Lindsey Sheesley, a design student from Long Beach City College who participated in the Student Designer portion of RUNWAY: The Art of Design in 2016, won the New York Experience opportunity drawing last year.

Read Lindsey’s story:

Words cannot describe how excited I was to receive an invitation to participate in the annual JFCS Runway show as one of the few student designers. That alone was a lifetime experience, but winning the trip to NYC to visit the Hearst Tower and Marie Claire fulfilled my designer dreams.  I have been to New York once before, but this trip was one definitely for the books.

Upon arriving at Hearst Tower you are completely taken back by the beauty and architecture of the building. We checked in at the front desk where we were asked to wait on the second floor where Samantha would greet us to begin our tour with the Marie Claire team. Instantly we were welcomed with such great hospitality. Before heading to the Marie Claire office she took us to their conference room where they were setting up for an event to honor empowering women. The views were unexplainable, as you over look most of New York and all of Central Park. We finally arrived to the Marie Claire office space and it was a dream come true. I have always been a fan of Marie Claire, but I never knew what went on behind the scenes. The Beauty Room was filled with product for the team to try out and talk about while the closet was filled with shoes and accessories for their future photo shoots. The team was nice enough to give bags full of goodies and the upcoming November AND December issues. Everyone took time out of their busy days to greet us and talk with us about their contribution to the magazine.

We then went to the Good Housekeeping, where we were shown how and where products are tested and approved and given the ‘Good Housekeeping Seal of Approval’. We actually got to watch them film one of the ‘delish’ 60 seconds videos! It was amazing to see that a company actually cares that customers are getting the best product possible!

After the tours we were introduced to Nicolette, David Carey’s executive assistant, and David himself. He was busy in the middle of meetings, but he was nice enough to take time to sit and talk with us. He talked about the beauty of New York and the Hearst Tower and gave us a bit about his background. It was interesting to learn he was from Long Beach himself!

Overall, everyone we met during our tour was so genuine and showed us such great hospitality. They really gave me an eye opener to a broader perspective about what I want to do with my fashion career in the future. I really could not be more appreciative to the entire JFCS team and everyone at Hearst Tower for this amazing experience. I will definitely be attending the JFCS show next year and will always be a Marie Claire reader! You both have me as supporter for life!