When it comes to the Austin fashion scene, Cheryl Bemis has probably seen it, covered it or talked about. And with the growth of Austin, there has been a lot of fashion news to share even when she was told there wasn’t any fashion to cover!
Cheryl became Austin’s first television fashion reporter in 1999 when a brand new 24-hour news station News 8 Austin came to town. She hosted and produced the weekly fashion segment which featured the growing industry from new fashion names like Kendra Scott to the South Congress eclectic fashion shows, and fashionable galas complete with the glitz and glam. The segment had a long run and Cheryl shared her stories on the tv station for more than five years.
There was still plenty to report on the fashion scene and with the growing internet, she knew the place to continue house the city’s fashion news was to launch her own fashion website. And in 2009 Fashionably Austin launched the same day as the first Austin Fashion Week.
While Cheryl’s fashion reporting is extensive in Austin, previously, Cheryl immersed herself in the fashion industry starting from her early days in college at Western Illinois University. In all, she has more than 25 years of retail and marketing experience excelling in sales and marketing with several national retailers.
While working in Dallas for the national retailer, Men’s Wearhouse, she mixed her love of fashion sales with video production. The founder, George Zimmer commissioned her to create the company’s first video explaining the topic of business casual dressing. The video was released nationally to its retail chain.
Cheryl was the first on-air personality for News 8 Austin to be recognized for her work by The Austin Chronicle; she was honored with the critic’s pick for “Best Fashion Coverage on Local TV.” She has also received an Austin Fashion Week Fashion Trailblazer Award.