Get Inside The Brand

I spent years sitting on a dream and watching others turn theirs into reality. After high school I spent 7 years elevating my education until I obtained my master’s degree in Business Administration.  Too afraid to color outside the lines, I became comfortable with structure and practicality. A year ago, my entire life came to a crashing halt in a matter of seconds. The images are still there. Glass flaring, sirens blasting, and pedestrians running. Not realizing it was all for me. As I look down at my body barricaded by the airbag. I immediately search for my phone, but I’m realizing my left wrist is not responsive and broken beyond use. Instantly the adrenalin from the crash came to a cease as I regain consciousness and began to feel every pain warranted from the crash.

Scared I was paralyzed, or physically impaired for life while being rushed to the hospital, I’m not knowing I just crashed into a new way of thinking that’d be forever change my life. It didn’t happen overnight; this earth-shattering event slumped my thoughts into dark places I never been to before. My normal routine became more daunting than ever before. I began to question everything I was ever taught or believed to be true. 

Slaving within the same four walls, clocking into the same meaningless job only to anticipate a 40-cent raise was demoralizing and ate me up inside. I found myself continuously complaining to coworkers, friends, family anyone who would listen because I couldn’t comprehend why my accolades were offering me the same position of those who only had a high school diploma. But more deeply not being able to accept the only separation of me and a higher position was the color of my skin. The unspoken segregation started as a whisper of kindness but began screaming truths. I knew the only way to the top was out.

My first steps required me to completely switch gears and channel this aggression into determination, so I decided to quit my 9-5 to focus solely on building my brand. I knew I had a story to tell that was relatable, and this could help pave my way into the fashion industry.

Just a black girl from Cleveland - one of the few predominantly black cities left- I have a deep-seated connection to black culture and what it symbolizes. I am the everyday black woman who endures stress, anxiety and fears of not being good enough. I’m seeking to create a clothing brand for us. A lot of brands don’t appeal to the everyday woman because they can't resonate with that struggle. Mainstream brands have attributed to our loss of identity by continuously diluting originality, making it ‘cool’ to look the same and simply manipulating a culture for us.

My goal is to reinvent what fashion means for the black community and rebirth our role in fashion. Existing in America we constantly battle with a loss of identity, forever judging ourselves through the lens of white America and amending what we view as acceptable and/or beautiful.  I plan to reclaim our culture and make the world feel it our way, from our perspective. Fashion for the culture, by the culture. Click sign up to subscribe with your email today and witness the experience!

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-Arielle your fave CEO, xo