After putting out Trend Magazine’s latest and most edgy issues, Destinie Phomsouvanh and Alisha Humiston’s reign as editors-in-chief comes to an end. But not without leaving a legacy for future Trend editors-in-chiefs and members to carry on into the future.

Phomsouvanh and Humiston were both passionate about Trend from the moment they laid eyes on it. Humiston knew she wanted to be an EIC from when she joined Trend her very first semester as a freshman at Iowa State. For Phomsouvanh, Trend was the very reason she came to Iowa State. Coming from a family of Iowa Hawkeyes, she was sure she’d end up going to the University of Iowa. But after a visit to Iowa State’s Apparel, Merchandising and Design Program, Phomsouvanh was handed a Trend magazine, and she was sold.

Both girls were heavily involved with the magazine from the second they began at Trend. According to Phomsouvanh, that’s is the only way to be successful no matter what club you are in. Both girls participated in Trend every semester of their college career and served as various roles throughout the organization such as story-styling, public relations, runway and the ready-to-wear committees. By both girls seeing almost every aspect of the organization, they were prepared to take on the role as editors-in-chief and were also able to see and experience the things that needed improved upon.

In December of 2016, after a thorough interview process, both girls were elected as editor-in-chief of Trend magazine. They began their roles as editors-in-chief starting in January of 2017. From that point on, the girls got busy.

Phomsouvanh and Humiston knew from the start that they wanted to push the creative limits as editors-in-chief. They wanted to bring a new feel to the magazine that would reflect what was trending in popular culture and make Trend Magazine something that students of every major at Iowa State would want to pick up.

“We did what we thought was best to grow the magazine and so we just went with our instincts and what was trending,” Phomsouvanh said.

Aside from regular duties as editors-in-chief, Humiston and Phomsouvanh implemented many other changes in Trend; not only visually, but structurally and financially. One of the things they implemented was called, ‘Trend Legacy.’ Trend legacy includes reaching out to past Trend alumni and sending former EICs the latest Trend magazines. To improve the magazine visually, they changed production how much lighting was used in the backdrops of photoshoots. They also brought back ‘Friends of Trend,’ which is now in place to help Trend grow financially.

After their first semester as editors-in-chief, both Phomsouvanh and Humiston attained highly sought after internships. Phomsouvanh headed to Minneapolis, Minnesota to intern for the clothing retailer, Nordstrom, in their men’s suits department. Humiston went to Los Angeles to do PR as an intern for Delta Galil Premium Brands.   

Both girls realized at their internships that their work with Trend set them apart greatly from other candidates for the job. By being able to take a copy of Trend into their interviews and telling companies that they helped create it, and then to go through the magazine and tell the company their thought process behind the work that they created was a huge plus according to their employers. 

So when the two came back to Iowa State from their internships at the end of the summer, they were excited to finish their last semester as editors-in-chief. Aside from their regular duties as editors-in-chief and continuing the new things that they implemented, Humiston and Phomsouvanh also began to teach Trend members and directors how to better utilize their time and resources at Trend in order to help them further their careers.

“One thing that Alisha and I really did this semester versus last semester, we worked one hundred and ten times more to help people build their careers and get their dream jobs and their dream internships because without the magazine, we wouldn’t get our dream jobs and our dream internships. We wanted to make sure that we gave back to people and that they had the same opportunities we did,” Phomsouvanh said. 

The last thing that girls implemented into the magazine was changing the very fact of having two editors-in-chief to having three editors-in-chief. Being editor-in-chief of Trend Magazine is very time consuming, so the two agreed that it would be best for the organization to try having three editors-in-chief, so that the organization can get more done and run more smoothly.

“Three was definitely new to Trend, but this trio complements each other so well we couldn’t pass it up,” Humiston said. “During our time as EICs we had so many ideas we wanted to incorporate but weren’t able to do so because we were so focused in on the production magazine rather than the organization as a whole.  With three, we have no doubt that they will be able to produce great content but also to further the organization as a whole.”

According to former Trend for men committee member and one of Trend’s three recently elected editors-in-chief, Reed Barron, their is visual difference between the magazines before Phomsouvanh and Humiston’s reign and after.

“If you look at the magazines before they became EICS compared to after they became EICs, you can see the jump,” Barron said, “I have to give my props to them because they really did do a great job.” 

According to another one of the newest elected editors-in-chief, Emma Hassemer, Humiston and Phomsouvanh completely transformed the magazine to what it is today and that the quality of the magazine has grown and that it has gained many new committee members and sponsors.

What they learned… 

Reflecting back, Phomsouvanh and Humiston agree that this was one of the best experiences, though time-consuming, of their college career. The things they learned from the roles as editors-in-chief were endless and priceless. They learned to manage hundreds of people, how to handle conflict, being detail oriented, excessive time-management, event management… the list goes on.

“This role teaches you so many things but the biggest thing I gained from this role was how to communicate and work with so many different people. In this role I really got to interact with people with various leadership styles, communication tactics and visions being able to adjust to each type of person was difficult but extremely necessary. This is a huge advantage for me in the future especially after graduation when adjusting to new jobs and coworkers,” Alisha said.

Their advice…

Humiston and Phomsouvanh want to advise every student to really stick with something if you’re passionate about it. Sometimes you may not feel included in a magazine, club or even job, but it’s your job to stay involved and participate as much as you can and give one hundred and twenty percent at all times if you want be successful in it. 

“The thing is about college that a lot of people don’t understand is that whatever you make of it, is what you take from it,” Phomsouvanh said. “You have to go out and get something, it can’t just plop on your lap, and it’s there. A lot of people especially in this generation have that issue, where they think that if they join something, that they’re involved and everything’s there for you. You have to go and get it and that’s the one thing people need to understand.”

Another thing that the two really want to stress is to introduce yourself to everyone within your group and network within your groups and clubs, especially with the members that are older. You never know when someone you’ve met may be your boss or might have a future contact you may need.

“Just because of Trend, I have a huge network base of any job I want to take,” Phomsouvanh said. “If I want to go into publishing, I’ve got a handful of people there, if I want to move companies to New York or L.A., it’s all because of Trend. All because I met someone and I made sure they knew my name too, is a big thing.”

As for the future…

Phomsouvanh just graduated in December from Iowa State with a degree in apparel, merchandising, and design and got hired on from her internship at Nordstrom in Minneapolis and will begin there in January. She aspires to be a stylist for the company but knows that it takes years to achieve that. So in the meantime, she will be learning how to sell to women and how to build a women’s clientele.

Humiston will graduate from Iowa State this May of 2018 with a degree in apparel, merchandising and design and two minors in journalism and business. This last semester, Humiston plans finish everything on her “college bucket list” and spend time with the people that matter most to her. After she graduates, she plans to pursue a career in fashion public relations and marketing.