a love letter to Brandy Melville, Newport Beach

: a amazing fantastic special unique sisterhood

As funny as it sounds, I remember really wanting to work at Brandy Melville for some reason. I shopped there a lot as a teenager, and in my hometown, everyone believed that if you worked there or at PacSun, you were considered super popular and cool. Naturally, all the popular girls from my hometown who went off to college in Orange County, LA, San Diego, or any other major city with a Brandy ended up working there, which somehow made them even cooler. This brand embodied exclusivity, and if you were part of it, it was almost like you were special. And trust me, I know this sounds extremely dramatic and over the top, but that’s genuinely what it was like back in my hometown (at least when I was in high school from 2016-2020), which didn't have a Brandy Melville.

Anyway, I remember being extremely excited to have gotten an interview, and even more excited when I got the job. It felt like I was living out my silly teenage dream (plus, the pay was amazing). I was pretty nervous before my first day, as Brandy was often talked about online, and there were so many rumors about the place. Stories circulated about employees having obsessive eating disorders and being judgmental, rude, or unwelcoming. I worried I would be the odd one out or that I’d fit in, but the version of me fitting in wasn’t truly me—it was this curated idea I had in my head. I feared it would be like high school cheer all over again, where you could get along and have good conversations one day, but ultimately, it felt uncertain whether people genuinely liked you or were just talking to pass the time.

  To my pleasant surprise, my experience was not like that at all. I remember my first week being so much fun. It felt like everything started falling back into place. The work environment (except when it was incredibly busy and overstimulating) and the people I worked with made me so happy. Don’t get me wrong; I’m not going to sugarcoat everything. There were definitely days when I dreaded going to work, and there were times when I didn’t get along with some of the girls. There was drama; we may have irritated each other or had things to say about one another. But we genuinely welcomed each other with open arms. Everyone I interacted with was the sweetest person I have ever met. We referred to it as our little family, and it genuinely felt that way. I felt comfortable sharing anything with these girls. There were moments when they saw me cry, and I saw them cry.

I hadn’t really worked in an environment like this before. All the other places I had worked that had all-women staff were filled mainly with older women. I loved watching our dynamic unfold. Even on days when we couldn’t help but talk about each other, it felt like we were the only ones allowed to do so. God forbid a customer tried to say anything about our staff; we wouldn’t stand for it. We loved and couldn’t stand each other at the same time, just like a real family. On a Tuesday, I might have been frustrated with someone’s attitude, but by Saturday, we were sitting together on the cold, hard hallway floor, talking about a loser ex-boyfriend.

Working with this group of women will forever hold a special place in my heart. It's amazing how something as simple as a job can bring so many people together and form relationships that could last a lifetime. I have developed so much love for each and every girl I worked with—truly, they are some of the most beautiful, smart, ambitious, and bright women I have ever met. I love all you girls.