EMAIL + C.V.

Gem Murray


... is a designer with an artistic and professional practice that covers a lot of ground.

With experience that spans design, brand strategy, event production, advocacy, and research, Gem seeks to build equity and sustain community, wherever she goes. (Often, she is found somewhere within or in-between the fashion, culture, and arts worlds.)

Gem is currently at the Fashion Institute of Technology leading communications and supporting alumni programs through signature events.

Prior to this, Gem has worked in the nonprofit and higher education space to create mission-based brand and marketing strategies at the University of Pennsylvania and AmeriCorps VISTA. 

Gem serves as a board advisor for Closely Crafted, an organization that seeks to reinvigorate American craft in fashion. Gem is a proud member of the New York Fashion Workforce Development Coalition.

In her free time, she is either blowing through rolls of film or perfecting her bagel recipe. She lives in Brooklyn with her gray tuxedo cat Kit.

CURRICULUM VITAE
EDUCATION
M.A. Sociology
The New School for Social Research
2023 - 2026

B.Sc. in Fashion and Textile Management
North Carolina State University, Wilson College of Textiles


EXPERIENCE Communications Coordinator
FIT Foundation, Fashion Institute of Technology
New York, NY
2023 - present

Marketing & Development Director
YESPhilly, Youth Empowerment Services
Philadelphia, PA
2021 - 2023

Project Coordinator
The Power of Professional Women
Remote - Mid-atlantic region
2022 -2023

Events & Training Coordinator
PHENND Fellows, University of Pennsylvania

Community Center Coordinator
YESPhilly, PHENND Fellows
Philadelphia, PA
2020 - 2021

Marketing Assistant
Advancement of Women Entrepreneurs, NC State University
Raleigh, NC
2019 - 2020



SERVICECo-Facilitator
Bushwick Fashion Cooperative

Board Advisor
Apprenticeship Committee Member
Closely Crafted

Member
New York Fashion Workforce Development Coalition


WORKSHOPS
Designing an Alumni Weekend to Remember
CASE District I/II Annual Conference 2026; SUNY CUAD Annual Awards 2024-25

Design for a Mission
Next Steps AmeriCorps
May 2022

Life after VISTA
Conference Organizer, PHENND Fellows
March 2022

Social Connection Models & Structural Injustice
Diversity training facilitator, PHENND Fellows

Intro to Media Arts
Instructor, YESPhilly Accelerated High School

Community Engagement
Instructor, YESPhilly Accelerated High School


PROJECTSCommunity Jobs Board
New York Fashion Workforce Development Coalition

Apprenticeship Applicant Analysis
Closely Crafted



RESEARCH
Sowing Devotion
Autotheoretical analysis of spirituality and craft
2025-present

Making Space: Studio to Stage
Ethnography of New York fashion designers and makers
2025 - present

Fashioning the Self / Design at Work
Interviews with fashion designer-entrepreneurs
2024 - 2025           






Last Updated 24.10.31
WORK SAMPLE


Alumni BazaarFashion Institute of Technology


CREATIVE EVENT PRODUCTION
Produced a curated an outdoor market featuring dozens of alumni vendors that showcase creativity, entrepreneurship, and innovation during FIT Alumni Weekend, an annual tradition where hundreds return to campus for a weekend of reconnection. This event was produced in partnership with the student-run boutique, The Style Shop, and the Merchandising Society, which give students hands-on experience in fashion retail, merchandising, sales, and marketing.




Decades DinnerFashion Institute of Technology

ART DIRECTION
PRINT DESIGN
Drawing on the rich history and archives of FIT Special Collections and College Archives, I designed and managed production of these souvenir postcards, given as keepsakes for guests to take home and mail as a postcard to friends and former classmates.




Life After VISTAUniversity of Pennsylvania

EVENT PRODUCTION
PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT 
Life After VISTA is a one-day professional development conference held at the University of Pennsylvania, near the conclusion of the PHENND Fellowship program, a program that mentors students to become leaders in community, public service, and education. As the lead producer, I organized panels, mock interview sessions, and managed event marketing.



Alive, at the same timeJULY 2025


PHOTOGRAPHY
Finding God, or something like that, in Ireland.

NYFWDC Jobs Bulletin2023-2024


ADVOCACY
WORKFORCE DEVELOPMENT
Evolving from organic efforts to share opportunities within the limited reach of our own personal networks, the NYFWDC Jobs Bulletin was created in recognition of the need for greater pay transparency and relationship building between employers and skilled craftspeople seeking work, particularly among immigrants, mothers returning to work, and residents that speak English as a second language.




Borderless AlliesInternational Aid / Public Health


MARKETING + DESIGN DIRECTION
PUBLIC RELATIONS
Borderless Allies was a grassroots project with global reach: the volunteer-run operation delivered 220 care packages and over 25,000 masks to countries across the globe. I developed the foundational branding guide as well as communications and marketing materials used to solicit donations and form partnerships with key organizations to facilitate distribution during a period of severe transportation delays.




Skills Swap Social2020*



MARKETING + DESIGN DIRECTION
For the Advancement of Women Entrepreneurs, I led marketing strategy and communications design through print and social media. The concept and creative direction for Skills Swap Social was inspired by the university’s tagline to “Think and Do.” 

*Event was unfortunately postponed due to pandemic restrictions.




Dissonance


MATERIAL DEVELOPMENT
FREEHAND MACHINE EMBROIDERY
Exhibition invite postcard
Alfred Jensen, 1991
Pace Gallery  






Everywear2018

PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT + MENSWEAR
Everywear is a capsule collection for the millennial man, drawing on nostalgia through the use of primary colors and evocative of early 2000s Apple. The concept is articualted through technical design of a chore coat made in heavy weight organic cotton canvas.





© CARGO TEST 2027