The Story Behind the Numbers; A Conversation with Adina Barrientos
Written by Jordyn Salahiddine-Rose
On Wednesday, March 4th, The Vault hosted Adina Barrientos, UW-Madison alum and Senior Merchandise Planner for Gap. Throughout her presentation, she gave insightful information and advice on the retail industry and how to get started in a constantly changing field. The event ended in a lively Q&A where students had various questions to ask Barrientos on her early life and the position she is in now.
Barrientos was a 2018 graduate from UW-Madison with a degree in Textiles and Fashion Design. She emphasized how designing and creating was such a big part of her life, but wasn’t sure what she wanted to do career wise, either in the designing field or something separate. This is when she started taking more business-centered classes throughout her senior year, one being the entrepreneurship class offered to non-business school students, Management And Human Resources 322. Barrientos stated how this class specifically helped her understand the business side of the fashion industry. Through that, she was able to cater the skills she learned in that class to prospective hiring managers and clients.
“A resume isn’t a straight line,”exclaimed Barrientos.
Then, her employment took a slight turn when Barrientos realized she wanted to do more work to help others. This is when she found herself working at Fair Trade, a Peruvian, non-profit company. At this time in her life, Barrientos was really into outdoor wear and thought she could do more working at this non-profit. Later, she realized she valued the resources that a bigger company has to offer, but was glad she had tried out this experience. This is when she applied for a remote associate planner position at Target. And although she didn’t have a ton of planning experience, Barrientos was able to use what she learned at Kohl’s to cater to the needs of this new position.
Upon graduating from UW, Barrientos wasn’t sure where she wanted her experience to start. Because she received the 2018 Peter Sachse award through the Fashion Scholarship Fund, a national nonprofit association that supports students through scholarships, she was able to get a position as a merchandise analyst at Kohl’s. Even though she didn’t have a lot of experience in the merchandise space of the fashion industry, she was offered the role because of her impressive award.
During her time at Target, Barrientos moved to New York City because her position was remote. In doing so, she also started looking at the next big role for her to conquer, leading to a merchandise planner at Gap. She felt that Gap was a better fit for her because they were more fashion-focused than Target. But Barrientos still yearned for bigger things, wanting to keep climbing the fashion ladder, and so soon after, she applied for the position at Gap where we know her from, and received an offer. From there, she began learning the intense role of Senior Merchandise Planner. After about 2 years, her hard work had paid off and the senior position was hers.
Barrientos taught us a little bit more about the Senior Merchandise Planner position and where it falls in the overall retail industry. In a common retail cross functional team, there are typically five major parts of the team including design, product development, buying merch, merch planning and inventory. The planners focus on the numbers and are in charge of what their companies should be putting money behind or how much of that product they buy. Planners then know they’re doing a good job when the numbers are hitting the specific target, but changes in trends, inventory mishaps, and new leadership directions can impact how well a planner does. Barrientos relayed to us how beneficial it is to find social outlets within the retail industry in order to relate to peers in your job situation and with similar job experiences. Using her own tip, she was able to gain trust among her peers to then move into the Senior Planner role. Through this tumultuous transition, she leaned on her coworkers, gaining their respect and taking their advice to allow her to feel better equipped when taking on her next role.
After learning about Barrientos and the path she took to get into her position, she gave us thoughtful and intuitive advice when it comes to applying to jobs and internships and furthermore, moving up in the fashion industry. One of the biggest takeaways I grasped from her conversation was the emphasis she placed on advocating for oneself in any setting in the workplace. It was through advocacy that she was able to get the various positions that she did, including her senior position. One major characteristic of Barrientos that she described throughout her presentation was always wanting to be thinking of her next role in fashion and what she can do to get it. It was clear that Barrientos has always been a go-getter and that passion was seen throughout her speech.
“Changing direction can be hard, but it’s doable. It’s important to put your best foot forward.”
Barrientos also stressed how there is no such thing as a perfect timeline or resume, saying that her own resume had so many twists and turns, but if it didn’t, she wouldn’t have the situation she is in now. She also stated how important it is to know yourself and what you want so that you can go into the industry as a confident and assertive person.
“Retail is always changing, but you are allowed to as well.”