Graduating Textiles with Business Studies student Molly O’Halloran has secured a dream internship at a prestigious New York City fashion brand.

Molly has been offered the competitive Ascena Global Design Internship, meaning she will work within the Ann Taylor Inc brands for a year starting in September.

The internship – established by two University of Brighton graduates who went on to work at Ann Taylor Inc – includes a visa, flights and a standard New York City graduate salary.

Initially the opportunity was only offered to textiles students at the University of Brighton, but in recent years application has been open to students at Nottingham Trent University and London College of Fashion among others.

Molly said: “It’s really exciting. I worked in New York during my placement year for three months and really loved the pace of the city. I heard a lot about Ann Taylor when I was there so it’s amazing to be offered an opportunity to go back and work for such a well-known company.”

Molly added that she was drawn to applying for the internship because it helps graduates to “gain valuable industry knowledge”.

“Coming from a textile background I think it’s going to be really beneficial when it comes to applying for jobs in the future,” she said.

“Companies are looking for designers with technical knowledge as well as creativity and this opportunity will allow me to push both my technical knowledge and creative practice.”

As part of the application process for the internship, Molly was tasked with submitting samples of a design project along with a CV.

Caterina Radvan, Academic Programme Leader for Fashion and Textiles at the University of Brighton, said: “We are very proud of Molly’s success – this is an amazing launch to her career. The Ascena Design Internship is a really prestigious opportunity that several of our graduates have undertaken in the past.”

Find out more about the University of Brighton’s textile courses