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