My name is Pedro Ferreira and I would like to become a fashion designer specializing in Avant-Garde and Haute Couture fashion. As a sixteen-year-old attending High School in New York, I am extremely fascinated with clothing. As a young boy born in a small city in Brazil, I had always been interested in the arts and I would draw figures of people at a young age. I love going to museums and viewing paintings, sculptures, photography and design. In my freshman year of high school, I became infatuated with clothing and designing clothing. In my free time I would constantly sketch designs in my notepad, hoping one day I could bring it to life. These sketches piled up and helped to increase my creativity and much more. My mom, is a single mother who is raising a teenage son in New York City and living in a small studio apartment which is not easy. Covid-19 arrived in March 2020 and made a huge impact in my life. During the beginning of the citywide lockdown I felt lost. Virtual learning was becoming too overwhelming and I was worried about how my mom and I would survive through this economic crisis. My mom and I were worried, as things didnt get better. My mom did not work for 6 months, which prompted me to get a job. During the weekends I worked as a tent manager for a soap retailer in upstate New York and as a kitchen assistant for a catering company. I tried to contribute to our household as much as I could, but Covid-19 eventually led to the soap retailer to close. I work the odd weekend at the catering company when needed. I enjoy working tremendously as it has taught me social skills that help me today. I have also figured out what I want to do in life. Currently, my mother works very limited hours and we are trying to make due with what we have by making sacrifices. It is clear that my mother cannot afford to pay the program fee on her own. The help of others will be huge in contributing to paying towards the program fee. Currently, I have an unpaid internship at Utility Canvas, which started 6 months ago. Utility Canvas is an established but small US-based brand. My duties include cleaning and packaging garments, overseeing the quality control of garments, counting the clothing inventory, preparing fabrics for retail items to be sold and making patterns. To further my fashion design skills I am taking a free online sewing class. I have checked out books from my local library on fashion design, and these few books are helping to guide me when sketching clothing. I learn about sewing, sketching and graphic design everyday and try to progress as an artist. With sewing I am making garments on my own without further help from the course. With online design I have been enjoying creating graphic designs and flats. And with sketching I am still in the process of learning accurate proportions and other related sketching topics. When I heard I was accepted into the Parsons Paris program I was ecstatic, to say the least! I was so filled with joy and I knew by all means I would find a way to get myself there so I could learn more about a topic that I am so passionate about.