26-year-old quit her corporate job to become a seamstress at Yellowstone
Zoe De La Paz believes in making your own luck. That mentality helped her gather the courage to quit her corporate day job in Chicago, break into the costuming field, and move to Yellowstone National Park to work as a seamstress — a path she hopes will eventually take her to New York City to work on Broadway and in film productions.
Until recently, De La Paz, 26, was living in Chicago and working as a drafter for an engineering construction company. She’d started sewing in high school for fun and, creatively unfulfilled in her day job, took up odd gigs on nights and weekends at nearby music venues. Her plan: Connect with the people who oversee touring productions’ wardrobes and possibly land some sewing work.
De La Paz worked her way up from taking tickets and fulfilling catering orders to stocking visiting artists’ dressing rooms; once in those rooms, she connected with people who were in charge of the performers’ wardrobes.
Her first wardrobe assisting job came “genuinely by luck,” De La Paz tells CNBC Make It: She was catering a concert for The Weeknd in Detroit. When it came time for the tour to move on to their next stop in Chicago, a crewmember mentioned needing a seamstress there to help repair the backup dancers’ costumes.
Zoe De La Paz began sewing costumes as a hobby in high school. She didn’t consider pursuing it as a career until recently.
Courtesy of subject
“Cue me scrambling to write my number down on a napkin and telling them that I have sewing experience,” De La Paz says. “It was luck because I happened to be there at that place and at that time,” she says, adding that she believes “you can manufacture luck in your life.”
In this case, she says, “I knew that if I wanted to be in wardrobe, I needed to figure out a way to be in the same room with people that were in wardrobe.”
Taking her sewing skills to Yellowstone
In January, De La Paz says she felt ready to ditch her 9-to-5 desk job for a full-time sewing gig. “It was really scary to be leaving corporate and chase [my] dreams, and do the thing the adults are telling you, ‘you shouldn’t do that,'” she says.
She remembered a trip to visit a friend working a seasonal job at Yellowstone a few years ago and how much the opportunity changed their life.
De La Paz looked online and found a seamstress role in the uniform department with Xanterra Parks & Resorts, a concessionaire that operates hotels, lodges, restaurants and other businesses in Yellowstone. She applied, took a phone interview, and was hired.
The young seamstress stood out for her prior sewing experience and ability to juggle multiple tasks in a fast-paced environment, according to Jeanne Holmes, 73, a retired educator and fellow seamstress at Yellowstone who helped hire De La Paz. Holmes says her first season at the park in 2023 involved hemming over 1,000 pairs of pants.
It was really scary to be leaving corporate and chase [my] dreams, and do the thing the adults are telling you, ‘you shouldn’t do that.’
“She had really good instincts,” Holmes says, which De La Paz demonstrated when discussing her approach to several situational interview questions.
“Every mending project is different,” Holmes says, and the role requires ingenuity and passion. In addition to caring for employee uniforms, for example, the department upcycles old or damaged inventory into new projects, like turning old backpacks into fanny packs for staff. “[De La Paz] showed me some of her projects, and I could see that she’s very creative,” Holmes says, “and that was going to be a plus.”
De La Paz started the role in June and now spends her days sewing patches, fixing snaps, and replacing buttons and zippers on uniforms for Xanterra’s thousands of employees, from housekeepers to security officers to food and beverage workers.
Life in the park: ‘I would have never dreamed’ of this
De La Paz works 40 hours per week as a seamstress, on Mondays through Fridays, from roughly 7 a.m. to 4 p.m. every day with breaks. She now spends her free time outdoors, whether it’s horseback riding, hiking, or enjoying one of the many free or low-cost activities put on by employee groups at Yellowstone.
She makes $19.25 an hour and gets subsidized employee housing and meals. Despite the lower hourly rate compared to her former corporate salary, De La Paz says she feels like she’s able to save more money compared to when she lived in Chicago, thanks to having fewer expenses and boundless free entertainment.
Zoe De La Paz spends her free time hiking, horseback riding, and enjoying all that Yellowstone National Park has to offer.
Courtesy of subject
De La Paz will work at Yellowstone until around October. The seasonal job is part of her plan to eventually move to New York City and pursue her dream of working in wardrobe and costuming for Broadway, film and other productions.
It’s a dream De La Paz thought she’d given up after trading her high-school hobby for a “serious” college degree and career. Now she spends her days doing something she loves and can see it turning into long-term opportunities. “Two years ago working in corporate, I would have never dreamed [this] would have happened,” she says.
Want to get ahead at work? Then you need to learn how to make effective small talk. In CNBC’s new online course, How To Talk To People At Work, expert instructors share practical strategies to help you use everyday conversations to gain visibility, build meaningful relationships and accelerate your career growth. Sign up today!