autobiography

          My name is Bree Lena Woolstenhulme, I will be twenty-two this month and I spent the early years of my life in Commerce Twp. Michigan. When I was three my family moved from Oklahoma to Michigan and we lived there until I was ten. Growing up I spent my days doing gymnastics, by the time my family moved to Utah I was in level eight (of ten.) Due to many injuries, one being too permanent and painful, I had to quit. I started competitively dancing when I was in junior high and did so through-out high school (at the same studio that my sister currently dances at.) I was on my high school dance team and was the Sterling Scholar for Dance. Another major aspect of my life developed in high school, sewing. I realized my love for designing and creating clothes, especially formal dresses. I designed and sewed almost all of my formal dance dresses as well as some for friends. It became my passion. I decided when I was a junior that I wanted to go to school in Manhattan, The Fashion Institute of Technology (FIT), to study fashion design.

                I graduated from Orem High School in 2008 and was accepted to Brigham Young University. I decided to start at BYU rather than heading straight to New York City because FIT had a one-year accelerated associate’s degree program that I was planning on applying for in the fall of 2008. In order to be accepted, I had to take many liberal arts classes here at BYU that would transfer to FIT; I applied in November and received my acceptance letter in March. The application process was intense and I was technically supposed to already have a degree in order to do the one-year program, but somehow I was one of fifty chosen for the accelerated program and one of 250 who are accepted into the fashion design program out of 2700 applicants. God knew that is where I needed and wanted to be. I completed Fall, Winter, and Summer semester here at BYU and while going to school I worked at a retail boutique and started my own company headband business, selling on consignment to boutiques, on etsy.com, and through house parties, to earn money for Manhattan.

                The Fashion Design program was the hardest thing I have ever done, but it was amazing! I learned so much, not only about fashion, designing, and sewing but about myself. It was the most rewarding and satisfying experience I have ever had and though I slept an average of only five hours a night I would not have given up the experience for anything. I learned how to be independent and rely on my Savior. I met two of my best friends that year at FIT, we all attended the same singles ward, and we all live here in Utah now which is such a blessing.  I graduated Magna Cum Laude from FIT with my Associates Degree in Fashion Design in May 2010.

                That summer I had the opportunity to do a Study Abroad with FIT to Paris and Milan. The purpose was to study the specialization of your choice, for me that was wedding gowns. I got to travel the cities admiring wedding gowns and fashion-that was my homework! It was during this program that I designed my first modest wedding gown collection. It was there that I decided that I wanted to design and create fashionable wedding dresses for our unique Latter-day Saint market (because we need it badly!) I returned home for my brother’s wedding and continued making headbands before heading back to NYC for one last semester.

                I was not quite ready to leave the city so I took a couple extra classes at FIT while working about twenty-five hours a week at J.Crew (J.Crew is my favorite company of all time and if I decided to do fashion in the industry that is the only company I would work for.) While I was living in NYC I also had the opportunity to intern with Avenia Bridal at the Fall 2009, Spring 2010, and Fall 2010 Bridal Market.

                I moved home Christmas of 2010 and started back at BYU Winter semester of 2011, a Bachelor’s Degree in Business Management was next on my agenda. Since I have been back in Utah I was hired at Avenia Bridal (who I interned for in NYC) as a bridal/design consultant (seamstress when needed) and blogger. This summer I was asked by one of my best friends (one of the girls I met in NYC actually) if I would make her wedding dress and I definitely agreed to it! It turned out perfectly and I cannot wait until I get the chance to make more.

During Summer semester I was hired as a Teacher’s Assistant for Jazz 131 here at BYU and starting Fall semester I began teaching Jazz 131 and 231. I am on scholarship so I am required to take at least fourteen credits and I work two jobs (ten to twenty hours a week at Avenia Bridal and currently I am teaching three jazz classes) so I am extremely busy. I am applying this semester for the Business School and will be graduating in April 2014.

* I had to write this for my Marriage and Family class-so I thought I'd share.