Briaana, welcome to the show.

Briaana Lark 3:21 Thank you, thank you, I feel honored to be the first person a little bit about myself. I am what's going on is my alma mater. So it's near and dear to my heart because it's where I spend my high school career. And then after transitioning into the industry, I was able to make a full 360 and end up with a teaching position at that school. So I have a lot of good things going on.

Jacqueline Walker 3:52 So tell us about your path that you traveled from the time you left Skyline until you made your return.

Briaana Lark 3:59 Okay, so after I left skyline, I went off to college and I went to Stephen F. Austin State University where I studied fashion merchandising and general business at the time I didn't know was going to be general business but I knew it was I thought it would be business management. But I ended up finding out after talking to my advisor that I had enough hours to graduate in BA in general business. But I did four years at SFA. I was very involved on campus. I was head stylists for an organization called Fashion emotion, which pretty much raised awareness to the campus. So we did fashion shows around domestic violence, abuse, and oppression. So I led a team of probably 12 students on campus where we picked up a segment for the shows and I basically paired them up with models and we picked outfits for them. I was a wardrobe stylist for the theater production. I was pretty involved with a lot of things in the Multicultural Center. So like helping out with eco friendly fashion shows and different things like that we did a fashion show for Erykah Badu. So I've done a lot of behind the scenes for fashion shows as a director and a stylist. I found the first plus size beauty pageant on campus. So that was my biggest accomplishment.

Jacqueline Walker 5:26 Awesome, awesome. So what did you do after school?

Briaana Lark 5:31 After school, I graduated, and I went, moved back to Dallas. Actually, I thought I was gonna land this amazing row. But I was humbled. I ended up working at Sears actually, they hired me, me and my mom were shopping. And she was like, just give it a try. And so I'm like, I got this bachelor's degree, I went in for the job. And I got hired seasonally. And so I ended up taking the job and of course, killed it. And so they ended up asking me to stay, and I asked to become a visual merchandiser. And so I had to prove my point to them that I could be a visual merchandiser, which was sitting on the tables, I'm doing planograms, and mannequins and different things. And after about three months, they actually made me a lead. And so I ran the women's department, petite, fine jewelry, and shoes. So that was like my big debut. And then after that, I did that for about two and a half years. Even after I moved to Houston, I transitioned to another Sears and I ran those departments plus men's and kids, so pretty much all sophomores. And so that was like my debut into just Retail Management. Worked at Sears for two and a half years. And I was at Children's Place part time. So I was getting a little bit of a specialty retail, on top of the big box retail. And then after leaving Sears, I got recruited by forever 21. They found me on LinkedIn. And I was living in Houston still. And so I ended up becoming a merchandising manager for them. And this was a win for everyone. Everybody was wonderful. And so I ran the truck team there. And so it was a little bit different from what I did, because I just had a team of people where we set the floor. So we would come in early.. You have to put stickers on the windows. And so heading a team where we got the freight to the floor, doing the floor sets, doing the mannequins, and the different things. Left Forever 21 and I went to G by Guess. And I worked there at another specialty store, worked there for about a year as a co manager. I ran the women's department there and then left from there, to Old Navy where I got the opportunity to move back home to Dallas. At Old Navy, I was actually a merchandising manager again. But this time, it was for a team of 150. So I was in charge of hiring and terminations. I was introduced to operations. So I started to learn things operationally, aside from visuals because you know, you give me a table and I can throw it together. I can do you a wall. Just look at a picture and replicate it, you know. But this was new to me. And I was apprehensive at first. So I was like I don't I'm strictly art. I don't want to do anything. But they were like you'll never understand the front end if you don't learn operations. So I learned about theft and loss prevention and customer service and all these different things. And after leaving Old Navy, I went off to Target. I spent three years at Target as an ETL, executive team leader. There were four of us. It was myself, a hardlines ETL, HR ETL, and then back of house. So I ran the women's. I ran the clothing department, the beauty department, and the tech department. And there was pretty much a delegating role. This was probably my biggest role thus far. I ran a team of about 70, but I had four leads under me and two visual merchandisers. This was me just planning and holding them accountable. I'm training them on how to train the team. By far one of the best companies to work for because they take care of their employees. They pay well. I mean cashiers are getting paid $17 an hour at Target. And it's just all around a good culture there. But there I learned everything you can think of in retail from running a massive truck for a grocery store or pharmacy. But most of all, I learned customer service there. You never say no to Anybody at Target, so just going through those situations, and then I ended up doing that for three years. And then I was recruited by my former teacher, which is yourself. At the time, I was stressed with retail, because like they said, the golden handcuffs, you know, they pay you amazing. But you don't have a life. You don't get weekends off. You don't get holidays off. So I was at a crossroad. Right?

Jacqueline Walker 10:30 Awesome. Awesome. Well, you have a lot of history behind you in retail. Awesome. So as you said, you were recruited into teaching. So what made you decide to take on a teaching role.

Briaana Lark 10:44 So crazy. The thing is I had a really rough day at work one day. And I think it was like, you get these visits at Target. And when they come in, it has to be spot on. It's like a walk with you, your leads, and your store manager, and the director. And they come and they nitpick everything, right, looking at the paint, sand, the mannequins were dirty, it was things that they had to make. And I just had a really rough day. And I remember just going home and crying like not feeling like, like nothing is ever good enough. And I was just stressed that it's one of those situations where you're, you don't have enough hours, but you got to double truck, you got people calling out, you got this, you got this I was I was just stressed. And I remember just talking to God and just saying, I need a shift like I need to change. I can't keep doing this. And you contacted me for like the third time asking me to come because you asked me a couple of times previous and I said no. The pay is not there. You know, I have a certain style with these different things. And I'm, I was scared. I was coming. And after you contacted me again and I said no. And we got the mix up to where I said no, but Mr. Solo grand still reached out to me, which is the coordinator at Skyline. Coincidentally it was two Briaana's, he called me not knowing that it was the wrong Briaana. And so I remember driving to Houston and saying God, you know, like, I'm, I asked for this, and I'm fighting it, I'm fighting against it. I don't want to leave like, why am I why do I want to stay here? And so you had self told me you get holiday, like all these different things, you know, using, I'm leaving, I trust you to take my spot and just you believe in me more than I believed in myself, you know, and I think the biggest thing with you and our connection, you know, you just saying like, you can feel my place. And I'm thinking No, I can't. You've been doing this for 15 years, you know. And so I remember saying if he calls me back then that’s God telling me to do it and he called me back. And I just went from there.

Jacqueline Walker 12:48 Awesome. I'm so glad that you took the opportunity because I believe it's a perfect marriage of you know your experience in high school, out in your career, and then bringing it back to the where it all began.

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Briaana Lark 14:10 Sure. So I teach at Skyline High School, which is one of the first magnet schools. One of the best schools in Dallas, one of the biggest schools. And I teach in the fashion marketing program in the fashion cluster. And in the program, it split into two sectors, which is fashion design, which is a really cool four year experience that the kids get. And then there's fashion marketing, which is a side that I teach and in the realm of that I teach. I'm an advisor for CTSO which is DECA. I'm also an instructor for NFTE which is an entrepreneurship curriculum. I'm a dual credit instructor and adjunct for El Centro. Oh, yeah, that's pretty much most of the program as far as the organization's.

Jacqueline Walker 15:04 Okay, so it's a four year fashion marketing program. It's pretty extensive.

Briaana Lark 15:10 Mm hmm. Yes, yes. years, their first year, they'll take both courses, right. So fashion design and fashion marketing. And then at the end of their freshman year, they'll decide which route they want to take. If they take the marketing route. They'll jump right into their dual credit courses, where they're taking courses like color theory, Intro to fashion fashion advertising campaign. It just gives them that opportunity just to be in the industry and be by industry partners, and just have coursework that college students have right now.

Jacqueline Walker 15:48 Excellent, excellent. That sounds great. So we know coming in as a freshman for sure that a lot of the classes that they're taking with you the concept and the content is very new to them, because they haven't had anything that's familiar to marketing or fashion. So how do you engage them?

Briaana Lark 16:16 So the first thing first is, I'm all about experiences and making things relatable. And so I always have a group of upperclassmen, right, that they have pretty much worked with, and not polished, but just worked alongside them, and they've experienced a lot and not just with it just being strictly instruction, but being outside of the classroom, being in the industry, going on field trips, and doing these different things. And I put them around these leaders, so that they can see, you know, hey, if you're working hard, and you're, you're focusing, you're paying attention, you know, the work work is there, but the experiences over here that you like, I get, you know, the opportunities that I get, it's not a normal cluster, it's not one that or class, you know, it's and that's the cool thing about skyline, they put you in these habitats or environments where you don't have to stay in the classroom, you know, and you're learning outside of the classroom. And I think when they see that, you know, it's like, Okay, let me do what I got to do. So I can get over there with them. That's one of the ways I get there. Buy in is another way. Just setting the expectations from day one, right? This is a cluster, you know, you apply to be here. And let's act like it. You know, that's how it was, when I just think back to how it was with y'all, you know, think back to how it was with you. And Miss Brooks, and just, this is something that you apply for. This is something that you want, you know, right?

Jacqueline Walker 17:50 Awesome, awesome. So students who do struggle to understand the concepts of say entrepreneurship, because there's a lot of new terminology, a lot of concepts, they don’t have an idea about a business plan or anything like that. How do you reach them? Or get them to level up as far as their knowledge and information?

Briaana Lark 18:12 That's a good question. So I paint it for them as this practice for DECA. And again, they see those DECA girls, they see them with their blazers, and I love my leaders, because when I was there I didn't want a blazer, but they will throw it on and it's like, it's like a shield. It's like they're proud. And I'm, it excites me that I've built these kids up to, to to that point, because it's like, when you're a freshman, you keep hearing DECA DECA DECA, but you don't know what it is, you know, and so to them, we hype it up. And so I say it's practice, they have a pitch, you know, another cool thing is NTFE.. The curriculum is fun. It's fun. So if I'm introducing communication and collaboration, okay, we're gonna have an activity where you can't talk, but you have to draw the picture. You have to be able to collaborate. Entrepreneurs don't have certain resources, and sometimes they have to use what they have. So I'm gonna give you a bucket of random stuff, and you got to build me a bridge. And then I want you to go back and test it and make changes and, and do surveys and get your target audience. So it's different things that nifty does, where it's, every single class is hands on. It's maybe two case studies, and maybe a couple student reflections. But for the most part, the students are working with their hands. So they're excited to come to class. And even when I talked to some parents, they're like, you're the teacher where they built the bridge. Are you a teacher with the tower? Oh, where they built the backpack, you know, so I make it to where it's fun. And even with the pitch deck, I say in order for you to go compete at the end of the year, you know, you gotta act like the DECA students and you got to be professional. And so I think to them, it's exciting for them. I haven't had a kid yet that doesn't like the entrepreneurship course, honestly.

Jacqueline Walker 20:03 Yeah, those expansion, experiential activities are key to engaging the students. Alright, so now as far as any challenges, because I know it's been, you know, teachers face all kinds of challenges, from students, from the admin, from parents. So let's start with the students. What kind of challenges do you run into with your classroom? And how do you navigate through those challenges?

Briaana Lark 20:30 So, for the most part, I don't really have any challenges as far as the students, except when it comes to the freshmen because how the program is set up, you got 30 Freshmen for an hour and 30 minutes, and you're trying to teach them about entrepreneurship, and they have this middle school mentality. And I sometimes I forget it, because I'm so used to my sophomores and up and they're so poised, and they they know, you know, and so these kids, it doesn't matter how many I can say anything, I can say we ran vocabulary 100 times, and they still gonna be giggling and laugh. It's just their mentality. So that part is challenging, trying to figure try to navigate through that, because it's always a handful of kids in the freshman class, and this is my third year, I always have a handful that just can't stop talking. Can you stop, you know, so that's challenging, in a sense, but I try to keep those kids busy. Hey, you collect the right colors, you know, hey, you go ahead and get everybody by their second grade, and then pass it back, you know, and try to keep them going. Or when I'm doing lessons, I'm calling on them to get them to participate or praising them when they're doing right, because I feel like those are the kids that want the most attention. Upperclassmen, other than them being lazy. And I had to give them a pep talk every now and again. No challenges there. Not at all.

Jacqueline Walker 21:52 So it sounds like you're doing a great job. Yeah. All right. What about with the admin or just like with the expectations of the teachers, from the admins or the district or whoever?

Briaana Lark 22:07 Yes. So luckily enough, I have an amazing support system in my school, like, it doesn't matter what we need, my girls are covered, teachers are running to us to help us the principal, we have a new principal, my last principal, she was amazing. She supported us to the end, not even just DECA stuff, but fashion in general. And so even the principal is now but I run into a lot of unfortunate situations with and it might sound weird, but the field trip side of things, the paperwork that's been like, a gift had a good luck, like, first year, post COVID, you know, you you weren't there anymore. And I asked you enough questions to the point where it started getting to the point where he was like, what they weren't doing that's just started, you know, or different things like that. So I was at a point where it was like, bro, you gotta figure it out, you know, you it's not gonna get done if you don't figure it out. And it was at a point where everything was new. So even the people that my school assistant principals, when I found out I was training them, or they were sending people to me, so I'm just that type of person like you were I just go until I find the answer that I need. And you taught me that, like, I'm climbing up the chain with it, you know, so I'm holding you accountable. I'm circling back, you know, and it's just, I couldn't procrastinate. And so the biggest my biggest frustration I've cried to my friends about is frustrating, because as much as you want to do for these kids, there's no, the funding is minimum. And when I got there, I had $300 in an account to do activities. And these kids need 1000s of dollars for one day to compete. And so I'm winning these competitions, and we're going places, but it's costly. And so it it just sucks because I'm like as as coming into this industry, I'm thinking there's accounts places, all I gotta do is this, you know, and so it's like, I'm talking about people not knowing how to do stuff, because it's new, on top of me being new and people being in new positions like a new principal. She's learning things too. It's frustrating, even when you call up to them and the people at the main building asking for different things. They don't know the answer sometimes. So they're having to find the answer. That's the most frustrating part, not even just necessarily my admin at my school, not my admin. I haven't had yet a problem thank you Jesus but logistics of a field trip like the people behind it. I've had to come out of pocket, you know, it's just that and of course the dual credit, communication and I struggled. It was a challenge in the beginning with the dual credit but the biggest part is the My challenge is field trips.

Jacqueline Walker 25:00 Right. And a lot of people don't understand that. Teaching is not just teaching, navigating through all the things behind the scenes can be the most.

Briaana Lark 25:11 it's not right, you got to edit it again. And you get and I tell my students like, this is a job in itself. job in itself, right? That's right. Students, parents even, okay? It's a good, it's just that logistics of them that paperwork and all even just trying to get a fundraiser, you got to go through, you got to get it approved by the BOC committee, you got to go through the principal and and get, you know, weeks before or something to work with people partners, they gotta be approved to the district. I think those are the most challenging things trying to navigate. I can raise money or, you know, even having to get a fundraiser approved before you can even do it. Right, right.

Jacqueline Walker 25:55 Yeah, those are the biggest challenges. That's the heavy lifting that I think we have to do as teachers, especially when you're running a program advisor is better for CTSO.

Jacqueline Walker 26:09 Oh my gosh, so much good stuff. I did not want to pause here. But we talked for over an hour. This conversation has been so insightful in what I believe every teacher needs to hear. You can hear from Briaana, the impact marketing education, and CTSO participation has had on her and her peers is so awesome to hear how she's imparting her knowledge and experiences to her students. So come back next Friday to continue this conversation with us. Briaana will share more in depth information about DECA, the fashion program and so much more.

Jacqueline Walker 26:53 Thanks for listening to Marketing EdVenture. Remember to subscribe, rate, review and share this episode with someone you think would benefit from the information shared here today. If you have any questions or want to connect with me, find me on Instagram at Marketing EdVenture. All links and resources discussed in this episode can be found in the show notes at marketing edventure.com