About

 

Fabric has been a large part of my family story dating back to my grandmother who was a sharecropper on a cotton farm in Arkansas. My mother worked at Angelica Image Apparel, a company that designed and distributed uniforms. So, maybe it was part of my destiny to become a fashion designer.

I first became interested in fashion design when I was in fourth grade. From picking out a suite to wear to church, or an outfit to wear to the skating rink, I enjoyed creating an outfit. In fifth grade, fashion became part of pop culture. It was important to wear certain brands to be fashion forward, but these brands were not accessible to my family, so I began to create clothing to fit into the culture around me.

At the age of twenty-two, I enrolled in the Illinois Institute of Art in Chicago. I had been designing clothes and making a profit for many years, but I knew that to be successful I needed to obtain more knowledge. My junior year, I received an internship as a pattern maker, and was hired full time at the end of my internship as a Pattern Maker. I advanced with the company five years before deciding to relocate to Saint Louis.

Once in Saint Louis, I joined a creative business incubator and market space, Create Space where I was able to grow my business in three years to the point of obtaining my own brick and mortar. Since acquiring our brick and mortar location on Cherokee Street in 2017, BVC has directly impacted over 300 families and individuals. This social impact has been accomplished through collaboration and partnerships with local non-profits and universities.

In 2020 and 2021 BVC partnered with Black Men Build to distribute 450 new coats to local families. BVC has employed twelve teens through the STL Youth Jobs Program. I have mentored and taught students at Revival School of the Arts, City Mission Collective and my alma mater sister school Atlanta Art Institute. I previously held the title of Director of Development for Create Space where we successfully launched 36 businesses in Saint Louis. I also personally serve as a board member of Lindenwood University Fashion Business & Design Advisory Board, City Mission Collective Advisory Council and am the Board Chair for the Cherokee Street CID.

I pride myself on the quality and creative nature of the work I do. I am most proud of the fifty-five costumes I recently designed for the musical production Wunderland, at the Center of Creative Arts. I also know that through the youth and community work I am engaged in, that lives are personally impacted by the engagement of BVC.