UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Penn State College of Arts and Architecture alumna Rebecca Force has brought lessons learned on the West Coast back to Happy Valley. After a career in costume design, she has returned to her native State College and started her own brand marketing and creative consulting firm, Force and Company.
Force graduated from the School of Theatre in 2003 with a bachelor of arts in theater with a focus in costume design. She then went on to get her master of fine arts in theatrical production with a focus in costume design from Brandeis University.
After receiving her master’s degree, Force moved to New York to work as an assistant merchandiser while moonlighting as a costume designer for Off-Broadway productions. The trajectory of her career changed when she won a costume design contest with “Dancing with the Stars” in 2009.
“I truly believed I could win,” Force said. “Anybody in any group, club or church I’ve gone to, or any teachers I had in State College and my colleagues in New York, all voted for me, so I ended up winning America’s votes.”
Force moved to Los Angeles, and her career took off. She worked styling red carpets and on the costume teams of “Glee,” “Blackish” and "Community.”
While being more than 2,000 miles away, the lessons Force learned at Penn State stuck with her, she said.
“I got a reputation for working hard,” Force said. “What I really valued about my time at Penn State were the social skills I learned. We learned in our classes in Arts and Architecture that if you’re on time, you’re late, and if you’re early, you’re on time … so I got some really amazing opportunities.”
Those opportunities included working with actors Brad Pitt, Donald Glover and Chevy Chase, and having her style work featured in GQ, Time and People magazine. She also learned how to navigate the Hollywood costume design industry, she said.
“A colleague taught me that before your job ends, you have to get another job because, in costumes … until you build up a reputation where people know you and they call you, you have to find a way to get your own job,” Force said.
That advice has followed Force ever since, and now, she said, she wants to apply what she learned in Hollywood to her new career as a consultant in Happy Valley.
“I had a great job. I loved my career,” Force said. “I just didn’t love what it was going to do to my life in the future. I didn’t want to dedicate more time to work than I did to my family.”
Force decided to pursue her MBA at Penn State. Upon graduation in 2023, she worked remotely for a consulting company in Charlotte, North Carolina, until opening her own consulting firm this past October, based in State College.
“I really wanted to raise my daughter near family in a balanced, peaceful atmosphere,” Force said. “I love Penn State. It’s my second home.”