One could say Raul Rodriguez, 18, communications major, won the golden ticket when given the opportunity to attend L.A. Fashion Week, an event that showcases the fashion art of new and experienced designers for the upcoming season.

Rodriguez got this opportunity because of his internship at World CoCo. The company’s involvement in L.A Fashion Week was to present designers and to promote themselves as a company.

“At World CoCo we promote art based events, like music and fashion, that is fresh and new and trendy,” Rodriguiez said. “We also promote fashion shows like (the ones in) Fashion Week.”

Rodriguez’s responsibilities at World CoCo include, maintaining its email account, their MySpace page and promoting events. But along with the work there are also perks.

“I am invited to all the events and it’s my choice if I want to go or not,” Rodriguez said. “Luckily, I had the opportunity to go to [LA] fashion week.” Tickets to L.A. Fashion Week may be expensive for some, but through Rodriguez’s internships he was able to attend for free with a press badge.

Rodriguez got his internship with World CoCo by networking with people and contacting Miguel Jimenez, 19, UCSB student and founder of World CoCo.

“I emailed him and asked how he got to be so successful, he’s only 19,” Rodriguez said. “It’s basically because of networking and good timing that I got the internship, because Jimenez just happened to be looking for an intern when I contacted him.”

Rodriguez has passion and good networking skills, but knows he is lucky to have found an internship because experience in his field of choice is extremely important.

“I’ve always had it in me, I’ve always had an interest, and have been a good writer and pretty friendly and social, so I figured why not go into public relations,” Rodriguez said.

“I want to do more than just public relations though. I actually want to write for a fashion magazine. That’s my dream but you have to work hard for it.”

L.A. fashion week is exciting because past designers renovate old fashions, plus new designers showcase fresh, edgy styles.

“They introduced a lot of new designers,” Rodriguez said.

One of Rodriguez’s favorite designers was Davis Alexander, who used a lot of feminine attributes like rhinestones. “There was also a really awesome show called, ‘martinMARTIN’, a Doc Martin style-inspired collection that mixed the early 90s style of grunge and Got,” Rodriguez said.

The widely known fashion event may be one of the “it” places to be with its fresh style that, at times, shows its appreciation for the styles that has a big influence.

“The event went by really fast because everyone was constantly moving, there was no time to slow down,” Rodriguez said.

“I really wanted to network with people but I was so busy with work for World CoCo that I didn’t get the chance to”. “It’s a shame that I was so caught up, but I was also able to see a lot backstage, like how they send the models out [on the runway] and the quick wardrobe changes.”

Amid all of the frenzy, Rodriguez was still able to meet Cody Kennedy, a model for Nylon magazine and a friend/associate of Jimenez.

“You have to be friendly, you have to be social, [and] you have to network,” Rodriguez said. “Fashion week has taught me to be ambitious and to go for what you want.” Rodriguez also learned that “the scene doesn’t slow down. You have to know what you’re doing and if you don’t know, always ask questions,” Rodriguez said.

“You can’t be in a situation where someone asks you about a designer and you have no idea,” Rodriguez said.

Rodriguez is a big advocate of self-education, in the sense of gaining extra knowledge in addition to going to school.

“Besides getting the internship, I’ve been educating myself, subscribing to magazines, reading what’s new and trying to know more people in the industry,” Rodriguez said.

In the near future Rodriguez hopes to graduate, transfer and obtain an entry-level position at Nylon magazine or American Apparel.

Rodriguez wants to influence and teach others who have the same aspirations as he does.

“I’d like to educate people, like teach then appreciation [for fashion]. It’s not just fashion, it’s art, it’s music. So I want to enlighten people on what’s new”, Rodriguez said.

As a result of the entertaining weekend, Rodriguez got everything he expected and more. “It was very interesting to experience fashion week for the first time and it affirmed me of what I want to be. It was an epiphany for me,” Rodriguez said