I’m Theodora … I’m 23 years old … I’m from Minneapolis Minnesota … Edina specifically … Now I go to school here in Chicago … at Loyola … I’m almost done … I’m done in December … I’m a fifth year senior … I did one extra semester … so … I’m almost done … Why Loyola … I knew I wanted to come to a city and when I did my whole college tour with my parents … and Demetra was there too … We … Went primarily to New York … we did New York … Boston … Montreal … explored that area … But I think New York was too big for me … I realized that I just really love it when you just visit for a few days … but I didn’t know if I could realistically live there … so … I found Loyola … and it’s funny because Loyola was my easiest collage application … and it was the first school I got accepted to … out of so many schools … I should have just gone with it right away … but that’s ok … So … it’s kind of the next closest city … I’m a homebody I think I wanted to be close to home … somewhere where it would be easy to get back and forth from … We also have a lot of family here … At the time that I first came here … my dads cousin lived here … my aunt lived here … my dad other cousin lived here as well … right here in the city … so… I had people here … in case I needed anything anything … I think that really helped me make the transition … and made me feel better about coming somewhere completely new … because I was the first one in my family to do it … Having the family around really helped … I went to Sunday dinners every week … at my aunts house … just to catch up … In school … I am a marketing major … which is within the business school … so I had to do all the business classes … and then I’m an art history minor … I used to be an art history minor and international business manor … but … they made me drop my international business minor because I would be in school for forever (laughter) That’s what I’m studying … I’ve always loved business and art … my dad worked in finance … he was a stock trader my mom was a teacher and … she also kind of … worked a little bit in interior design too … she always had that creative touch … and eye for everything … So … I was raised with both of those qualities … I knew I didn’t want to do finance … or accounting … I used to want to be an architect actually … architecture and interior design … I did an internship … and it wasn’t what I thought … So … I kind of got that out of the way … I knew I didn’t want to do that … My first few years of college I literally didn’t know what i wanted to do at all … I just assumed maybe I’d go into marketing … I didn’t declare my major until … the beginning of junior year … I decided marketing … I thought that was a more creative take on business … I did that … and in the past … almost two years … or year and a half … I realized … I really want to get into art more specifically … I did art in high school … but I don’t want to be a painter … or an artist … I’d like to deal more with business … I’m trying to mesh business and art in some way … and … I kind of found that art dealing was my dream job … which I think would be … that’s my ideal goal … It’s kind of tough because that’s not a specific degree like marketing is … I’ve had to find ways to get there … Now that I’m finishing up with school … I’m realizing of a real world degree … I have to achieve that goal through jobs … and meeting people … not just through my school … I think I’d probably learn a lot more just by getting experience out in the real world … which is also frustrating because I think everyone … in business at least … there’s a very clear path for everything … so marketing or finance …. you go through recruitment processes … and you do interview processes … career fairs … but … to work at a gallery or to be an art dealer … there’s no conventional path … or special process you have to go through … I’m trying to figure that out (laughter) … though now … I’m interning at a gallery … that actually came about … through a family friend … I was at dinner at a family’s friends house here in Wilmette … and they had their cousin over as well … and these are people that grew up with my mom … up in Canada with her … I was explaining what I was trying to do to them … and they … their cousin is actually a tennis pro … he was … Oh … I have a client who has an art gallery … let me put you in touch with him … and it happened to be Harvey … who is Susans husband … and I got in touch with Harvey and he put me in touch with Susan … who is one of the partners at Rosenthal Fine Art … and they happened to have an internship program … I was able to start this summer … At first I thought I didn’t have the job because I didn’t hear from them for three weeks … So I kind of panicked a little bit … because I was scrambling to find an internship for the summer … Then I finally did … and I was really relieved … I’m working with them … I’ve been there since the beginning of summer … I ended up staying for the semester … I wanted to make it work … because it was real interesting … I think I’m learning a lot of real life skills there … I think it’s probably the perfect internship that I could have … landed … for what I want to do … because they’re really teaching us … rather then just handing us tasks to complete … so I’m really grateful for that … It’s been really helpful … I think it’s helped me define more of a clear idea of where I want to go … how I’m going to have to get there … So … it’s been helpful … At the gallery … our main objective was to catalog an estate … We had to take inventory of an entire estate … about 8000 pieces … We’ve been doing that since summer … we’ve made a small dent … we’re almost done with all the prints … That has really taught me a lot about how to value art … which is a really important thing to have in life … especially for what I want to do … I’ve learned how to handle art physically … I’ve learned how to examine art … signatures … we’ve learned about … pricing things … even packaging art properly is a … it’s a minor skill … but it’s an important skill that could help … So yeah … it’s very tedious … but we get to see a wide variety of things … it’s kind of crazy … every new box we open is a complete surprise … It’s quite the project … but … it’s really interesting to see how someone could have had so many different pieces of art … sitting in their house … doing nothing (laughter) … As far as working with my sister … Demetra … I was there … as I said … since the summer … with two other girls … and one of the girls ended her internship … she was going back to school in the fall … Me … and another girl stayed on … Lilly … and they needed more interns … because this project is so large … we just need more people to get through it … So I suggested my sister … and they were really excited about the idea … and she came and met with them … I thought she would be a good candidate because she also has always had an interest in art … since we were young … and she actually is a very good artist … she wont talk about it that much … but … she did an amazing concentration for her AP in her senior year … and it was really beautiful … I know she’s in the position where I was … where she doesn’t really know what she wants to do … so I said … why not try this … it will be helpful … and if you don’t like it … then you can cross it off your list … if you do like it … then you can pursue it … I hope it’s been helpful for her … It’s been fun to work together … I like to bug her … because she didn’t want to come to the same school as me in the beginning … because she wanted to do her own thing … which I get … I always try to snatch her when I can (laughter) … and hang out with her when I can … especially now because I’m in my last semester … and my friends are done with school … and I have no-one to hang out with … so I need her to hang out with (laughter) It’s been really fun … to have her … in the office … it’s an excuse to see her too … and as far as her and I pursuing a similar path … We always traveled growing up … My parents always made the point for us to see … go to all the museums … even if we were tired … my mom would drag us to the museum … she was probably dragging my dad too (laughter) I don’t know if he wanted to see them all either … I think it just kind of was … incorporated in our lives naturally … because we did that so much … and it really built an awareness from a young age … which I think a lot of people don’t have … so I think that was a really unique experience for us to have the opportunity to even go … to be abroad in Europe … in the summers when we were growing up … and to see all that stuff that was … been there for thousands of years … which is incredible … I knew she would do something similar … at least something creative … both my other sisters are creative … so it’s just a natural progression … from  where we grew up … we were always … always involved with something with art at school … Our high school really pushed the arts … and really encouraged us … I won a Pentel award when I was … I think it was … in third grade … for this painting I did … literally third grade … and this painting toured the entire world … in museums (laughter) and was shown in an exhibit in Korea … or … Japan I think … for like years … it was on display … It was just me and my sisters playing in the leaves in our front yard … I won a medal … and everything … it toured around the world … It finally ended up I’m California … and my dads sister lives there … and she went and saw it … And they actually let her take it … gave it to her … when they were done with the show … and she sent it back … now we have it hanging in our house (laughter) … That was kind of funny … but our school always involved us in things like that … We were involved with the University of Minnesota … my sister won an award … yeah … It’s just a natural progression in life that we have just decided to pursue … It’s kind of funny … because my dads side of the family is very financial … and very numbers driven … and business … and my cousins from that side of the family … our age … are totally pursuing that career … And then you have us three … who are just kind of  … la … de … da … art art art …  which is not a bad thing … It’s kind of funny to see that contrast … I think my dad … it’s funny to see my dad … he worked in that industry for so long … he actually really enjoys the arts … so it’s fun to see the two worlds collide … I think being in Chicago has really helped … it pushes the cultural side … it forces you to be a little independent … during college … Being a woman in our present social climate … I think in the past few years the awareness has really grown … for those types of issues … it was kind of a hidden topic before … Now it’s just blown up … which is awesome … I haven’t personally been effected … in the workplace … yet … by any of those issues … but I know a lot of people who have … I think … It’s really inspiring to hear … about women who are very successful … I don’t like … I’ll be honest … I don’t like when women hate on men … or vise versa … I don’t think it should be … feminism shouldn’t be we all hate men … like anti men … I mean … we need both to … to work in a society … There definitely needs to be more equality with it … I think it’s really niece to have empowering women … because I grew up with two sisters … and my mom … who is in a new business venture with my dad … together … she really pushes us every day to get out there … and it’s really interesting to see her step up … because she dedicates every waking hour to that … and she’s … I have to … you know … that’s what you have to do … especially when there’s all these men … who sometimes don’t believe in you … or don’t agree with you … But I think it’s just great … That it’s become a bigger issue … From this point … I’d like to stay in Chicago a little longer … after I graduate … I feel like I’m not done here yet … In the future I’d love to … I’ve always just wanted to move to Europe … and work there … and do smoothing there … I don’t see myself going back to Minneapolis yet … maybe when I’m more established … and have a little bit more under my belt … and then I can return there … and do something there … I think since I’m so young … I might as well … I think it would be really cool to live in London … That’s my newest interest … Growing up we never went to London … which is interesting … I used to think think … ah … it’s not that special … they speak english … It’s pretty commercialized … like back home … but then I spent a lot of time there when I went abroad … I was in Rome … and my boyfriend was in London … so I spent a good amount of time there … at first it was alright the first time I visited … but then I went back a few more times … and spent … about two weeks there at the end of my semester … And it’s so awesome … they have … it’s just a great city … it’s a really good mesh … it’s cultural … It’s more cultural … I wouldn’t say it’s more cultural then here … I mean it’s about the same … but … I just feel like I saw a lot more there … I was able to explore a lot more … and their art … I just love the way the people dress there … I think it’s so cool … They just be what they want … and everyone just looks really nice all the time … even if you’re dressed crazy … I think it’s interesting how they dress … because here … I’ve grown up seeing people come to class in sweatpants … or run to the store in their pajamas … or just leggings with Ugg boots … But there … even if they’re  running out for a quick second … they make sure they have a nice leather jacket … nice shoes … and they just look put together … and I would just love to feel that all the time … and be surrounded by people … like that all the time … because I just feel like it would make me more motivated … to … it’s like when you dress better … or you dress put together … you feel better … If I dress sloppy … or in sweatpants … or leggings … I’m tired … I feel tired … I just found it really great that they dressed how they want … anti all looks great … So yeah … There’s a gallery there that I’ve been eyeing for awhile … that I saw when I was first there … I would love to work there … We’ll see where that takes me … In regards to social media … I think social media is a great thing … and I think it’s a horrible thing at the same time … At first I was pretty into it … I kind of went in and out with waves of it … I also have always really believed in a private life too … keeping most of your life private … as private as you can … So … I try to keep things private … There was a time last year … when I went abroad … I shared a lot more … but now … even if I do something really cool … I don’t feel the need … to … share it as much …where I used to feel the need to absolutely share it … Because I feel subconsciously you’re kind of … looking for … some … validation … to show something … But I really believe it’s so important to keep a private life … I think the people who … do keep their life private … and don’t share everything there doing … are sometime cooler people … The greatest people I’ve meet throughout life … don’t share what they’re doing … They do the coolest stuff … the most incredible things … but … you wouldn’t know that by looking at their profile … which I think is so special … and so unique and interesting … I think it’s a great thing … to hold on to is your privacy … especially with relationships … dating … people post for their two week anniversary … or their three month anniversary … It’s like … just have it for yourself … why do you need to go show everyone … But in the same time … I think it’s great too … because use it as a way to express themselves too … with pictures …  For me … I like to share beautiful pictures … beautiful places … I don’t post a lot … I just posted for the first time since … last March or something crazy like that … Which felt good … I didn’t feel the need to keep up … which was kind of nice … But at the same time … I think it’s a great platform for … life … and even finding jobs … Nowadays you can … direct message someone … Hey … is your company hiring? … and they’ll respond … I think that’s pretty cool … I actually messaged a gallery to see if they had any job positions open … and they said … send your resume to this email … look forward to hearing from you … I think it’s great in that … especially for the art world … I mean … what’s better then Instagram for the art world … and to be able to share your photos … That’s what it’s all about … I think there’s so much potential there … But at the same time you on’t want to get so caught up in it … these influencers … I was talking to a friend … and how … there’s social media influencers who make millions and millions off of posting everyday … and promoting products … But their whole life is recorded and posted … and shared with millions of people … So … It’s good and bad … I talk about Instagram the most … because I use it the most … I used to use Snapchat a lot more … but I feel like it was so quick … what’s the point … Like my younger sister … she’s in the digital age … they have a thing … where you have a streak … That means you’ve been Snap-chatting each other … back and forth every day … and it tells you how many days … And they freak out if they lose their streak … So if they don’t respond one day … then they lost their highly days of snap-chatting back and forth … and it’s a huge deal … So … it’s … what’s the point … They’ll take ugly pictures of their eye … or the floor … just to send a Snapchat back … just to do it … I’m … why is that necessary … Though … I think if I was to buy art … the first place i would look … is Instagram … as just the average person … I would go look there … because … there’s so much visual content on there … That’s why I love looking at it … I look t it too much … I follow so many art accounts … My friend commented on that the bother day .. You follow a lot of art galleries and art people … I’m … yeah … they put up the most interesting stuff … That’s why I use it the most … I have to slow down a little bit (laughter) … There’s definitely potential … My future … Yeah I think it’s really scary … I think I prolonged school so I could avoid this … fear of finishing (laughter) … Having to move on into the real world … and be an adult … But now … that I think I have a more defined path of … within my interests … I think it will help me more … and I’ll be able to stay focused … Because the biggest thing I wanted to avoid was … getting some random job … to fill time … some random marketing job … that I could get … just to have a job … If I know what I want to do … I want to go right into it … and I think it’s worth the effort … and the potential suffering for a little while … to get there … because I see what it could be … and I think it’s a really … really good thing … It’s really nice … because it’s something I’m passionate about … It’s not something I get bored doing … I actually love going to work … at the gallery everyday … It’s exciting … I’m grateful for that … because I know so many people who are in jobs … and they just don’t want to get up to go to work … I think it’s a good sign … I think it means I’m on the right path … we’ll see …