BGSU Alumnus Takes on New York Fashion Week

Calvin Walker ’09 has taken his BGSU degree to the New York fashion industry where he is making an impact domestically and globally.

As the senior manager of social and digital media for Calvin Klein in New York City, Walker manages a team of junior managers and assistants. Their role is to oversee global, social and digital activity—a year-round responsibility with a little more significance during events such as the highly visible New York Fashion Week.

Walker has previously worked for Condé Naste, Lifetime Television, BCBG Max Azria and many more. Walker’s impressive list of experience in different aspects of the public relations and communications world helped shape him into a well-rounded professional in his industry.

“Just about every job that I’ve had I think, ‘I can’t believe that this is happening.’”

Walker always knew that he wanted to be a writer, but it wasn’t until he came to BGSU that he discovered his passion for public relations and communications.    

“I always thought that I would work in fashion PR. I thought public relations itself was interesting. It was something about the idea of working with a brand or a person or whatever it might be and helping creating a story that I found exciting. I’ve been a writer all of my life, so I have always been drawn to the idea of creating a story. With PR, that’s an area where you can do that.”

Walker credits many of his successes and accomplishments to his education at BGSU. He gained real-life experiences, and learned how to communicate with others throughout the industry.

“I took a debate class, and I also took a class on communications theory, and one on leadership. Another one was creativity in marketing. I can’t remember the nitty gritty things, but I remember the overall, bigger picture themes and ideas that they wanted to get across. I, still to this day, reference some things from those classes. Especially the debate class, because living here and working in this industry there are a lot of not-so nice people, so you have to know how to present and pitch the smallest ideas. A lot of those classes helped focus how I communicate, which is super important.”

While Walker was at BGSU he was an active member of Public Relations Student Society of America (PRSSA), an on-campus organization for students interested in public relations and communication. He stated that his PRSSA experience taught him how to deal with PR campaigns.

“I just don’t let things slip through the cracks, and that ultimately stems from my time at BG. And PRSSA helped me learn how to present and to increase my idea of what self-confidence is,” Walker said.