I grew up loving fashion. I was raised by a single mom who was a teacher and didn't have much money for clothes. Fashion took a back seat in our house as getting food on the table was my mother's first priority. I always received hand-me-downs from the neighbors' kids. I hated them because the fit was always wrong and they were outdated. So, I decided to rectify that by learning how to sew and altering the hand-me-downs to fit me and bring new life into them. After high school, I went to community college and earned an associate's degree in general education with a minor in business. I had no idea what I wanted to do and decided to move to California. It was there that I found the Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising, where I graduated with a degree in product design. I learned everything from CAD, sourcing, buying, technical design, and production. I moved back to the East Coast and started my career in New York City as an intern at Cynthia Rowley. Within two weeks, I went from an unpaid intern to a paid freelancer, and within three months, I became a full-time salaried employee. I started in production and technical design but was pulled into design by the designer. I excelled at graphics and print design and was involved in runway events, photo shoots, print design, technical design, and production. From there, I moved on to jobs in the mass market arena, working for companies like TJ Maxx, Macy's, Nordstrom, and Bloomingdale's. I learned how to make garments cost-effective. At my last company, I worked on my own line. I did everything at first, but eventually, the line grew to have assistants and a whole team for sales, fit, and production. I was involved in every meeting and had the final say over all of it. We grossed about 3 million a year. I have been in the industry for over 10 years and know the ins and outs of starting a new line.