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The 2022 Ag Career Pop-up Shop had 177 College of Agriculture students attend the one-day event, where more than 700 items of gently used professional attire found new homes. The annual effort was led by the late Ashley Grant, left, former assistant director of Professional Development, Internships and Career Services for the College of Agriculture.
In 2021, the LSU College of Agriculture launched the Ag Career Closet as part of its continued efforts to support students in their professional development journey. The mission of the closet is to make finding professional attire more accessible, affordable and sustainable for students.
The Ag Career Closet was spearheaded by the late Ashley Grant, former assistant director of Professional Development, Internships and Career Services for the College of Agriculture. The initiative began as a one-day pop-up shop and became an annual event during Ag Career Prep Week.
Assembling the closet was a labor of love for Grant. Throughout the summer, she accepted and sorted donations of gently used work attire to create the pop-up shop. The event quickly became a favorite among students in the College of Agriculture, with hundreds finding professional attire to help them make a strong first impression.
The foundation laid by the Ag Career Closet continues through the Olinde Career Center, which transformed the concept into a year-round, campus-wide resource. After nearly two years of planning, a newly renovated space to house the center’s Career Closet opened in the fall of 2024.
Located on the third floor of the Student Union, the space has a boutique feel, complete with a changing room and organized display racks of professional attire in various sizes and styles. Blake Winchell, senior administrator for the Olinde Career Center, emphasized the importance of having a designated space for the Career Closet to make students feel welcome and confident.
“With the rack design, waiting room space and changing room space, it feels like more than just a closet,” Winchell said. “We achieved a space that will make students feel confident to enter and feel appropriate to go into.”
The Ashley Grant Career Closet Fund was established to support the center’s Career Clothing Closet. The fund provides supplies such as hangers, clothes racks, mirrors, dressing room essentials and inclusive clothing sizes. The fund allows the center’s team to purchase less common clothing items, helping to eliminate barriers to access. Ensuring access for all students was important to Grant and inspired the original pop-up shop. Monetary donations can be made to the Ashley Grant Career Closet Fund through the LSU Foundation at https://bbis32491p.sky.blackbaud.com/give-now.
Inside the dressing room for the Olinde Career Center’s Career Closet located on the third floor of the Student Union.
