eng ver.

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\ I’m going to keep chasing my dream! /

On September 9th, I received one of the best news in my life, and what I’d been waiting years for: an offer to join PUMA as a footwear Color & Material Designer!

7 years after my first footwear internship, I kept applying to my dream brands every year, hoping that one day I’d make it back.

✷ But the journey wasn’t easy, at all.

Before graduating in the U.S., I once came so close to joining another footwear brand’s office in NYC.

But due to post-covid hiring freezes, visa limits, and other factors that were completely out of my control, the offer was withdrawn at the final stage.

Every footwear position I applied to afterward also ended in rejection. I was heartbroken and wondered if I would ever return to footwear design.

✷ so what’s next...?

I was devastated. Truly. I wondered if returning to footwear design was no longer possible for me.

Maybe it was reality reminding me that I wasn’t good enough yet, that my portfolio wasn’t strong enough, or maybe there were simply many factors I couldn’t see or control.

But a result is still a result. Life won't pause, and I still had to keep moving.
So I told myself: “Then let’s try a different path for now. Maybe that path will eventually lead me back to where I want to be.”

✷ Opportunities come to those who stay prepared.

“Before the next opportunity arrives, focus on leveling yourself up and becoming fully ready.”

“Even if the new path is harder or not what you wanted at first, you will learn, grow, and become stronger. And one day, step by step, you’ll climb your way back.” This was the advice I received from a professor I deeply admire, and I’ve carried it with me ever since.

So for the past three years, every time my target companies opened a position, I would still quietly press the “apply” button. Not out of desperation, but as a yearly check-in with myself:“Let’s see if this is the year my skills and portfolio finally meet the bar.”

And after years of quietly building, learning, and growing… I finally did it.

✷ Sometimes tears are sweet.

I’ll never forget the moment I saw the first interview invitation email, my heart rate absolutely skyrocketed.

I’ll never forget how excited I felt while working on the case study, the rush of ideas, the passion, the sense of “I’m finally doing what I love again.”

I’ll never forget that after the final presentation, I mentally prepared myself for a week of anxiety, but instead, the design director called just one hour later to congratulate me.

And I’ll never forget how, after hanging up, I laughed so hard my cheeks hurt… and then suddenly burst into tears on the sofa because the dream I had been holding onto finally came true.✷

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Thank you for reading this far. I wanted to write all of this down to honor the journey for myself, and also to remind you:

“If there’s something you truly want and crave for, the path may twist and turn, but the lighthouse is always there. As long as you don’t give up and keep moving forward, you will reach your destination one day.”

You’re all amazing! You can do it!

✷
And thank you to the version of me,
who never gave up on this dream for seven years.🩵