How an ICMS Fashion Professional Placement Helped Claudia Turn Her Passion Into a Career Path

For Bachelor of Business (Fashion and Global Brand Management) student Claudia Algeri, a professional placement at Northern Beaches fashion brand Kinga Csilla helped turn a long-held passion for fashion into a clear career direction. 

Claudia’s path to ICMS was anything but straightforward. 

Growing up in Perth, Western Australia, she finished school with a high ATAR and felt pressure to pursue what seemed like a more traditional, secure career.  

Putting her interests in art, textiles and fashion aside, she enrolled in a double degree in Law and Political Journalism. 

It did not take long for her to question whether she had made the right choice. 

“I felt like just another number and for the first time properly questioned whether the path I was on was actually mine, or just the one I felt expected to follow,” Claudia said. 

She deferred her studies, took a gap year and spent time working and travelling. Gradually, she found herself drawn back to fashion. 

“I was searching for something that combined my creativity and structure with real opportunity,” she said. 

Finding a degree that combined fashion and business

A conversation with a friend introduced Claudia to ICMS and its Bachelor of Business (Fashion and Global Brand Management). 

“This course blended business fundamentals with specialised fashion and branding subjects. I was especially drawn to ICMS’s commitment to work integrated learning as something most fashion degrees lacked,” she said. 

“That same night, I went online and applied.” 

Claudia began studying online from Perth in August 2023, giving her the flexibility to combine her studies with work, travel and other commitments. 

She later moved to Trento, Italy, where she worked as an au pair while continuing her ICMS studies online. 

“I could work, travel, and progress through my degree in a way that didn’t burn me out,” she said. 

Despite studying from thousands of kilometres away, Claudia said the connection with her lecturers and classmates remained important. 

“Lecturers were engaged and available, and even through discussion boards and Zoom classes, I made friends who are still some of my closest today.” 

A professional placement that brought her career into focus

The defining moment in Claudia’s studies came when it was time to undertake her Work Integrated Learning (WIL) professional placement. 

With limited opportunities in Perth’s fashion industry, Claudia realised she needed to look further afield.  

With support from her ICMS WIL advisor, she secured a professional placement with Kinga Csilla, a boutique fashion brand based on Sydney’s Northern Beaches. 

She packed up and moved across the country on her own. 

“That professional placement gave me so much clarity. I felt like my hard work was creating something promising,” Claudia said. 

Working within a small creative team gave her hands-on exposure to marketing, social media, styling, production, events and e-commerce. 

“I was trusted with responsibility and encouraged to contribute ideas. For the first time, I could clearly see how my interests of fashion, content, branding could translate into an actual career path.” 

For Claudia, the experience demonstrated the value of being able to test her interests in a real workplace before graduating. 

“My WIL at Kinga Csilla was truly a once in a lifetime experience that gave me so much clarity. I now have a clear vision of where my passion lies; in marketing and e-commerce.” 

From industry experience to luxury retail

Claudia’s industry exposure did not end with her professional placement. 

After attending a Richemont panel event hosted at ICMS, she connected with professionals from Cartier.  

That connection led to an opportunity to assist with the opening of the Cartier boutique in Chatswood, and Claudia now works for the luxury brand as a Boutique Assistant while completing her studies. 

“It’s been an incredible way to learn about luxury service, client relations, and the standards and expectations that come with working in a global luxury brand,” she said. 

Her experiences are helping her build towards a career goal that now feels much clearer than it did when she finished high school. 

“Right now, my future career goal is to work as a digital marketing specialist for a fashion brand that I really care about! Ideally somewhere I can combine strategic thinking, content creation, and brand storytelling.” 

“The roles I have now, the subjects I’m studying, and the industry experiences ICMS has helped me access all feel like stepping stones toward that.” 

Finding her place at ICMS

In January 2026, Claudia took another leap and moved permanently to Manly to experience life as an on-campus ICMS student. 

Moving into ICMS’s Claremont Beach House introduced her to a community of students from around the world. 

“We studied together, went to Pilates, walked to the beach, and attended events as a group,” she said. 

“I suddenly had a built-in support network of people who understood the challenge of balancing bachelor degree studies with everyday life while sharing similar goals and ambitions.” 

Academically, Claudia says the combination of creative fashion subjects and broader business foundations has remained one of the strongest aspects of her degree. 

“I didn’t want to study ‘just fashion’ or ‘just business’; I wanted a foundation that would set me up for fashion business … branding strategy, marketing, retail, all of it.” 

Subjects such as Blogging Your Way to Fame and Styling and Creative Direction have allowed her to explore content creation, AI tools, branding, styling and visual storytelling while considering how those skills operate in industry. 

“It’s creative, but still grounded in the reality of how brands actually operate and tell stories visually,” she said. 

Choosing a career that feels like her own

Three years after making the decision to apply to ICMS, Claudia says her outlook has changed dramatically. 

“Looking back at the moment I applied to ICMS in 2023, it genuinely feels like that decision changed the trajectory of my life,” she said. 

“I went from feeling overwhelmed and misaligned in a degree that didn’t fit me, to feeling clear, confident, and excited about where I’m heading.” 

For Claudia, the biggest lesson has been that choosing a degree does not have to mean having an entire career mapped out from the beginning.  

The right combination of study, support and real-world experience helped her discover where she wanted to go. 

“For me, ICMS hasn’t just been about getting a degree. It’s been about having the flexibility to study in a way that fits my life, the support to change direction when I needed it, and the opportunities to actually test my interests in the real world. 

“Most importantly, it’s given me the confidence to pursue a career that’s both creative and sustainable… one that feels like mine.” 

Disclaimer: This article is based on Claudia Algeri’s personal experience as an ICMS student. Individual student experiences, professional placement opportunities and employment outcomes may vary.