Friday, April 17, 2020 — 3
News
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com

LAB
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CITY
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FASHION
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“It’s been an incredibly wild ride, 

especially during these crazy times the 

world is going through,” Gogolak said. 

“But I’m very grateful to be a part of their 

leadership team and to help the company 

through this.”

Gogolak said adapting the company to the 

current situation is about communication. 

She said she has daily calls, and the company 

has realized they need to expand on their 

digital strategy in order to keep riders engaged 

through email and social media.

“We’re giving our riders the ability to be 

a part of our community while being off the 

bike,” Gogolak said. “We’re actually excitingly 

launching our own retail e-commerce on a new 

platform, which will be really supporting the 

fantastic visuals and photography that we have 

been working on, up since the pandemic.”

She defined this digital movement as a 

“cultural phenomenon” with regard to what 

SoulCycle is able to deliver on the content end. 

Gogolak answered a question from an 

attendee regarding how she addresses industry 

competitors in the retail sector. She said the 

company tries to look at more general fashion 

trends as opposed to monitoring the products 

of competitors. From a brand standpoint, she 

said, SoulCycle has a very different business 

strategy than its competitors.

“We’re always keeping our finger on 

the pulse,” Gogolak said. “It’s an in-person 

experience. It’s, you know, in a room that’s 

candlelit with 60 people on a bike and so 

that is a very different experience. But we 

have recently launched our at-home content 

through Variis through Equinox, which is an 

amazing experience.”

Gogolak said with more people working 

from home, activewear will be considered 

as everyday wear. She said she believes 

activewear is resilient and seasonless and, as a 

result, it has a lot of room to grow. 

“I think that people are dressing differently 

today,” Gogolak said. “I think (retail is) going 

to be less about working out and more of ‘how 

do I outfit this with the ready-to-wear that I 

already have in my wardrobe.’”

Finally, Gogolak said SoulCycle’s vision for 

the company is very similar to its original 2020 

operating plan, but they have changed the way 

they are operating to reach that goal, especially 

with regard to their digital plan.

“We’re trying to bring the digital piece 

out,” Gogolak said. “It was almost like perfect 

timing when all of this happened and I think at 

this point, when we come back into business … 

I’m really excited to see how our studios light 

up and how people are, you know, going to be 

craving going to their favorite instructors’ class 

with their friends, even though we’re going to 

have to be operating with social distancing 

in place … I think that that fire will be super 

special when our doors reopen.”

Zinke began her talk by providing advice for 

those interested in going into the industry. She 

described the industry as a meritocracy and 

said it is possible to work your way up through 

hard work.

“You really have to be prepared to work 

extremely hard and demonstrate that you want 

to make the cut,” Zinke said. “You want to 

really make a contribution to something that is 

a group effort, a collective effort. And if you are 

able to do that, and you do get the recognition 

of the people who are the creators in the 

industry, I would say the ones who also worked 

their way up, then … the sky’s the limit.”

She said, however, the business is not possible 

without the people behind the big fashion 

names. At the same time, she referenced the 

fact that the industry requires self-direction 

with regard to career development.

“I’m usually one of the people who are 

helping to make things happen,” Zinke said. 

“And I wouldn’t be here if I wasn’t doing a 

good job at that, and it’s many years in the 

making. But I’ve also had to be very proactive 

in my own career development because it’s 

not an industry that really has a great clear 

directional path that you follow to get from 

point A to point B. You have to be very self-

motivated.”

Zinke compared her experiences working at 

American and European brand headquarters 

and regional offices. She referenced her work 

at Ralph Lauren and Tiffany & Co. as well as 

her roles at LVMH in Europe. She discussed 

how she flows between a regional sales role to 

a broader macro and global perspective of the 

fashion industry.

“I kind of like to toggle back and forth,” 

Zinke said. “I think it makes me a better-

informed business person. And I can really 

speak to my colleagues on the other side of 

the table from a more informed standpoint 

because I’ve been in both regional roles and 

global roles.”

MFMS co-president Delaney Walker, an 

LSA senior, said MFMS was disappointed they 

had to cancel the in-person event but were 

determined to fulfill their mission of providing 

opportunities for students interested in the 

fashion industry.

“We were devastated when we had to cancel 

the MFMS,” Walker said, “We were upset that 

the 600 attendees would not be able to hear our 

speakers and our 54-person student planning 

team would not be able to showcase their 

hard work. But we made a promise to educate 

students on opportunities in fashion, so there 

was no doubt in our mind that we would find 

a way to do it. It was amazing transforming it 

to a webinar because we got to reach an even 

larger audience and learn how to pivot our 

organization in times of adversity.”

Daily Staff Reporter Remy Farkas can be 

reached at rsfarkas@umich.edu.

“Instructors always have a great 

deal of autonomy in the design and 

delivery of their courses, and the 

pandemic 
hasn’t 
changed 
that,” 

McKay wrote. “Sometimes, we have 

to make a big collective decision, 

like moving all courses to remote 

instruction 
and 
Pass/No 
Record 

COVID grading. But the instructional 

team for each course is responsible 

for deciding what course adjustments 

would be best and how to make them.”

LSA freshman Sharon Shaw, who is 

taking both Biology 173 and Chemistry 

211, said the ease of adjustment was 

different for the two courses. Shaw 

emphasized that the consistency of 

her professors’ communication and 

assignment uploads determined the 

success of the online transition. 

“For Bio 173, it has kind of been 

confusing,” 
Shaw 
said. 
“Because 

everything is online, professors can 

technically upload anything anytime 

they want, and this past week my 

professor hasn’t uploaded anything.”

Shaw said she feels her lab courses 

are less rigorous without conducting 

experiments 
and 
collecting 
data. 

She said she misses the in-person 

interactions with her labmates and 

worries she is not learning skills that 

come with hands-on experience. 

“I’d totally rather drag myself to an 8 

a.m. lab,” Shaw said. “I know it sounds 

horrible, but I would much rather do 

that and actually see what’s going on 

in lab and collect my own data than 

just take other people’s data.”

Engineering 
freshman 
Chase 

Hartley’s Math 215 lab still allows 

students to work in groups with their 

former labmates. However, group 

projects for his Engineering 100 and 

Physics 141 courses have been replaced 

with individual work. 

“It’s been a little bit of a struggle 

trying to do physics lab by myself, 

since I’m so used to collaborating with 

other people,” Hartley said. “That’s 

been the toughest part. You just have 

to get into a routine and then figure 

it out.”

According 
to 
McKay, 
grading 

procedures are “very contextual” 

for these courses. He wrote the 

University has encouraged creativity 

and cooperation among instructors 

and students to solve challenges in 

making both large and small changes 

to assignments.

He wrote that each instructional 

team 
determines 
how 
grading 

guidelines change if needed. Looking 

to the future, McKay wrote spring and 

summer courses will show the lessons 

learned from the winter semester. 

“These spring/summer courses will 

incorporate a variety of improvements, 

all made possible by the fact that we 

have more than a weekend to spend 

designing them,” McKay wrote. 

McKay wrote creative ideas were 

emerging in preparation for these 

semesters, including geology classes 

where students will be asked to do 

local fieldwork and contribute to a 

class-wide data set. 

LSA freshman Heather Sherr did 

not initially consider remote learning 

when planning her schedule for next 

fall. She is currently registered for 

two courses with lab sections, but is 

concerned about how they would be 

impacted if courses were to remain 

online.

As a pre-medical student, Sherr 

plans to get other requirements out 

of the way and delay taking courses 

with 
lab 
components 
if 
remote 

learning continues. She feels that this 

semester has helped her work on her 

weaknesses as a student.

“I’m 
learning 
to 
be 
more 

independent with how I get my work 

done and be on my own clock,” Sherr 

said. “I’m setting time management 

skills and setting my own routine … 

and learning how to communicate 

better with my peers.”

McKay 
echoed 
this 
sentiment. 

He wrote students should see their 

responses to this challenge as a 

success. 

“As the end of this term approaches, 

we hope you will be proud of all 

you’ve done to help the community 

get through this, know that this is a 

term we will all always remember, and 

be prepared to continue to help the 

University, our many communities, 

and the world work through this 

pandemic,” McKay wrote.

Daily Staff Reporter Ayse Eldes can 

be reached at aeldes@umich.edu.

“I will do my best to continue to be a conduit of 

communication between the University and the 

city and also to put pressure on the University,” 

Disch said. “I think that the first kinds of things 

I would like to do as a member of City Council is 

to take the pieces of that plan that we can enact 

without spending enormous amounts of money 

and enact them.” 

Linh Song, Democrat for Ward 2

Song is a University alum and lecturer in 

the School of Social Work. She was appointed 

executive director of the Ann Arbor Public 

Schools Educational Foundation, a nonprofit 

organization that works to distribute funds to 

area public schools, in 2014. 

Song said it is important to look at models of 

development across the country when looking 

for affordable housing solutions.

“For me, I stayed here because my 

neighborhood is a family,” Song said. “We 

would all benefit from a bigger, familiar, bigger 

neighborhood. We should welcome folks here. 

And I think we should think creatively and not 

have to rely on developers to fund the work.”

When discussing student voting, Song said 

important public policies come from the people 

within a community. She said she hopes student 

voter turnout increases in the coming years, 

specifically in local elections.

“This is where elected officials are accountable 

to the voices of not just complaints and really 

narrow issues advanced but actually formulating 

them,” Song said. “So I’d hope for greater student 

participation on all levels of local government. 

More students should be at the table, deciding 

Ann Arbor’s future.” 

Travis Radina, Democrat for Ward 3

Radina, who is president of the Jim Toy 

Community Center and the LGBTQ liaison to 

the mayor’s office, said he hopes to be an agent 

for change for affordability issues in Ann Arbor. 

He said he believes political leaders should 

be careful in their use of the term NIMBY, 

meaning “Not In My Backyard,” which refers to 

residents who oppose proposed housing or parks 

development in areas close to where they reside. 

“While I do believe there is widespread public 

consensus in support of smart growth and 

density here in our community and I believe that 

an anti-growth mentality would harm our city’s 

future, I don’t believe that all of our neighbors 

who voice concerns about specific development 

projects are motivated by so-called NIMBYism,” 

Radina said. 

Radina said he thinks the city’s budget 

solutions should be creative so Ann Arbor is 

able to maintain a commitment to providing 

basic services while also avoiding layoffs and 

preventing 
outsourcing 
and 
privatization 

of work, especially following the COVID-19 

pandemic.

Radina is also a University alum and currently 

works as a senior global engagement manager at 

the University’s Alumni Association. During his 

time on campus, Radina was involved in College 

Democrats and said he participated in many 

political movements on campus. He addressed 

issues of gerrymandering in Ann Arbor. Radina 

said he remembered the student voice was 

broken up while he was a student when the ward 

system was introduced in 2015 and students 

found themselves split fairly evenly between five 

wards.

 “I think it’s really important for not only 

council members but candidates for council to 

continue participating in activities just like this 

one so that we continue to have open dialogue 

with students,” Radina said.

Evan Redmond, Democrat for Ward 3

Redmond, also a U-M alum, now works at a 

marketing analytics firm. He said he plans to 

focus a lot of his platform on climate change 

initiatives and on getting Ann Arbor to 100 

percent carbon neutrality in the future. 

“Climate change is key,” Redmond said. “Right 

now DTE is a huge obstacle blocking the city from 

getting 100 percent renewable energy, but what 

we can do is establish a publicly owned electric 

utility.” 

Redmond also talked about how he plans to 

get the University involved in his goals to get Ann 

Arbor to become carbon neutral and place it on 

100 percent renewable energy sources.

“As you know, the University is a state 

institution, so there’s little direct power that 

the Ann Arbor City Council can put on the 

University,” Redmond said. “We also know the