Before I Became a Stylist, I Sold Shoes at the Mall. Here's What I Learned.

With summer jobs on the horizon, professionals recall the first jobs that launched their careers. Read more, then write your own #CareerLaunch post.

My first job was as a sales associate at the Nine West store in Short Hills Mall in New Jersey. I applied because I wanted a little financial freedom from my parents and wanted to work at a job where I could interact and meet new people. At the time I didn’t know I wanted to be a stylist (I was only 16 and thought I’d one day be a psychiatrist), but I loved the satisfaction of showing customers options they didn’t even know they wanted and having them walk away excited about their new purchase. 

I was a competitive seller, and I enjoyed being good at my job. That passion for working hard has continued to help me over the course of my career. While working at Nine West, I also quickly learned the value of people skills. The most helpful piece of advice I received was that the customer is always right and that you’re providing a service, so be nice! Catering to people’s needs, understanding their insecurities and adapting my services accordingly came pretty easily to me. Mastering the art of interpersonal interaction made me the top seller in the store — repeatedly — and that skill has remained important throughout my career as a stylist, editor, and designer.

On the contrary, I also learned about my weaknesses: Selling was easy for me, but processing customers at checkout was always disastrous. After that job, it became quite clear I did not have a future in finance.

Now that I'm running my own company, we’re always looking for people to join our design, editorial, and styling divisions. Enthusiasm, a good work ethic, and a desire to learn make candidates stand out, even if they don’t have a lot of experience. Our best interns and employees are willing to go the extra mile, be proactive, and do everything with a smile.

My biggest piece of advice for anyone starting his or her first job would be to make sure to never act entitled. It’s important that no matter what your situation is, you work like you have only $5 in the bank.

More posts on this topic:

• “Here’s the Scoop: Why My First Job Mattered” — President Barack Obama
• “How Winning This Contest Changed My Life” — Oprah Winfrey
• “My First Job Lasted One Summer — But It Changed the Way I See the World” — Katie Couric, Yahoo Global News Anchor  
• “Dream Big But Be Humble: Lessons That Led Me from the Factory Floor to the Executive Floor” — Ralph de la Vega, Vice Chairman of AT&T, Inc.
• “What Designing a Shampoo Bottle Taught Me About Business” — Meg Whitman, CEO at Hewlett Packard Enterprise
• “Just Starting Out: The Life-Shaping Potential of Our First Jobs” — Arianna Huffington, President and Editor-in-Chief at The Huffington Post Media Group
• “What I Lacked in Qualifications I Learned to Make Up with Courage” — Suze Orman, television host and motivational speaker
• “Practice Makes a Career” — Bernard Tyson, Chairman and CEO of Kaiser Permanente
• “What I Gained from Choosing the Rocky Road” — Ban Ki-moon, Secretary-General of the United Nations
• “Summer Jobs Are Your First Shot at the ‘Grown-Up World.’ Soak Up as Much as You Can.” — Adena Friedman, President and COO at Nasdaq

• “I Used to Hate Doing Stand-up. Then I Discovered the Power of Showing Up.” — Chelsea Handler, Executive Producer and Star, Chelsea Does at Netflix

• “Delivering Papers and Working as a Security Guard Taught Me How to Hustle” — Maynard Webb, Chairman, Yahoo!; Former COO, eBay

• “My First Career Lesson: Know When to Ask a Stupid Question” — Jon Fortt, Co-host of CNBC’s Squawk Alley

• “Be Curious. No One Limits Your Career But You.” — Marcus Samuelsson, Chef and Author at Marcus Samuelsson Group

• “Setting the Stage: How a Hollywood Internship Jump-Started My Career” — Sam Shank, CEO and Co-Founder at HotelTonight

• “Everyone Should Have Access to That First Job” — Valerie Jarrett, Senior Advisor to President Obama
• “Remember Your First Job?” — Tom Perez, Secretary of Labor at U.S. Department of Labor
• “Employers: Young Workers Are Your Diamonds in the Rough” — Maria Contreras-Sweet, Administrator at US Small Business Administration