Jacqueline Kuettel

I truly owe my career to Delta Epsilon Chi. DEX is a fabulous organization. I joined DEX my freshmen year of college (1998) while attending Lake Superior College in Duluth, Minnesota. My first competition was in St. Cloud that fall – I had no idea what I was doing, and I was so nervous. However, I knew that organizations like this looked great on a resume plus we got to travel and meet a ton of new great people from all over the country! In the spring of 1999, I competed in Apparel and Accessory and took 2nd place at the state competition! This achievement also landed my place at the national competition in Orlando, Florida, that year. Not only was Orlando a beautiful trip where I met many new people and had a lot of fun, but I also placed in the top 12 in the nation! I have never felt as proud of myself as I did that day. Walking across the stage in front of the top marketing students in the country to accept my award and to hear the entire state of Minnesota stand up and cheer as one of their own placed to move on to the next round of competition. WOW, it brings goose bumps back just thinking about it. Through my DEX career, I placed several times in state competition, my favorite was always Apparel and Accessory. In 2000, I took 1st place in the Apparel and Accessory comprehensive exam at the state competition. This landed me back at the national competition in Louisville, Kentucky!

However, DEX wasn’t all fun and games; we had to work a bit too. This brings my story back to LSC in Duluth. In the spring of 2000, our organization was in charge of setting up for a job fair. I always hated stuff like this – slinging tables and unfolding chairs. In the back of my mind, I knew I needed an internship for the summer and had been procrastinating about finding one. As I glanced at the list of businesses that would be there the next day, “maurices” name almost jumped off the paper at me! I told my friends that I was sorry, but I wouldn’t be helping. I needed to get my resume ready for maurices! The next day, I walked straight up to the maurices booth, resume in hand, and asked for an internship. I told them that I was a member of DEX and had competed at the state and national level in Apparel and Accessory and that we had organized the job fair. The maurices HR recruiter told me she would be in touch. The next day, she called me to come in for an interview! I had several interviews before landing my internship in the buying department of maurices. Once I started my internship, I realized this was the place for me! I absolutely loved the people and the fast pace environment of the fashion industry. As the summer of 2000 came to a close, I was very sad that I would be leaving maurices to finish my last semester of school. I assured everyone that I would be back ASAP! I was right! I returned to the Home Office after my last semester of college on January 15, 2001, just 23 days after graduation! I started my full-time position with maurices in the Men’s Department as a Buyer Support until I was promoted to Assistant Buyer in September 2001. One memory I hold very close was during my first work trip into New York City in December 2001. I was out to dinner with my boss, some vendors, and Lisa Rhodes, the Executive Vice President and Chief Merchandising Officer. During our dinner, Lisa told our vendors about my experiences and achievements with Delta Epsilon Chi (she remembered this from our interview well over a year before). At this moment I felt an overwhelming amount of pride to be part of a company that took so much pride in their people!

We all tend to reflect upon all of the “what ifs” in life, some of mine are… What if I had not helped set up for that job fair? What if I did not have my resume ready? And my biggest, what if I wasn’t a member of Delta Epsilon Chi?

So once again, I owe my career to Delta Epsilon Chi for my participation and accomplishments in this organization that lead me to a fabulous company. Five years later I am typing this from my desk at the Home Office of maurices in Duluth, Minnesota, and I am proud to say I work for maurices!

Jacqi Kuettel
Assistant Buyer