People always had this misconception about the fashion industry. They believe it’s glamorous and full of excitement. But in the real world, fashion is a competitive job that you need to slave away at least 12 hours a day to. To make it more fun, most of the time dealing with larger than life egos that honestly makes my blood boil.

Hello, my name is Leah. I’m a 28 yr old, who chose to be battered in this infamous fashion world for 6 years now. Currently I’m living in the ever exciting City of Angels aka LOS ANGELES.

Unlike the majority or more popular choices in fashion, i.e. designer, buyer, merchandiser etc. What I do is the what people would say “behind the scenes” work. Development & Production. Simply put, I’m the person between the idealistic designers, demanding buyers & merchandisers and the actual factories & vendors who provide the final product to the market. I guess you can say I’m the “reason”, the “secretary”. I monitor and make sure both ends stop being unreasonable brats and make sure all products come in on time.

Although, in comparison to a lot of people I know working in this competitive industry, I’ve been very fortunate (I don’t like to use the word lucky because I believe in working hard to achieve one’s goals, and trust me, I’ve WORKED HARD). I started my career off the bat at a luxury label - Halston. It is a contemporary label company based in LA, and it definitely trained me well. I started as an assistant  and worked my way up. I survived my first 2 years at Halston, and then was offered an opportunity which I simply couldn’t turn down - to be development/production coordinator at the head quarters of Chrome Hearts which was also based in LA. Having to loved this brand ever since I was old enough to appreciate fashion, I jumped at the chance to work there & have been there ever since.

Up until now, my not so glamorous fashion career was satisfying for me. I felt challenged everyday with what I do. I was content. It was demanding but I enjoyed the security it provided. But just today everything changed ...

While at work today, as I was emailing away vigorously to resolve pending issues, my manager informs me the big boss of Chrome Hearts wanted to see me - Richard Stark. I was quite shocked, since usually I only deal directly with my manager. Only at times when I see Richard in the hallways or around the office, I would then give my courteous “hi” or “how are you?”. But never have I sat down in his office with him. So you can imagine my mind racing to figure out what is going on. Did I do something wrong? Did someone complain about my work ethic?

My manager saw the worry on my face and gestured a nod and said: “It’s ok. Just go on over and you’ll find out what it is.”

I walked over to the lavish wooden door which beholds the decorated office. The office decor was of course nothing but Chrome hearts. Rich leather with metals. Even down to the tiniest details you can’t escape and deny that it’s Chrome hearts. Richard was sitting behind the decadent hand carved wooden desk, facing his computer reading what I assumed an email intently when I walked in.

I stepped in and exclaimed: “Hi Sir, you wanted to see me?”

Richard, being the cool motorcycle enthusiast, just simply turned his chair to face me and nodded at the chair in front of him clearly wanted me to sit down. So I did.

Richard then said: “You’ve been with us for 4 years now is it?”

“Yes Sir.”

“Call me Richard.”

“Yes Richard.”

He then paused for a second to look down at some paperwork, then look back up at me and asked: “What do you think of