Globally Connected: BSU Presents: BACK TO THE PRESENT, with Alumna Jo-Well Paupaw

Globally Connected: BSU Presents: BACK TO THE PRESENT, with Alumna Jo-Well Paupaw

Cultural Fellow Anya Swapp introduces BSU Vice President Ashleigh Simpson in an interview with Jo-Well Paupaw, senior writer and producer for BET. While exploring some concepts within the BSU’s “Back to the Present'' exhibition, parallels are drawn to Jo-Well Paupaw's career journey. Through this conversation, they will discuss the importance of blackness in creative industries like fashion and entertainment, while finding a likeness in their work.

This year's Globally Connected program is a series of 45-minute virtual discussions led by students, faculty, and alumni to advance global education at FIT in our new world with limited mobility. The major themes will be fashion, art, sustainability, racial equity, and life during the pandemic around the world.

Ashleigh Simpson is now in her final semester of the Fashion Design AAS program at the Fashion Institute of Technology. She has participated in numerous events promoting cultural awareness within the fashion industry while undertaking various roles of leadership. As an Orientation Leader and Vice President of the Black Student Union, her interactions have led her to become more hands-on. She is a co-curator of the Back to the Present virtual exhibition which opened February 2021 and has led a Sustainable Black-Owned Business Panel in partnership with FIT’s UNICEF club in October 2020. She will continue her education in FIT’s Fabric Styling BFA program in Fall 2021.

Alumna Jo-Well Paupaw is an award-winning writer-producer dedicated to promoting and spotlighting narratives that are inclusive of diverse stories. She is currently a senior writer- producer on the brand creative team at BET (Black Entertainment Television). Her work includes producing campaigns for the first-ever Black National Voter Day and BET’s ratings smash, The Bobby Brown Story, which brought in 13.4 million total viewers the week of its premiere. Whether it’s driving social awareness or entertaining millions, her commitment is to create high-impact and quality content that is a reflection of the human experience. She holds a bachelor's degree in Advertising and Marketing Communications from the Fashion Institute of Technology.

School of Liberal Arts

Black Student Union

2021-02-26

47:46

This video was produced by the Fashion Institute of Technology ("FIT") and is the property of FIT. FIT expressly prohibits the copying, displaying, or uploading to a website of any portion of this video, except for the purposes of fair use as defined in the copyright laws, without express written permission from FIT.

If you feel this work violates copyright law, please contact us at [email protected] and notify us immediately. Our intention is purely educational, but we will promptly remove any material determined to be in violation.

622934100