UW-Milwaukee Grad’s Blog Helps Students Get Professional

Since graduating from UW-Milwaukee in 2014 with a degree in Human Resource Management, Rachele Voigt has been busy revamping her closet to fit her new career oriented lifestyle.

While studying at UWM, Voigt was interning within a financial services firm in the human resources department, where she has since transitioned into a full time associate.

As Voigt was transitioning into her full-time job, she realized she needed a brand new wardrobe, but like most college grads didn’t have any extra money lying around to do it. Fast-forward a year later, and she now has a business wardrobe any young professional would be proud of.

That’s how Voigt got the idea to start her own blog. “I wanted to share my own personal experiences with those going through that same exact feeling and time period in their life, where you’ve got to look at your closet and say I can’t wear this to the bar and to work,” she said.

Her blog is called profechic.com, which is a combination of professional and chic style. “After coming up with a name for my blog, I found out that el profe means teacher in Spanish, so really that is the goal of what I want to do; I want to teach people about professional style,” said Voigt.

Her blog is targeted towards young female professionals looking to change their wardrobe in a cost efficient way. Voigt says it’s simple, “I want to provide expertise in professional, corporate attire for young women beginning their careers without breaking the bank.”

Voigt’s experience going through this difficult transition in her own life is what she says makes her a professional on the topic.

“Starting as an intern and converting to a full-time employee, it’s been about 3 years of investing in professional work wear and I’m still having fun doing it,” said Voigt.

After spending some time working in the corporate world, she realized that at the end of the day first impressions really do matter. “People like to think that they don’t and hope that people only look at what’s inside, but unfortunately I don’t think that’s the way most people brains are wired,” said Voigt.

According to Voigt people should use these first impressions to their advantage, which is what she hopes her blog can help people do.

Being brand new to blogging, Voigt wasn’t quite sure what to expect,and she was surprised to learn what a time commitment it turned out to be.

While most 22-year-olds spend their weekends taking a well-deserved break from work, Voigt’s weekends are devoted to blogging. “A lot of writing happens over the weekend when I’m not working my full time job.”

According to Voigt, writing each post takes about an hour, and then she has to make sure that everything is spelled correctly, all of her pictures are edited and everything lines up. Once that’s all completed, she has to spend another 30 minutes pushing each post out through various social media sites.

It’s not just advice that Voigt hopes to hand out in her blog. She eventually wants to provide people with what she calls the entire package. “Style, and the way you look is only the first aspect,” said Voigt.

Somewhere down the road, she hopes to offer advice not only on style but also on networking, relationship building and teaching other’s how to establish their careers in any market.

Voigt says the number one goal is that people who visit her blog can leave with the knowledge of how to look professional and chic, or even better yet how to look ProfeChic