By Nicole Daniele T'16
Nicole Daniele, T’16, grew up in Edison, New Jersey and graduated from the University of Pennsylvania with degrees in International Relations and Italian. Prior to Tuck she worked in wealth management in Philadelphia and New York. She has happily traded in her black suits for Patagonia gear from TuckStuff.
Tuckies have a lot of school pride—and we love to show it. On an average day, I can count at least five classmates wearing some type of Tuck-branded apparel in every class, at TuckTails, and at a night out at Murphy’s (and I’m not including myself in these highly scientific estimates). Unlike my undergraduate bookstore, which seems to thrive on selling some of the un-chicest apparel out there (but I still bought it), Tuck has found a way to encourage students to purchase branded items they’d actually want to use—by having its peers conceptualize and manage an entrepreneurial on-campus store that operates as a real-world business. I give you TuckStuff, an organization that five fellow T'16s and I joined as "interns" a few months ago.
I vividly remember my first TuckStuff purchase during this spring’s Admitted Students Weekend. I ran into a fellow prospective student who had attended my undergrad and who, like me, was also struggling not to buy everything in the store (she’s probably one of my closest friends today—proof that TuckStuff isn’t just about the stuff’). Those green running shorts I bought were worn in nearly every road race and country I visited this summer. I also candidly recall the day this term when a certain sportswear company’s newest shipment arrived at the store during lunch. If you’ve ever seen the sandwich line in Byrne at noon, you would be shocked to discover how willing to forgo food Tuckies are to get the "latest threads."
Because the store is managed and operated by current students, it presents a fantastic opportunity to understand the underpinnings of a thriving retail operation—from merchandizing, e-commerce, finances, operations, social media, and advertising. As someone who interned in sales and marketing for an international fashion house years ago, I found TuckStuff to be a great way for me to hone lessons learned from those intern years, and explore other areas, like merchandising and operations, to help prepare me to advise retail executives as a consultant in the future.
Fellow TuckStuff intern and sectionmate Byron Peyster T’16 notes “What has amazed me the most about my brief TuckStuff experience was my first official management meeting. From discussions of Christmas promotions to managing excess inventory, to creative ways to get new customers, I realized these were probably the exact discussions that some of the world’s biggest retailers have on a daily basis. As someone with interest in working in retail one day, but with limited experience, it was exciting to learn that this would not only be a fun experience working with great people, but would also be a great foundation for my career.
Although the T'15s are now on winter break, leaving us T'16s in charge of the store, (are we ready to use the credit card machine by ourselves?!), their insight into customer tastes, buying behavior, and growth initiatives has been some of the most valuable experiential learning in my time here thus far. And it’s just plain fun. I’ll never be Coco Chanel (or more appropriately for Tuck, Yvon Chouinard)—but sourcing and choosing the neat apparel my friends will buy next fall is about as close as it gets. And sending the mentor who helped me find my way here a “Tiny Tuckie” onesie for his baby daughter will be one of the most rewarding holiday purchases I make this year.
So whether you’re an alum wearing a ragged class jacket, or a current student who needs just one more Tuck t-shirt, TuckStuff probably has what you’re looking for (and a few other things you didn’t even think you needed!)
(Photo above: TuckStuff interns (from left; all T'16s) Whit McClung, Byron Peyster, Nicole Daniele, Kelsey MacEachern, Mat Sevin, and Adam Klene.)