Hannah Mauser

“The campus itself sold me. But a big part of it, too, was the opportunities that Iowa State presented, and I felt like I could thrive in this environment.”

-Hannah Mauser

Hannah hopes to work in the digital department of a major fashion company or publication after graduation. When she’s not studying, she enjoys spending time in coffee shops, making music playlists, updating and blogging on her website, and binge-watching Netflix and YouTube. 

Hannah Mauser strengthens interest in fashion industry while at Iowa State University

Hannah Mauser attended a small high school in Iowa and had a unique interest in fashion — an industry that not many people from her hometown enter. After attending a summer camp at the Fashion Institute of Design & Merchandising in San Francisco, Hannah knew the fashion industry was exactly where she wanted to be one day.

Along with selling her on the industry, the camp gave her a club start-up kit to begin her own fashion club at her high school. She managed the club her junior year, creating fashion collages and organizing the winter formal.

“It was fun; [the fashion club] was my first taste of a leadership position,” Hannah said. “It solidified that [fashion] was the space I wanted to be in.”

When it came time to decide where she wanted to attend college, Iowa State University’s Behind the Scenes Day, linked with The Fashion Show, showed Hannah all that she needed to know. She decided to study apparel, merchandising, and design at Iowa State.

“The campus itself sold me,” Hannah said. “But a big part of it, too, was the opportunities that Iowa State presented, and I felt like I could thrive in this environment.”

When visiting Behind the Scenes Day, Hannah grew interested in the Fashion Show and also found the creative outlet she felt she’d been lacking: TREND Magazine.

Hannah got involved in TREND her freshman year, and has now climbed the ladder to become the magazine’s editor-in-chief. In this role, she applies her journalism minor and uses her creativity to determine magazine themes, while benefiting from the managerial experience.

She has also benefited from being the Rising Star Award recipient her sophomore year, and the YMA Fashion Scholarship Fund. Hannah earned a total of $10,000 from this scholarship, which she was able to put toward housing during her summer internship with Centric Brands in New York City.

With Centric Brands, Hannah analyzed weekly and monthly sales, as well as the company’s higher and lower performing products. While grateful for the opportunity, Hannah knows she wants to end up in the digital department of a major fashion company or publication, doing fashion communication. Her dream job would be to work in the creative department for Urban Outfitters. 

Since attending Behind the Scenes Day and learning of the opportunities Iowa State has to offer, Hannah has continued to rise in the fashion industry and make progress toward her future.

“I don’t think that there is a better [AMD program] than Iowa State’s that enables students to find their passions,” Hannah said.