Latest / The Dianne Dusaidi Podcast / Alima Bello on Designing Confidence: Building a Ghanaian Fashion Brand, Sustainability, and Motherhood

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Alima Bello on Designing Confidence: Building a Ghanaian Fashion Brand, Sustainability, and Motherhood · The Dianne Dusaidi Podcast

• 0:04
  SPEAKER_00: Welcome to the Diane Desidi Podcast.
• 0:07
  SPEAKER_00: Conversations at the intersection of strategy, culture, and purpose.
• 0:13
  SPEAKER_00: Each week, we explore the ideas, people, and systems shaping how we live, work, and lead across Africa and the world.
• 0:21
  SPEAKER_02: Today on the podcast, I'm joined by Alima Bello, Ghanaian designer, entrepreneur, and the founder of Alima Bello by Alima.
• 0:29
  SPEAKER_02: She likes to say she designs confidence, creating pieces that make women feel seen, celebrated, and unstoppable.
• 0:37
  SPEAKER_02: Alima has built more than a fashion label.
• 0:40
  SPEAKER_02: She's building a business and she's building a way of life.
• 0:44
  SPEAKER_02: In this conversation, we'll talk about creativity, the business of fashion, motherhood, resilience, and everything that it means to live fully.
• 1:01
  SPEAKER_03: Thank you, my dear friend.
• 1:03
  SPEAKER_03: Thank you for having me.
• 1:06
  SPEAKER_02: So you let's just get into it.
• 1:07
  SPEAKER_02: So you've said um your fashion company came about as a result of an expensive hobby.
• 1:14
  SPEAKER_02: How did you turn that into a real business?
• 1:18
  SPEAKER_03: I I had my interest, or it dawned on me that I actually wanted to pursue this as a career as far back as I think 2010, 2009, maybe 10.
• 1:31
  SPEAKER_03: And I would from about that time till I opened my store, that's the period I would always describe as a hobby because then I still had a full-time job.
• 1:39
  SPEAKER_03: I was, you know, taking care of clients asking when I would get their orders.
• 1:44
  SPEAKER_03: So it was when I decided, you know, I'm not going to pursue anything, but just focus in on this.
• 1:49
  SPEAKER_03: This was in, I think, when I made that decision.
• 1:53
  SPEAKER_03: And then 2017, I pushed the idea.
• 1:57
  SPEAKER_03: So um the first thing I did was to make sure, okay, what would it take?
• 2:03
  SPEAKER_03: I need a space for the business because it still existed.
• 2:07
  SPEAKER_03: I was working from home.
• 2:08
  SPEAKER_03: So when I when that light bulb moment came, like, okay, this is gonna be a full-time thing now.
• 2:13
  SPEAKER_03: It was put on your go, your big girl pants.
• 2:17
  SPEAKER_03: Um, you need to rent a space, production, full production, and for a retail store.
• 2:22
  SPEAKER_03: So that happened in 2017.
• 2:24
  SPEAKER_03: And I think with that huge expense came, you've got to make it work because you need to be able to pay for this.
• 2:31
  SPEAKER_03: So I would say that was how I turned this expensive hobby into um a career or into a business.
• 2:39
  SPEAKER_02: And when when people hear about the brand, um, it's that you've been known to say that you think of confidence.
• 2:47
  SPEAKER_02: What does uh confidence in what you wear really mean to you?
• 2:51
  SPEAKER_03: Confidence to me means you know who you are, you're happy in your skin, you're happy with whatever's happening, you're okay with whatever's happening in your life.
• 3:00
  SPEAKER_03: Not that you're content.
• 3:02
  SPEAKER_03: Well, you are content, not that you're not pursuing more, but you you know what contribution you give, whether it's to your workplace, whether it's to your relationship with your siblings or with a partner or with your friends, if you're raising a family, you know what contribution you bring to the table.
• 3:25
  SPEAKER_03: Um, you're happy to be there.
• 3:27
  SPEAKER_03: You're happy to lend a hand to people and be a pillar of support.
• 3:31
  SPEAKER_03: That's what confidence to me is.
• 3:35
  SPEAKER_03: Um, and it's got nothing to do with ego or you know, or being arrogant.
• 3:39
  SPEAKER_03: It's just knowing who you are, knowing what contribution you're putting out there in the areas where you want to put them, and doing so in such a way that you leave people um with some positive energy around them, like you're contributing to the growth of other people and making the world a better place.
• 3:59
  SPEAKER_03: That's that's what confidence to me is.
• 4:02
  SPEAKER_02: And you know, I just think of um whenever I'm walking out on the street, you can tell people who are confident, right?
• 4:09
  SPEAKER_02: It's not even necessarily about what they're wearing, it's about the way they walk and carry themselves.
• 4:14
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
• 4:15
  SPEAKER_02: And the same string to somebody wearing a beautiful outfit, and maybe it's slightly too short, so they're always pulling it down, or it's slightly too tight, so they're feeling uncomfortable in their is the way they wrap their hands around their stomach or something like that.
• 4:30
  SPEAKER_02: So I 100% agree.
• 4:32
  SPEAKER_02: I think it be starts with the person, and then it's about what you wear.
• 4:36
  SPEAKER_02: The Alima Bello brand is for that confident person.
• 4:40
  SPEAKER_02: You have to walk into that store confident, and then the clothes speak to you.
• 4:44
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, right.
• 4:45
  SPEAKER_02: Then you know it's the color, it's the shapes, it's the designs, it's all of that.
• 4:50
  SPEAKER_02: What was the first piece that you designed?
• 4:52
  SPEAKER_02: Did you realize that this was bigger than like a passion project?
• 5:00
  SPEAKER_03: Diane, what a difficult question and an interesting one.
• 5:03
  SPEAKER_03: Um honestly, I don't know, but then I remember.
• 5:11
  SPEAKER_03: So we have this popular dress called the Katie.
• 5:14
  SPEAKER_03: Uh-huh.
• 5:15
  SPEAKER_03: And the Katie came about a top that I was doing that had some two-layered capes.
• 5:22
  SPEAKER_03: A client came in, saw it.
• 5:24
  SPEAKER_03: She likes to wear short things, and she's like, Oh, this is really nice.
• 5:27
  SPEAKER_03: I could actually wear this as a dress.
• 5:29
  SPEAKER_03: And imagine if it was just a few inches, you know, longer.
• 5:32
  SPEAKER_03: I could get away with it as a dress.
• 5:34
  SPEAKER_03: And we did that as a dress.
• 5:36
  SPEAKER_03: So I added something to the bottom, and then she came for it.
• 5:40
  SPEAKER_03: And then I started getting phone calls.
• 5:42
  SPEAKER_03: People started coming into the store.
• 5:44
  SPEAKER_03: So this was even before the store officially opened, opened.
• 5:47
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 5:47
  SPEAKER_03: And they were like, okay, we saw X person X in this dress, we want it.
• 5:51
  SPEAKER_03: And then the next thing I um, and then somebody else came in and said, What about us?
• 5:56
  SPEAKER_03: Someone I'm like, you know, I'm a bit heavy on the chest, and so I really love it, but I don't want the two capes that are on there.
• 6:03
  SPEAKER_03: Can you take the cape off?
• 6:06
  SPEAKER_03: And when we did it, and then people would come for it.
• 6:10
  SPEAKER_03: Like, I couldn't, for the love of God, didn't I couldn't understand how one person could buy the Katie in multiple colors.
• 6:16
  SPEAKER_03: Like, we have clients who buy it in multiple colors.
• 6:20
  SPEAKER_03: So when in 2017 that happened, I'm like, god damn, like you actually did something, people want it and they want more of it in their wardrobe.
• 6:32
  SPEAKER_03: So that's when I actually saw a manifesto because I actually knew exactly what I wanted my what I wanted the brand to give or to serve in my community.
• 6:42
  SPEAKER_03: But then that Katie dress was a testament to that.
• 6:47
  SPEAKER_03: Like, okay, so a simple piece, very effortless.
• 6:51
  SPEAKER_03: And if a Katie's hanging, it doesn't look, there isn't much to look at when a KT's hanging on a rack or in a hang up, right?
• 7:02
  SPEAKER_03: It's when the person puts it on.
• 7:03
  SPEAKER_03: There's this thing about the KT dress where it's effortless, it's almost as if, oh, I'm dashing to the store, I ran out of sugar, or my gas got finished, I need to go down to the gas station to buy, to fill up my gas cylinder.
• 7:15
  SPEAKER_03: Let me put on something quickly.
• 7:17
  SPEAKER_03: And then I had people tell me all kinds of things.
• 7:20
  SPEAKER_03: And then people are telling me, oh, they're getting all kinds of compliments for a dress that is not form-fitting.
• 7:25
  SPEAKER_03: And you know how people feel about form-fitting clothes.
• 7:27
  SPEAKER_03: They seem to think when you wear a form-fitting dress, that's when you're like, you know, you're shouting, I'm confident, I'm confident.
• 7:33
  SPEAKER_03: But here is a loose, it's overly loose, loose dress with nothing to it, short.
• 7:40
  SPEAKER_03: Big sleeves with a big bottom, and then people are telling you, Oh, I'm getting all kinds of compliments.
• 7:46
  SPEAKER_03: People are stopping and asking me questions.
• 7:48
  SPEAKER_03: So people love the fact that I have pockets.
• 7:50
  SPEAKER_03: So in 2017, that's when I realized, oh, so when you have a basic piece in your wardrobe that you can use like multiple times, and you know, you can get all the compliments, and people are asking you for girls.
• 8:03
  SPEAKER_03: Like, okay, so that's it.
• 8:04
  SPEAKER_03: It's like you're wearing maybe back in that day, uh, my day, maybe you're wearing something that you bought from Zara or from Mango, and people keep asking you about it.
• 8:14
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, it felt like that.
• 8:16
  SPEAKER_02: First of all, can I just say love and dress with pockets?
• 8:20
  SPEAKER_02: Any dress with pockets is a dress for me personally.
• 8:23
  SPEAKER_02: Pockets are always yeah, yeah, yeah.
• 8:27
  SPEAKER_02: But I agree with you.
• 8:28
  SPEAKER_02: Pockets are very necessary.
• 8:30
  SPEAKER_02: Very necessary.
• 8:31
  SPEAKER_02: So you've described fashion as a language.
• 8:33
  SPEAKER_02: I love that.
• 8:34
  SPEAKER_02: Clearly, it's your love language.
• 8:37
  SPEAKER_02: Um, what's the first time you felt an outfit actually spoke to you for you?
• 8:42
  SPEAKER_02: Like you you wore it and you walked in, people were like, Oh, I know exactly who she is.
• 8:47
  SPEAKER_03: And after that, I was wearing or somebody wearing it?
• 8:50
  SPEAKER_02: Either, either yourself or something that you saw.
• 8:53
  SPEAKER_03: Um, hmm.
• 8:55
  SPEAKER_03: So let me tell you, one of the things I like to do, I people watch.
• 8:58
  SPEAKER_03: I like to people watch when I go to, like, you know, when I go out for events and stuff.
• 9:02
  SPEAKER_03: So when people who don't know me would always say, Oh, well, always come and ask, Oh, are you okay?
• 9:07
  SPEAKER_03: You seem quiet.
• 9:08
  SPEAKER_03: And I always watch how people carry themselves and the outfits that they are in, right?
• 9:14
  SPEAKER_03: So very early on, um, and I always share the story where when I was in university, if you had asked me if I'd go to end up in fashion, I would have said no.
• 9:24
  SPEAKER_03: I never thought about it.
• 9:25
  SPEAKER_03: But then I realized, looking back now, I realized that whenever my sister and I would travel and come back on vacation and come back, people would always ask us, are you guys sure you were in the UK like the rest of us?
• 9:36
  SPEAKER_03: Because the pieces that you're wearing are quite different.
• 9:39
  SPEAKER_03: Like, you know.
• 9:40
  SPEAKER_03: So that's when I realized, okay, so people actually watch the way you dress and put you in a setting category.
• 9:53
  SPEAKER_03: As to what I wore personally and realized was a language, I think it was just, you know, little um people asking these kind of questions just by judging from the things that I would choose to buy or or wear.
• 10:09
  SPEAKER_03: And I might not, I might not be in the brightest color.
• 10:13
  SPEAKER_03: I I like to wear black all the time, but amazingly, today I'm in a white shirt.
• 10:17
  SPEAKER_03: Um, I like to wear oversized clothes.
• 10:20
  SPEAKER_03: People would always say, Well, why are you always wearing oversized clothes for the kind of body that you have?
• 10:25
  SPEAKER_03: So, but then I would still get my compliments.
• 10:29
  SPEAKER_03: Oh, we know you're untouchable, we know you're unstoppable, we know you're confident from the clothes that I wear.
• 10:36
  SPEAKER_03: Um, but then when I'm people watching, I realize I'm also looking for those same qualities.
• 10:42
  SPEAKER_03: So the people I'm watching might not necessarily be in pieces that I've designed.
• 10:46
  SPEAKER_03: I mean, I couldn't maybe I wouldn't even know them, but it's just how they're carrying themselves.
• 10:51
  SPEAKER_03: Are they pulling their skirts down because they feel like it's you know riding up?
• 10:54
  SPEAKER_03: Are they like, you know, trying to pull up the top because maybe it's showing too much cleavage?
• 10:58
  SPEAKER_03: Is it like you know, body hugging?
• 11:00
  SPEAKER_03: Is it overly loose?
• 11:01
  SPEAKER_03: How are they carrying themselves?
• 11:02
  SPEAKER_03: Like, are they able to you know walk smoothly in the room, you know, be able to have conversations, like conversations?
• 11:09
  SPEAKER_03: Um, so yeah, those are the things that I look out for, I look out for, but hmm, as to one particular, no one story comes to mind as to I saw somebody and something and and said, ooh, she's confident.
• 11:23
  SPEAKER_03: It comes to me.
• 11:24
  SPEAKER_03: I do that every day.
• 11:26
  SPEAKER_03: I do that, I do that every day, trust me.
• 11:28
  SPEAKER_02: Unfortunately, I'm not wearing one of your pieces.
• 11:30
  SPEAKER_02: This is a very basic uh T, but it's purple, it's lilac, and I wore it for you, and I'll tell you the story why.
• 11:37
  SPEAKER_02: So we have a friend uh you get, and there was a time she was uh was she at a wedding?
• 11:42
  SPEAKER_02: I don't know, she was somewhere and she wore a beautiful purple dress that you had designed for her, and that just the internet ablaze.
• 11:50
  SPEAKER_02: And I was like, Where did you get that dress?
• 11:52
  SPEAKER_02: Who is it by?
• 11:53
  SPEAKER_02: Then I ended up moving to Ghana and she introduced us, and I went to the store, and of course, I became a customer and favorite, but it oh every time I see purple or lilac, uh you know, the purple family, I remember you uh because it's just so feminine, right?
• 12:11
  SPEAKER_02: It was so feminine.
• 12:12
  SPEAKER_02: So when I think of the Alima Bello brand, I think of a feminine, comfortable, well-custred tailored um clothing.
• 12:21
  SPEAKER_02: So today I was like, what am I gonna wear for her?
• 12:23
  SPEAKER_02: And I was like, This is sorry, it's a basic T.
• 12:38
  SPEAKER_03: I think I remember that dress you guys wore, such a beautiful dress.
• 12:41
  SPEAKER_03: Once again, it's a very, it's a very simple silhouette, like you know, if it's hanging, and I think for most of the pieces that I design, um, it lets you imagine because you're not gonna see when it's hanging there, it could just hang there and look like, okay, like you know, it's just draping onto the floor, or you can't really tell how form-fitting it could be.
• 13:08
  SPEAKER_03: But then I think I remember that dress very well that um Hughes wore, the purple dress that you're referring to.
• 13:13
  SPEAKER_03: It's um it's a fit and flare dress with a very simple classic um dart line and some balloon sleeves, very flattery.
• 13:23
  SPEAKER_03: Definitely will get people to turn their heads when you walk by.
• 13:26
  SPEAKER_03: And that's what I always want our pieces to do for the woman.
• 13:31
  SPEAKER_03: I don't want the I never want the dress to define you.
• 13:35
  SPEAKER_03: The dress is just to add on to who you are.
• 13:38
  SPEAKER_03: So you then decide, okay, this looks very simple.
• 13:40
  SPEAKER_03: Do I want to go simple or do I want to add accessories to it today, or do I not want to add a bold lip?
• 13:46
  SPEAKER_03: So our dresses always have to serve, or the the idea is for that dresses to serve as a blank canvas for the woman.
• 13:54
  SPEAKER_03: And then talk about you get she's very confident in who she is, she's confident, she's happy.
• 13:59
  SPEAKER_03: You will, she doesn't make a lot of noise when she walks into a room, but you will know her, you will notice her.
• 14:04
  SPEAKER_03: So I hope she understands.
• 14:06
  SPEAKER_02: Yes, we make out to her afterwards.
• 14:09
  SPEAKER_02: If we can, uh if she'll allow me to add a picture so people can see what we're referencing, I'll I'll reach out to her.
• 14:14
  SPEAKER_03: Yes, yes, I think so.
• 14:15
  SPEAKER_03: I think it would be sweet.
• 14:16
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, I think it'll be nice so that people could see what we're referencing here, and um um it's for such moments why I like what I do, like you know, so it leaving such a lasting impression on you, and that you remember because this dress you're talking about, this dress is from 2022, probably, yeah.
• 14:33
  SPEAKER_03: And she's and she's worn so many other pieces from from my brand since, but then for that to stick in your mind, see these are the things, and these are the stories I like to hear.
• 14:44
  SPEAKER_02: It was the introduction um to of you to me, uh of the brand to me, and I remember someone else.
• 14:50
  SPEAKER_02: I can't remember you did a dress for me that I wore to a wedding, and then uh I showed pictures to friends, and they're like, You got your gets designer to to make you something, and I was like, Now you get branding, this whole brand ambassador.
• 15:05
  SPEAKER_02: I don't even know, but I love it.
• 15:12
  SPEAKER_02: Um, you know, you know, I'm a fan.
• 15:13
  SPEAKER_02: So okay, let's do beginning.
• 15:15
  SPEAKER_02: So then you start, you get inspired, you do this for real, you start a store, business administration degree.
• 15:23
  SPEAKER_02: So you didn't study fashion, right?
• 15:25
  SPEAKER_02: You didn't no, no, so what so you really let's talk about the business of fashion and how because I think people the glitz and the glamour, and they're like, oh dresses.
• 15:35
  SPEAKER_02: Um, but tell us a bit about the background.
• 15:38
  SPEAKER_02: How does it actually work?
• 15:39
  SPEAKER_02: What are the pain points?
• 15:41
  SPEAKER_02: Uh and the oh my gosh, what up pain points?
• 15:45
  SPEAKER_03: So many pain points, my love.
• 15:47
  SPEAKER_03: So, for example, that today could be an issue with production, tomorrow it could be cash flow.
• 15:53
  SPEAKER_03: So, for example, right now, we're uh we're in the middle, we've been in the middle of a storm.
• 15:58
  SPEAKER_03: The storm had been brewing from last year, and I know you've we've spoken about this, or I've told you, where, for example, we I got a shocking news.
• 16:07
  SPEAKER_03: We had to we got evicted from our space after occupying for I think eight years.
• 16:15
  SPEAKER_03: Um, we got evicted on a very short notice.
• 16:18
  SPEAKER_03: Um, I got told in September they even wanted me to move out in November, barely three months after they told me.
• 16:24
  SPEAKER_03: But then I stayed on till my rent expired in May, and then we're in a new space, which we're still not even done with the space.
• 16:30
  SPEAKER_03: So doing that space and now having to put together a collection because September, October, we always launch a collection.
• 16:40
  SPEAKER_03: And cash flow issues, that's a pain point.
• 16:44
  SPEAKER_03: So having to then try and set up a studio space, which I didn't budget for, because that's a huge capital investment that you need to like, you know, budget for.
• 16:55
  SPEAKER_03: It wasn't budgeted for, but now we are we're where we are.
• 16:58
  SPEAKER_03: We need to like, you know, set up the space.
• 17:00
  SPEAKER_03: Money that's going into setting up the new space could have gone into putting together a new collection.
• 17:05
  SPEAKER_03: But nonetheless, God is good.
• 17:07
  SPEAKER_03: We've got the space, we're working on it, we're doing a new collection.
• 17:11
  SPEAKER_03: You have to buy fabrics.
• 17:13
  SPEAKER_03: So some of the you know, the back-end issues, like back of the restaurant kind of kitchen issues that you would have, you now have to source your fabrics.
• 17:22
  SPEAKER_03: I source my fabrics locally, which means I'm utilizing local suppliers, and that that was one of our main like values, trying to make sure that we're trying to create a virtual cycle of money going around.
• 17:36
  SPEAKER_03: So when I go and take the fabrics, the suppliers are giving me three months credit.
• 17:41
  SPEAKER_03: Um, I best I can have it for one month, right?
• 17:44
  SPEAKER_03: Get the pieces, do my um patterns, samples, do a do a photo shoot, marketing um team is now having to put together, you know, whatever collateral that they need to like put together for Aston Market, hoping to launch what two months after we start the like initial process, that's a lot of money and a lot of headache.
• 18:10
  SPEAKER_03: So if somebody is not privy to how the fashion industry works and they come in trying to work with you, thinking that it looks so glossy, like you know, turning your vogue pages or how lovely it looks on Instagram, during this period, you are gonna go crazy, you will lose your mind because there's a lot of money pouring into something that's not gonna give you money until maybe month three or month four.
• 18:36
  SPEAKER_03: So that's one issue.
• 18:38
  SPEAKER_03: And then another issue, we have a small atelier in our studio.
• 18:43
  SPEAKER_03: So as soon as I have an idea, I have a team that's working on the idea for me.
• 18:47
  SPEAKER_03: We're doing it all the way to sample.
• 18:49
  SPEAKER_03: Sometimes we even do our own small batch production if we're not utilizing third parties.
• 18:54
  SPEAKER_03: So if you're then coming into coming to get like, you know, a back-end kind of view to that, it's not always pleasant because your people are sampling, you're not happy with the samples.
• 19:07
  SPEAKER_03: I'm a creative, I'm always thinking of something to do.
• 19:09
  SPEAKER_03: So if I tell you to do something for me now and I don't see it in a few hours, best believe I've changed my mind.
• 19:15
  SPEAKER_03: We're working on something else.
• 19:17
  SPEAKER_03: So it's like people are trying to catch up, and that's not always nice.
• 19:20
  SPEAKER_03: Like, you know, it's not always nice.
• 19:22
  SPEAKER_03: Then you're trying to do a photo shoot, then you're trying to, like, you know, um, also liaise with photography, videography, models, makeup, hair.
• 19:31
  SPEAKER_03: The network, it can get messy, it can get tiring.
• 19:34
  SPEAKER_03: So you can, it's almost like you've opened your safari page on your laptop and you have like a thousand tabs open.
• 19:45
  SPEAKER_03: Um that's why that's how most of the time it looks.
• 19:49
  SPEAKER_03: There's never a dull moment because as we're pushing this collection right now, I actually have a meeting next week discussing my collection for February, March.
• 20:02
  SPEAKER_03: So it's it's always moving, it's like that.
• 20:04
  SPEAKER_02: It's like that.
• 20:06
  SPEAKER_02: So you always have to be quick.
• 20:07
  SPEAKER_02: Okay, so let's go in the phase.
• 20:08
  SPEAKER_02: So, in terms of the lot in the location, so when you moved, did you so did you buy a new place?
• 20:16
  SPEAKER_02: Did you build a place?
• 20:17
  SPEAKER_02: Did you are you renting with other creators?
• 20:19
  SPEAKER_03: We're renting, we're renting, we're renting a new space because, like I said, this threw us off course.
• 20:27
  SPEAKER_03: Um, I had a different kind of arrangement with my previous landlord where after the 10-year lease, we were going to renew our 10-year lease and we're going to go into some sort of arrangement um to do some joint venture.
• 20:40
  SPEAKER_03: So I wasn't thinking of going to build anywhere else.
• 20:43
  SPEAKER_03: I didn't create a budget for it.
• 20:45
  SPEAKER_03: Um, so we're in a new space now.
• 20:46
  SPEAKER_03: We also have another 10-year lease um with with that property owner.
• 20:52
  SPEAKER_03: And I guess the takeaway from that experience, and I shared this with a lot of people, that as a Ghanaian creative or a Ghanaian business owner, at some point you need to think about owning your own space because the rental game, it switches up, it can switch up on you anytime.
• 21:12
  SPEAKER_03: Anytime.
• 21:13
  SPEAKER_03: And then you can't you can't control it all the time.
• 21:16
  SPEAKER_02: In Ghana, is there um like a workspace for creatives where instead of renting out, um, you have like a manufacturing spot that does all of your different garments, or uh if it comes to marketing, there's studio spaces.
• 21:32
  SPEAKER_02: Um, is there any like co-creation, co-working space available for creatives in particular?
• 21:38
  SPEAKER_03: For they I I've come across a few for for for our kind of business.
• 21:44
  SPEAKER_03: I think I've seen a few, I've come across a few businesses that have um, I haven't used used them.
• 21:51
  SPEAKER_03: I don't know anybody who's personally used them, so I can't vouch for them.
• 21:55
  SPEAKER_03: But then I've I've come across a few businesses where they have like workstation.
• 22:00
  SPEAKER_03: Even for fashion, they have workstations where you can actually use for marketing.
• 22:05
  SPEAKER_03: I guess your good will be um there are studios that you can rent for your photo for your photo shoots.
• 22:10
  SPEAKER_03: I I've used um commercial photo studios before.
• 22:14
  SPEAKER_03: That does exist.
• 22:16
  SPEAKER_03: Um so yeah, it does exist, but then for manufacturing, um, I also know of one establishment, um, a third-party does production, and they did say that they had space that they could rent out that people could actually use for like, you know, manufacture their actual manufacturing.
• 22:33
  SPEAKER_03: But like I said, I haven't utilized it.
• 22:36
  SPEAKER_03: I don't know of any business that has to utilize any of these services, so I can't vouch for it.
• 22:40
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, because I'm just thinking if you're a young creative, or if you're new to the game and you don't have the resources to even do a 10-year lease, right?
• 22:49
  SPEAKER_02: Or they don't even trust that you'll still be in business in 10 years because you're new and you don't have a an established brand.
• 22:55
  SPEAKER_02: Like, where do you start?
• 22:56
  SPEAKER_02: Do you just start in your kitchen, in your backyard, you know?
• 23:00
  SPEAKER_02: Um, like where do we because the creative industries are growing.
• 23:04
  SPEAKER_02: It's really an industry in Africa across the board.
• 23:08
  SPEAKER_02: And I think that question comes up a lot, especially in the you know, my day-to-day work, about where are the workspaces, right?
• 23:16
  SPEAKER_02: Where are the workspaces uh for these young people?
• 23:18
  SPEAKER_02: How can they really get out there?
• 23:20
  SPEAKER_02: Um, I'm glad to hear that Ghana has at least one option, um, and hopefully somebody uses it soon so we can get feedback on that.
• 23:27
  SPEAKER_03: Um then I think, not to interrupt, but I think as a young creative starting, you could always leverage, you could always start, you know, having a relationship with established brands because you never know what could work in your favor.
• 23:42
  SPEAKER_03: Um I've loaned my studio space.
• 23:47
  SPEAKER_03: It wasn't a startup, it was a well-established brand from Nigeria.
• 23:50
  SPEAKER_03: She had come to Ghana, she was working with some manufacturers.
• 23:53
  SPEAKER_03: She needed space to cut up her patents.
• 23:55
  SPEAKER_03: I I gave her my space for her to cut up her patterns.
• 23:58
  SPEAKER_03: So I think I would advise young creatives, have relationships because you'll never know what you can get.
• 24:06
  SPEAKER_03: Have relationships with established brands that you think you know resonate with, maybe the values that you have and leverage on it, because you may never know.
• 24:17
  SPEAKER_03: Somebody could actually loan you their patent cutting table.
• 24:20
  SPEAKER_03: And then they could even loan you their cutter, like you know, you could pay the person with whatever agreement.
• 24:27
  SPEAKER_03: So I would say even if there are in commercial spaces being rented out for these purposes, just by, you know, um working on a relationship and establish a relationship with a brand or a designer, you could get some of these things.
• 24:43
  SPEAKER_03: And I totally agree with you.
• 24:44
  SPEAKER_03: As a starter, you really shouldn't even put your funds into this, like you know, equipment or hiring of people.
• 24:53
  SPEAKER_03: I think the key things that you need, you need your your somebody to do your patterns for you if you're not doing your patterns yourself.
• 25:00
  SPEAKER_03: You need someone to cut your pattern for you if the pattern maker is not cutting the pattern, and you need somebody to do your samples for you.
• 25:05
  SPEAKER_03: So you can literally hop from one end to the other and get all these people to do this for you, but then start now, like you know, start establishing the relationship so you know who's good at what.
• 25:18
  SPEAKER_02: So you know, gonna have um like a like a like a fashion chamber or an association or uh an informal network that young people or you know people interested in the sector just starting out or even established brands can come to and you know you discuss issues and you lobby policy and all of that.
• 25:39
  SPEAKER_03: There are there are associations.
• 25:44
  SPEAKER_03: Once again, I can't speak on those associations because I do not participate in those associations.
• 25:50
  SPEAKER_03: Um, but it's funny that you say this right now.
• 25:54
  SPEAKER_03: So a very good friend of mine um who owns a PR agency and she's been working on the fashion space for a very long time, literally just launched a platform to do exactly what you're saying.
• 26:07
  SPEAKER_03: So trying to bring, you know, lobby for the industry and trying to bring creatives together, like you know, to help connect.
• 26:15
  SPEAKER_03: So the very thing that we're speaking about.
• 26:17
  SPEAKER_03: So let's just say Diana, you decide to move to Ghana and then you decide to have a fashion label, but you don't, of course, don't want to, you know, use your money to go and buy a sewing machine, hire people because once again, you don't know if you're gonna be here in a year or two.
• 26:33
  SPEAKER_03: Um, so she's created a platform where you'll be able to connect to manufacturers who will be able to take low quantities for you, like you know, other quantities, industry-related um people to help you bring your dream, like you know, birth your dream and bring it to market.
• 26:51
  SPEAKER_03: So that I do know is being worked on now.
• 26:54
  SPEAKER_03: There are associations, different, different kinds of associations, formal and informal.
• 26:59
  SPEAKER_03: Um, as to whether they're driving policy change, I can't speak on that.
• 27:03
  SPEAKER_03: Um, but I do know you can there's a dressmakers association, you can actually go for their directory and perhaps find somebody that you can work with as to whether you're going to be aligned, values are going to be aligned.
• 27:14
  SPEAKER_03: I really can't tell because I haven't utilized it.
• 27:17
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 27:18
  SPEAKER_02: That's it's good to know that that there's some things that exist and there are some other networks that did as well.
• 27:24
  SPEAKER_02: Because really in any industry, it's about connections, right?
• 27:27
  SPEAKER_02: As you said, it's relationships, yeah, and you have to build those relationships over time.
• 27:32
  SPEAKER_02: So I want to go back to building a business, really.
• 27:36
  SPEAKER_02: So we've talked about the location.
• 27:38
  SPEAKER_02: Let's talk a little bit about a team, right?
• 27:40
  SPEAKER_02: So you have the business administration background, but you're a creative as well.
• 27:45
  SPEAKER_02: And uh, I know creatives are are very interesting people because your your mind is fast, you're in the future, right?
• 27:53
  SPEAKER_02: So the people you work with, as you said, they have to keep up, especially as your mind keeps changing.
• 28:00
  SPEAKER_02: So, how do you hire?
• 28:02
  SPEAKER_02: How do you fire?
• 28:03
  SPEAKER_02: How do you make sure that they're really aligned with your values as a brand, but also as a person?
• 28:07
  SPEAKER_02: Because at the end of the day, it's people that manage these brands, right?
• 28:10
  SPEAKER_02: So, how do you find your team?
• 28:14
  SPEAKER_02: You know what?
• 28:15
  SPEAKER_03: Uh finding the right team, I don't even think, I'm not sure if I've found, like, you know, the magic equation to that.
• 28:25
  SPEAKER_03: But there's seven key things that I look out for.
• 28:29
  SPEAKER_03: So we've been hiring, we've been hiring since May.
• 28:33
  SPEAKER_03: Um, hiring, firing, people going, still hiring.
• 28:36
  SPEAKER_03: We've been going through that since May since we relocated to the new um space.
• 28:41
  SPEAKER_03: And then I also want I've gotten to a point where I feel like I need to let go of certain responsibility so I can focus on the creative and focus on the the path for the company.
• 28:54
  SPEAKER_03: So one thing that stays with me at all times, because I I don't even have a formula for my interviews, I need to, I need to, by the time by within two minutes of talking to you, you need to come across as somebody who's inquisitive.
• 29:09
  SPEAKER_03: You have to be very curious.
• 29:12
  SPEAKER_03: If you're not curious, then it means we can't we can't work together.
• 29:16
  SPEAKER_03: If you're not curious, then it means you're not seeking knowledge.
• 29:20
  SPEAKER_03: And I I I always tell my team members that I want you to come to me with questions.
• 29:24
  SPEAKER_03: So one of the very first things I will do is as soon as you're like, you know, of course, I always ask like questions for for the person to like the applicant to relax and we get into the groove of the interview.
• 29:35
  SPEAKER_03: But then if I ask questions like, you know, I was probably asking a question about my brand, like, did you do your research?
• 29:42
  SPEAKER_03: Because I do know that the agency gave you our profile.
• 29:45
  SPEAKER_03: Like, what do you think?
• 29:47
  SPEAKER_03: What do you think about this?
• 29:48
  SPEAKER_03: What do you think about that?
• 29:49
  SPEAKER_03: If I'm not getting any kind of feedback or oh, I just researched you last night, okay.
• 29:54
  SPEAKER_03: So you mean you're not a curious type.
• 29:57
  SPEAKER_03: Um, if you're not coming to me with questions, with sending keywords, because if you've been on our social media page and our websites, there's sending keywords that should be coming across.
• 30:05
  SPEAKER_03: Off cats, sustainable fashion, you know, on-demand production.
• 30:10
  SPEAKER_03: If you're not hitting me with these questions or engaging me with these things, then it means you're just looking for a nine to five.
• 30:18
  SPEAKER_03: And I'm not looking for somebody who's trying to fill the nine to five.
• 30:22
  SPEAKER_03: You need to let me know that you're curious about the industry that you're coming in.
• 30:27
  SPEAKER_03: And then also, whatever it is or whatever role that you're filling in or even applying for, I need to know that it's part of your long-term plan for something that you want for yourself.
• 30:39
  SPEAKER_03: And I always ask people, like, you know, what do you want for yourself?
• 30:42
  SPEAKER_03: Like, what are you trying to do?
• 30:43
  SPEAKER_03: I've stopped interviews where the when the person is telling me about their career path, I'm like, but then you're in the wrong industry and you're in the wrong company.
• 30:52
  SPEAKER_03: I will not serve you, I will not help you propel you to that.
• 30:57
  SPEAKER_03: So why don't you just go and focus on that?
• 30:59
  SPEAKER_03: I know you need a job, but then trust me, if you if I was to hire you today, it would frustrate you because this is of no interest to you.
• 31:08
  SPEAKER_03: So these are the two things.
• 31:10
  SPEAKER_02: I'm sure they take I'm sure they take that rough, uh, but that you're doing them a great service.
• 31:16
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, well, I hope so.
• 31:18
  SPEAKER_03: But then, but then Diane, I've been in this for quite some time.
• 31:22
  SPEAKER_03: Like, who are we kidding?
• 31:23
  SPEAKER_03: Let's not waste each other's time.
• 31:25
  SPEAKER_03: You know what I mean?
• 31:26
  SPEAKER_03: Even if you want to come work with me for a year, it should be a year of you pouring out and you soaking in so much that when you walk away and you decide to go be like, you know, a scuba diver, you're applying what you learned from me in your scuba diving.
• 31:43
  SPEAKER_03: Do you know what I mean?
• 31:44
  SPEAKER_03: But then if I don't get that, if I don't get that kind of feedback from you within the first two minutes that we are seated, uh, for weeking.
• 31:53
  SPEAKER_03: And I'm sure energy plays a role, right?
• 31:57
  SPEAKER_03: Completely.
• 31:58
  SPEAKER_03: I like to, and I'm really big on energy.
• 32:00
  SPEAKER_03: I am really, really big on energy because I would have if you have the wrong energy and you got the job, you were not gonna get any kind of interaction with me.
• 32:13
  SPEAKER_03: And what good would that be?
• 32:15
  SPEAKER_02: No, you love energy because you're a Scorpio like me.
• 32:17
  SPEAKER_02: So we have energy.
• 32:19
  SPEAKER_02: I feed up an energy, I'm really big on energy.
• 32:22
  SPEAKER_02: It's all about the vibe, like you can be the smartest person, but if the vibe is off, the energy is off.
• 32:27
  SPEAKER_03: Yep, and let me tell you, in interviews that I didn't conduct where the person has been hired, I always tell my next in command, oh, this person will not last.
• 32:38
  SPEAKER_03: And lo and behold, a month or two into it, we're like, you know, trying to like you know have a meeting, and then I'll be told, Oh, yeah, you were right.
• 32:46
  SPEAKER_03: This person was was not a good fit.
• 32:48
  SPEAKER_03: We have to we we had to let them go even be before their you know their um what do we even call it?
• 32:55
  SPEAKER_03: Um the initials, yeah, was even over.
• 33:00
  SPEAKER_03: Because I I can always tell when the energy is misplaced, mm-mm.
• 33:03
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, and how much is how much of uh like knowledge versus tenacity?
• 33:11
  SPEAKER_02: Like how much do they need to know beforehand or how much can they learn on the job?
• 33:16
  SPEAKER_03: Listen, I don't even I don't even need you to know a thing about fashion.
• 33:25
  SPEAKER_03: All am I want is somebody who's curious.
• 33:33
  SPEAKER_03: If you're curious, you're gonna be doing your Googles, or maybe in their case, do your research, you know, you will catch up, you will catch up.
• 33:40
  SPEAKER_03: You don't have to worry about some fast, of course.
• 33:43
  SPEAKER_03: If you're going to work in the production department, then you need the requisite skills to be in the um production department.
• 33:50
  SPEAKER_03: But if you're coming to front of office, like you're gonna help with operations, you're gonna help with admin, you're gonna help with retail.
• 33:56
  SPEAKER_03: I just need dedication, I just need curiosity, like an inquisitive mind.
• 34:00
  SPEAKER_03: Are you reading?
• 34:01
  SPEAKER_03: Are you researching?
• 34:03
  SPEAKER_03: Are you are you fast on your feet, like picking up on keywords that are being used, like you know, and then there are these values that I live by.
• 34:12
  SPEAKER_03: And those same values are are part of the values of the company and values that my operations manager has or my retail has.
• 34:23
  SPEAKER_03: So if you don't show those kind of values, it will be very difficult.
• 34:27
  SPEAKER_03: You're not gonna be aligned.
• 34:29
  SPEAKER_03: It's gonna be very difficult.
• 34:31
  SPEAKER_03: So that's all I need.
• 34:32
  SPEAKER_03: I don't need you to come to me, and then also mind you, where I'm in Ghana, how many marketing or retailers ex am I gonna meet that have experience in fashion in the kind of way that we want to do it?
• 34:45
  SPEAKER_03: But I just want somebody who's like, you know, even if you're not exposed, just be willing to open up your mind, to soak in, and you know, but also be quick on your feet and learning and adapting.
• 34:57
  SPEAKER_03: But if you're not, if you're not gonna be agile, you're not gonna be able to work in the fashion industry, or at least in my company.
• 35:04
  SPEAKER_03: You have to be very agile.
• 35:08
  SPEAKER_02: You have to be agile in every industry, you know.
• 35:12
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, how much of the team is in-house and how much of it is um is outsourced?
• 35:17
  SPEAKER_02: Um, is production outsourced, for example, marketing, or is everything in-house?
• 35:23
  SPEAKER_03: Production, I'll say 30% of production is outsourced, still in Ghana.
• 35:29
  SPEAKER_03: Um, marketing, communications, that's outsourced.
• 35:33
  SPEAKER_03: Um retail management, that's outsourced.
• 35:38
  SPEAKER_03: So these two things we don't have the capacity to um hire in-house.
• 35:43
  SPEAKER_03: So we're using a third-party company to do our communications and our marketing.
• 35:48
  SPEAKER_03: Then we have another company with um that's managing retail, like doing retail management, like you know, trying to find us in the right places to do if like you know, um to start stocking or even pop-ups and stuff like that.
• 36:02
  SPEAKER_03: That's that's that's not in-house.
• 36:04
  SPEAKER_03: So that's also been outsourced.
• 36:06
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, and I think you know, it would be great to give advice to to business people, especially the ones on the come up, that you don't have to do everything.
• 36:16
  SPEAKER_02: Your business is creativity, you know, it doesn't necessarily mean that your business is logistics, right?
• 36:21
  SPEAKER_02: If you want to get your brand to somebody in another country, you don't have to become DHL, uh, right?
• 36:27
  SPEAKER_02: Just to be able to do that.
• 36:28
  SPEAKER_02: So I think you know, a lot of people want to do everything themselves.
• 36:32
  SPEAKER_02: You don't have the skill set or the finance or the time.
• 36:36
  SPEAKER_03: No, the time, it's it's mostly the time and also the skill, but then you should never outsource a job that you are not able to do yourself.
• 36:49
  SPEAKER_03: You should have some understanding, you know what I mean?
• 36:52
  SPEAKER_03: You should know that this should you should know some fundamentals and you should know what you're what it is that you're seeking from that department or that task before you outsource.
• 37:03
  SPEAKER_03: So I wouldn't say, oh, because you're you just started your fashion brand, um, immediately put all your money into marketing.
• 37:11
  SPEAKER_03: What is marketing going to communicate?
• 37:14
  SPEAKER_03: What is the end goal for marketing?
• 37:16
  SPEAKER_03: Where are they communicating at?
• 37:18
  SPEAKER_03: Like, where do you want them to show up?
• 37:20
  SPEAKER_03: Do you know how to use those mediums or those platforms?
• 37:24
  SPEAKER_03: Um, if it's retail management, you're talking about seeking retail relationships with um independent stockers.
• 37:31
  SPEAKER_03: Do you know how to reach them?
• 37:32
  SPEAKER_03: Do you know the stockers that you want to be stocked at?
• 37:35
  SPEAKER_03: Like if they were to ask you to bring in your line sheets and you know, and like you know, for them to place an order, do you know how to go about the process?
• 37:42
  SPEAKER_03: Do you know how, like, you know, how you're shipping?
• 37:45
  SPEAKER_03: Have some understanding of it.
• 37:47
  SPEAKER_03: I love what you're saying.
• 37:48
  SPEAKER_02: Don't be yeah, be a jack of all trades, like you need to understand the business from end to end, right?
• 37:54
  SPEAKER_02: Yep.
• 37:55
  SPEAKER_02: Work in silos.
• 37:57
  SPEAKER_02: You need to understand.
• 38:00
  SPEAKER_02: I wonder for you.
• 38:01
  SPEAKER_02: Um, do you ever get frustrated when you have a design in mind?
• 38:05
  SPEAKER_02: And maybe I'm sorry, I don't know the exact terminologies, but maybe like the pattern maker doesn't do it the way it is in your mind.
• 38:13
  SPEAKER_02: Do you end up just taking the sketch and doing it yourself?
• 38:17
  SPEAKER_03: No.
• 38:18
  SPEAKER_03: Number one, because I can't do that.
• 38:20
  SPEAKER_03: Because that's number one.
• 38:22
  SPEAKER_03: And yes, I do get frustrated because you know how you're communicating to somebody, right?
• 38:28
  SPEAKER_03: Oh, I want this, I want that.
• 38:29
  SPEAKER_03: It's like going to a restaurant and placing your order.
• 38:32
  SPEAKER_03: I want this, I want that.
• 38:34
  SPEAKER_03: Tell the chef this is how I want it.
• 38:35
  SPEAKER_03: And then they're nodding, and then it yeah, and they seem to be taking notes, right?
• 38:39
  SPEAKER_03: They seem to be taking notes.
• 38:40
  SPEAKER_03: They go back to the kitchen kitchen, and then in five minutes or ten minutes, they bring back the order and the order is wrong.
• 38:47
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, sometimes that happens.
• 38:49
  SPEAKER_03: And the frustration is can you just hurry up and let me see?
• 38:53
  SPEAKER_03: I want to see the physical manifestation of the thing that I dreamed of and sketched, and let's move on to the next stage.
• 39:00
  SPEAKER_03: Because I am always hopping onto something else.
• 39:04
  SPEAKER_03: So let's just hurry up and kick it.
• 39:06
  SPEAKER_03: Like, you know, let's keep it moving, let's keep the wheel moving.
• 39:09
  SPEAKER_03: Like, I dream of a day where in a day I can get to look at maybe 10 new samples.
• 39:15
  SPEAKER_03: Like, I have different people doing different things, or people are just coming to me with samples.
• 39:20
  SPEAKER_03: Because if you don't hurry up, and then, like I said, if you don't hurry up with it, and then next thing you know, I'm giving you another, there's another another assignment, but then we need to go back to assignment A because I need to see it.
• 39:32
  SPEAKER_03: Once I've dreamed it, I need to see it.
• 39:35
  SPEAKER_02: I used to get so frustrated with tailors, right?
• 39:38
  SPEAKER_02: I have friends and cousins that love tailoring, and I just I honestly truly do not enjoy the process because I'll have something in my head or something I've copied from the internet, whatever, right?
• 39:48
  SPEAKER_02: Like inspiration, pure copy.
• 39:52
  SPEAKER_02: But um, I'll take it to the tailor and then they'll say, Okay, come in two days.
• 39:57
  SPEAKER_02: I go in two days, it's completely not what I want.
• 39:59
  SPEAKER_02: I go back another day, it's not fitting the way it needs to fit.
• 40:03
  SPEAKER_02: And I just really truly do not enjoy the process.
• 40:06
  SPEAKER_02: And then my cousin told me, she's like, I don't understand you.
• 40:09
  SPEAKER_02: This is custom made, this is couture, and I'm like, girl, I have never thought of it that way.
• 40:16
  SPEAKER_02: But I understand her point of like you're designing it to your fit, to your taste, to your want.
• 40:26
  SPEAKER_03: And that takes time, Diane.
• 40:28
  SPEAKER_03: That takes time, and especially like, you know, if you're gonna give it to a tailor and you're not being in the field, like, so I get that experience even with my sister, right?
• 40:39
  SPEAKER_03: My sister would sometimes ask for some customization or some custom order, right?
• 40:45
  SPEAKER_03: She knows what she wants, but she doesn't know the she doesn't have the right terminology, she doesn't or the right knowledge.
• 40:51
  SPEAKER_03: So something that she wants, she wants in a different fabric.
• 40:55
  SPEAKER_03: I know that that fabric that she wants will not give her the results.
• 41:00
  SPEAKER_03: So, you know, these are the things.
• 41:01
  SPEAKER_03: So it could also be the very same thing, but then in your case, perhaps the tailor is unable to express to you that Miss Sadie, I'm sorry, but what you're asking for in this fabric will be almost impossible, or you're not gonna get the same thing.
• 41:14
  SPEAKER_03: You can get the cut, but maybe it will not flow, the ease will not be the same.
• 41:18
  SPEAKER_03: So these are the challenges, and that's quite different from the kind of challenge that I have.
• 41:22
  SPEAKER_03: But then mine is I've sketched, I've written my details, passing Katana, you know, eyeball to eyeball, we're discussing what needs to be done.
• 41:33
  SPEAKER_03: And between her and whoever's doing the sample, there ends up being some sort of miscommunication, and something happens.
• 41:44
  SPEAKER_03: And you know what, when that happens, usually, to be fair, I I always act like a spoiled child.
• 41:50
  SPEAKER_03: So when it's done, like imagine being told, oh miss, we're done with the sample, we're bringing it.
• 41:56
  SPEAKER_03: I'm all excited, sample is coming, and then okay, we put it on the dress form.
• 42:02
  SPEAKER_03: I'm like, nah, nah.
• 42:04
  SPEAKER_03: Um, and I'm telling them, can you not tell that your ham is changing the flow of the dress?
• 42:10
  SPEAKER_03: And I yeah, yeah.
• 42:14
  SPEAKER_03: But 80% of the time they get it right.
• 42:16
  SPEAKER_02: I have so much.
• 42:17
  SPEAKER_02: I will lie, but also there's so many details.
• 42:19
  SPEAKER_02: I know, like with the Taylors, they're like, you want stretch material.
• 42:23
  SPEAKER_02: This is satin.
• 42:24
  SPEAKER_02: This is not going to work, you know.
• 42:29
  SPEAKER_02: It's not gonna work.
• 42:31
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, absolutely.
• 42:32
  SPEAKER_02: It's not me.
• 42:35
  SPEAKER_02: One more question on on you know, building building a business, and you know, we talked about the team, but that's the team you work with on a daily basis.
• 42:42
  SPEAKER_02: Do you have a board of advisors?
• 42:45
  SPEAKER_02: I know you're very close to your sister, your parents, um, mentors, anybody you look up to and when things are not going right or when they're going well that you just like bounce ideas off of.
• 42:56
  SPEAKER_03: Let me tell.
• 42:57
  SPEAKER_03: So I have I have an advisory board.
• 43:00
  SPEAKER_03: We haven't met in a very long time.
• 43:02
  SPEAKER_03: I but I reach out to some of them individually when I need something.
• 43:06
  SPEAKER_03: I also have I have mentors, but they don't even know they're my mentors.
• 43:09
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, does that sound crazy?
• 43:11
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, very normal.
• 43:13
  SPEAKER_02: So many mentors have ever met in this life.
• 43:15
  SPEAKER_03: They don't even know they're my mentors.
• 43:17
  SPEAKER_03: So I can have a conversation and then we could through that conversation, there could be a case study, right?
• 43:23
  SPEAKER_03: And then I get my answer or like you know, a direction or a different angle to look at things and apply.
• 43:30
  SPEAKER_03: So, yes, I have people, I've been blessed with um with good people around me.
• 43:37
  SPEAKER_03: Um, so I can always rely on them sharing their perspective on things, and these are people that um I wouldn't say they're quick to side with me, they will let me know, like you know, like okay, you're tripping, or you're going about it the wrong way.
• 43:55
  SPEAKER_03: This is what you should do.
• 43:57
  SPEAKER_03: Looking in from the outside, this is what we think you should do.
• 44:00
  SPEAKER_03: Do it and then oh always the honest is on me because I am the one with a dream, and I'm the one pursuing that dream.
• 44:09
  SPEAKER_03: So the honus is always on me to then make that decision.
• 44:15
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, I love that.
• 44:16
  SPEAKER_02: Like mentors, first of all, you don't need to know your mentors.
• 44:19
  SPEAKER_02: No, that's the world of I have plenty of them exactly.
• 44:24
  SPEAKER_02: And the onus is on you to look for them and look for the look for the inspiration and the advice.
• 44:30
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 44:30
  SPEAKER_02: Um, okay.
• 44:32
  SPEAKER_02: So in fashion, uh, and in I would say the the circular economy and all of that, we keep hearing the word sustainability.
• 44:40
  SPEAKER_02: What does that mean to you besides it being a buzzword?
• 44:44
  SPEAKER_02: How is uh a Lima Bello by Alima a sustainable brand?
• 44:48
  SPEAKER_03: So we've been a sustainable brand from the jump, even before it became a buzzword.
• 44:53
  SPEAKER_03: And then when it became a buzzword, it even it even took us some time before we even started adapting the word and describing ourselves as sustainable.
• 45:01
  SPEAKER_03: The cinnamon pillars that we work with that puts that set in that bracket or entitles the us to use that buzzword.
• 45:11
  SPEAKER_03: So the first one I would say, I'll start off with my employees.
• 45:16
  SPEAKER_03: Our employees are earning way above um the minimum wage for the country.
• 45:23
  SPEAKER_03: So they're earning what I would like to call a living wage based on the city that we live in, so that they can also take care of themselves and take care of their dependents.
• 45:32
  SPEAKER_03: So that's number one, the world taken care of.
• 45:34
  SPEAKER_03: Number two, another value.
• 45:37
  SPEAKER_03: Um, we're very women focused.
• 45:39
  SPEAKER_03: So majority of my employees are women, majority of my suppliers are women.
• 45:44
  SPEAKER_03: Um we make sure that we're women focused.
• 45:48
  SPEAKER_03: So if I'm, you know, sourcing my fabrics, I'm sourcing from women-owned businesses because we do know when it comes to sustainability and like you know, giving back to society, we're talking about employment for women, employment for the youth, which we do.
• 46:04
  SPEAKER_03: Another thing that we also do is we use our fabric off cuts.
• 46:07
  SPEAKER_03: Now, fabric off cuts are like if I have like 10 meters of fabric and I've done maybe I've cut like five things out of the fabric, there are these off cuts that are left, these remnants that will end up on damp sites.
• 46:20
  SPEAKER_03: So, what we do is we don't throw them away.
• 46:22
  SPEAKER_03: We use these off cats in making our dust bags.
• 46:25
  SPEAKER_03: So we package our items in the dust bags, we make we use them in making our um drawstring bags, accessories.
• 46:32
  SPEAKER_03: We're always utilizing them.
• 46:34
  SPEAKER_03: Another thing that we also do, and that helps for the environment.
• 46:37
  SPEAKER_03: So stuff that would have ended up on rubbish, like on the rubbish jump sites are being utilized.
• 46:43
  SPEAKER_03: It goes so our clients are able to take it home, they reuse it, they put stuff in it.
• 46:47
  SPEAKER_03: I know somebody who actually, one of our clients actually puts like her charges, collects her charges and packs them in her in her dust bag.
• 46:54
  SPEAKER_03: You can use it for other things.
• 46:56
  SPEAKER_03: Another thing that we do is we don't mass produce our pieces.
• 47:01
  SPEAKER_03: So we do small quantities, but we always make sure that we utilize every single thing, like you know, the fabric that we have in our stores before we purchase another one.
• 47:10
  SPEAKER_03: So that means we're only purchasing fabrics that we're going to be using and not wasting them.
• 47:15
  SPEAKER_03: And we're making pieces and making sure that we sell them before we go cut another, like you know, rules fabric.
• 47:23
  SPEAKER_03: So that reduces uh our waste.
• 47:27
  SPEAKER_03: These are some of the things that we do and we've been doing since inception that makes us a sustainable brand.
• 47:35
  SPEAKER_03: And then we only started making noise with it post-um lockdown era, when it became a big thing, and I think one day it became a big thing globally.
• 47:49
  SPEAKER_03: And when I was reading news articles, we all read about articles about you know all these big fashion houses um leaving their stock in Asia and not picking them up and like you know, causing distress.
• 48:00
  SPEAKER_03: And I was like, oh, so wait a minute.
• 48:03
  SPEAKER_03: So all these things that we are doing quietly here is actually good for the environment.
• 48:09
  SPEAKER_03: And then I just sat down one day, you know, changed our write up, describing what we do, going in depth with what we do, because I have always been from the school of thought where you know, you just keep focused, bury your head in the work and just do the work and they'll find you.
• 48:24
  SPEAKER_03: I don't make noise about what I do, and that's not the world that we live in anymore.
• 48:28
  SPEAKER_03: If you're if you're gonna keep quiet, nobody's gonna, you're not gonna be found because other people are making noise.
• 48:33
  SPEAKER_03: Like, you know, you have to be in front of making noise.
• 48:36
  SPEAKER_03: So that's when I started writing up.
• 48:37
  SPEAKER_03: That's when we started talking about it with our clients and then you know, being a part of the sustainability community.
• 48:43
  SPEAKER_03: But then we've been doing that since our inception.
• 48:47
  SPEAKER_02: I love that, you know, sustain because even as a consumer, we want to make sure that the the the brands that we're buying into, the clothing, whether even if it's not brand um fashion, any anything that we're buying into remembers that we're all under this planet, we're all in this planet.
• 49:03
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
• 49:04
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, another thing that I think is interesting that I don't think a lot of people think through well enough is the storytelling uh one tree.
• 49:13
  SPEAKER_02: They think of marketing as pictures, pretty pictures, uh, maybe now the reels on Instagram and you know the short the short videos, uh, but the story behind the brand or the outfit or what goes into making the brand is equally as important, I would say.
• 49:31
  SPEAKER_02: Um, I think that at that point I wanted to do on this podcast, for example, to bring all of your stories to life, everybody that I get to to have on the podcast, because there's so much greatness in Africa, right?
• 49:45
  SPEAKER_02: And I think we need to narrate those stories.
• 49:48
  SPEAKER_02: We need to sh put them at the forefront, as you're saying.
• 49:51
  SPEAKER_02: So, how much does storytelling um or how do you come up with the stories for your for your for your brand, for your marketing, how much of that um feeds into your create into your creativity?
• 50:06
  SPEAKER_03: So um my creativity is based on MI everyday exchange.
• 50:14
  SPEAKER_03: So creativity from even the inception of the style could be a client walking into the studio and having a conversation with me, or a client talking to me three months down the line after she bought a piece of something and she's describing how she wore it and how she would like to complement it with something.
• 50:36
  SPEAKER_03: So it's always my everyday exchange with people I come across my workers.
• 50:42
  SPEAKER_03: It could even be for my commute from the house to the studio.
• 50:46
  SPEAKER_03: And in that same way, because of this and this exchange, I'm always creating something.
• 50:52
  SPEAKER_03: There's always a sample being created.
• 50:54
  SPEAKER_03: So when it's time to develop a collection, it's just a matter of how do I make this collection relevant now, in the now.
• 51:03
  SPEAKER_03: So it's a matter of, um, would this can this be worn in Canada?
• 51:08
  SPEAKER_03: It might be snowy in Canada right about now.
• 51:11
  SPEAKER_03: Can this still be worn there?
• 51:13
  SPEAKER_03: How would she like, you know, um keep herself warm if she was to wear it?
• 51:17
  SPEAKER_03: Or is it light enough to wear in in Lagos or in Accra?
• 51:22
  SPEAKER_03: Because right about now it's hot.
• 51:24
  SPEAKER_03: So how's she gonna wear it?
• 51:26
  SPEAKER_03: And so it's just making those things relevant in the now.
• 51:30
  SPEAKER_03: And how am I feeling as a as a creative, as a business owner, and as a client even of my own brand and as a woman who wears her own stuff, what kind of mind space, mental space am I in right now?
• 51:42
  SPEAKER_03: Am I being affected by the happenings in like, you know, in could be East Africa or in the Middle East or like, you know, what's going on in the news that's uh that's affecting me right now?
• 51:52
  SPEAKER_03: What kind of mental state am I in?
• 51:54
  SPEAKER_03: So if I'm in this kind of mental state, what am I hoping for?
• 51:58
  SPEAKER_03: Like, um, what would help me get out of a state that I'm not?
• 52:02
  SPEAKER_03: It's always all of this, like, you know, all of this coming together and then forming the story.
• 52:07
  SPEAKER_03: And I always say it's always a leap of faith, right?
• 52:11
  SPEAKER_03: Because you're sharing, it's like you're sharing a part of you and the hopes that it connects or other people are able to connect to that part of you.
• 52:22
  SPEAKER_03: And I think what helps in the storytelling, everything is just being honest, just being honest with your audience, being honest with yourself, being honest with your employees, being honest with your suppliers, being honest with your environment.
• 52:38
  SPEAKER_03: Um, that's what keeps the connection going.
• 52:40
  SPEAKER_03: So that's what helps in resonating from a design piece all the way to a finished piece and how the video for the collection even comes out.
• 52:52
  SPEAKER_03: So they are all connected one way or the other.
• 52:54
  SPEAKER_03: Don't ask me, it's not.
• 52:56
  SPEAKER_03: It's it seems very, it seems very, I don't know, um, I don't know what the word is.
• 53:03
  SPEAKER_03: Like sometimes you it seems like something you can't put in a bottle to market.
• 53:07
  SPEAKER_03: But I feel like when you when you are true to yourself, true to nature, true to your environment, true to the people that you come into contact with, I feel like it becomes second nature.
• 53:16
  SPEAKER_03: So you could always preempt, like, you know, what's my woman feeling?
• 53:19
  SPEAKER_03: Like right about now, what's the feeling that we're all we're we're going through?
• 53:23
  SPEAKER_03: What are we experiencing?
• 53:24
  SPEAKER_03: Because I like to think I'm going with with my woman, and that woman is going with the brand.
• 53:30
  SPEAKER_03: So, how do we stay in sync all the time?
• 53:34
  SPEAKER_03: That's the key.
• 53:36
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, I think honestly, I think the storytelling aspect of brands in fashion in Africa, but also um all brands in Africa are really adding to the value of African fashion on the global stage.
• 53:52
  SPEAKER_02: You know, work, as you know, and it's so beautiful to see people in what we in the east would call boo-boos, like you know, like the dilab kind of um outfits, or you know, to see recognizable African brands from whether it's yours or South African brands, etc.
• 54:10
  SPEAKER_02: Uh, in places like London, New York, Toronto, in a conference, in a business conference, in a tech conference, places that are not usual or accustomed to being to seeing this.
• 54:21
  SPEAKER_02: And I really think, of course, it's the story, but it's also the quality.
• 54:26
  SPEAKER_02: I think we have yeah, I think we have Actar game.
• 54:29
  SPEAKER_02: Like we are really um, we can go toe-to-toe with any brand, any global brand.
• 54:34
  SPEAKER_02: Oh, yeah, absolutely.
• 54:37
  SPEAKER_02: Absolutely, yeah.
• 54:40
  SPEAKER_02: So in terms of uh fashion or outside of fashion else inspire uh as a creative, so art, culture, travel, wellness.
• 54:50
  SPEAKER_02: What are the other inspirations in your life?
• 54:54
  SPEAKER_02: Food, you lift off food, Diane.
• 54:56
  SPEAKER_02: Oh my god, how did I do that?
• 54:57
  SPEAKER_02: You know, I'm you know I'm a foodie, you know I love food.
• 55:05
  SPEAKER_03: Um, yes, aside aside fashion, I'll tell you, I love food.
• 55:09
  SPEAKER_03: Um, I love music, and this I love.
• 55:14
  SPEAKER_03: This doesn't even feel like a podcast, it feels like one of our engagements, like whenever we get to catch up.
• 55:20
  SPEAKER_03: So this I love.
• 55:21
  SPEAKER_03: I love to like you know catch up with people who mean so much to me, like you know, we're on the same wavelength.
• 55:26
  SPEAKER_03: So we we might not be talking often, but whenever we do have a conversation, it's like you know, it's the proper conversation.
• 55:33
  SPEAKER_03: What else?
• 55:35
  SPEAKER_03: I love gardening, I love plants.
• 55:38
  SPEAKER_03: I really love plants.
• 55:40
  SPEAKER_03: Um, I don't know how to swim, but then I love the ocean, just the sound of the ocean and being close to the ocean.
• 55:48
  SPEAKER_03: So I love that.
• 55:50
  SPEAKER_02: Are you a water science?
• 55:53
  SPEAKER_03: Sorry?
• 55:54
  SPEAKER_02: We're a water science.
• 55:55
  SPEAKER_03: Yep.
• 55:57
  SPEAKER_03: Absolutely.
• 55:57
  SPEAKER_03: We love water, we do love water.
• 55:59
  SPEAKER_03: So yeah, these are the things I take inspiration from.
• 56:02
  SPEAKER_03: I love going for mass on Sundays.
• 56:05
  SPEAKER_03: That sense of community, like you know, going uh being physically in a space where yes, you're gonna worship God with other with others, and then afterwards, just even having a word or two with with people, sometimes it is very uplifting, you know.
• 56:22
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, okay.
• 56:24
  SPEAKER_02: If you could throw a dinner party or a lunch party or brunch with five Ghanaian creatives or African creatives, who would you invite?
• 56:36
  SPEAKER_02: Just five you're trying to get me too?
• 56:38
  SPEAKER_02: No, I'm not gonna do that.
• 56:39
  SPEAKER_02: Okay, no, no, no, no, no.
• 56:40
  SPEAKER_02: But living or dead, who would you invite to your dinner party?
• 56:45
  SPEAKER_02: Just five creatives.
• 56:49
  SPEAKER_03: I'm not gonna give you names, and then somebody's gonna tell me they didn't make it on my list.
• 56:54
  SPEAKER_03: But it would be so it would be so diverse.
• 56:58
  SPEAKER_03: It would be so diverse.
• 56:59
  SPEAKER_03: You're gonna you're gonna have some um some good old Ghanaians, you're gonna have some Nigerians, you're gonna have some South Africans, you're gonna have some East Africans, you know, these are brands and designers that and personalities that I've been following for some time.
• 57:16
  SPEAKER_03: Um, and um always in awe of what they're uh of what they come out with.
• 57:23
  SPEAKER_03: So it'll be nice.
• 57:24
  SPEAKER_02: You know, I'm not a creative, but I better be on your list.
• 57:28
  SPEAKER_03: You said so then we need to widen the invitation then.
• 57:34
  SPEAKER_03: Creative.
• 57:34
  SPEAKER_03: This is why creatives.
• 57:38
  SPEAKER_03: But then it would definitely be a dinner party where you wouldn't you would as somebody who was like you know invited to be a part of it, you wouldn't you wouldn't walk away thinking, oh, this is a bunch of stush people, or like, you know, oh I don't feel welcome.
• 57:54
  SPEAKER_03: Because all these personalities that I'm thinking of, these are people that are very like you know, open-minded and and rounded people.
• 58:03
  SPEAKER_03: It'll be a fabulous night.
• 58:05
  SPEAKER_03: Maybe you should come to Ghana and let's host trust me, girl.
• 58:08
  SPEAKER_03: And let's fly them over.
• 58:10
  SPEAKER_02: Trust me, I'm always on my way back to Ghana.
• 58:16
  SPEAKER_02: Okay, I want to talk about the other joy of your life.
• 58:19
  SPEAKER_02: I'll be so your little son.
• 58:23
  SPEAKER_03: My joy, joy, joy, joy.
• 58:27
  SPEAKER_03: My joy, joy.
• 58:29
  SPEAKER_03: Oh, he's doing so well.
• 58:31
  SPEAKER_03: He's gonna be two end of October, and I am still in awe that I am a mother, and I have him, like I'm still in awe every single day.
• 58:43
  SPEAKER_03: I look at him like this is unbelievable.
• 58:47
  SPEAKER_03: He's here.
• 58:48
  SPEAKER_02: I can't believe he's on the page.
• 58:53
  SPEAKER_03: Yup, he's here, and he's mine, and he's growing.
• 58:59
  SPEAKER_03: I see him on the page, you know, he's your biggest listen, he's growing.
• 59:03
  SPEAKER_03: You should hurry up and come see him in person because boy, the baby that you met is not the toddler that's in my house.
• 59:11
  SPEAKER_03: No, I like yeah, he's the boss, he's the boss.
• 59:17
  SPEAKER_02: So, you know, motherhood looks different on every woman, right?
• 59:22
  SPEAKER_02: What has your journey into motherhood taught you about yourself?
• 59:25
  SPEAKER_02: How has it influenced you in the way you build your business now?
• 59:33
  SPEAKER_03: Now, to be honest, I haven't um I haven't done any kind of soul searching to see like you know, where am I in this universe?
• 59:45
  SPEAKER_03: But then I do know that in booking my meetings, in my day-to-day schedule, it's always about like, you know, how does that affect or like you know, how does that affect my day-to-day interaction with my son?
• 1:00:01
  SPEAKER_03: Um, let's face it, I'm a full-time, I'm a full-time mom, I'm a full-time um entrepreneur.
• 1:00:08
  SPEAKER_03: So there are days where I work late, right?
• 1:00:11
  SPEAKER_03: And that means I might miss him before going, like, you know, before he goes into bed.
• 1:00:18
  SPEAKER_03: So, how do I make up for it?
• 1:00:21
  SPEAKER_03: That's what's always on my mind.
• 1:00:24
  SPEAKER_03: Like, how do I make up for it?
• 1:00:25
  SPEAKER_03: How am I making decisions that will not affect my bank account negatively?
• 1:00:29
  SPEAKER_03: Because now I have a whole human being to take care of.
• 1:00:32
  SPEAKER_03: So I need to make sure that whatever decisions I'm making doesn't come back to like you know, affect him negatively.
• 1:00:41
  SPEAKER_03: Those are the things.
• 1:00:42
  SPEAKER_03: Um, what has it told me about myself?
• 1:00:44
  SPEAKER_03: To be honest, I don't know, my dear Diane, because I feel like I'm the same, even though I'm different.
• 1:00:52
  SPEAKER_03: Like now, I know in the past I didn't have FOMO.
• 1:00:55
  SPEAKER_03: I never had FOMO, but now FOMO, what?
• 1:00:59
  SPEAKER_03: Like you can miss me with that.
• 1:01:02
  SPEAKER_03: Like, I don't want to know.
• 1:01:04
  SPEAKER_03: I just want to go home and get my cuddles in and focus on my business.
• 1:01:10
  SPEAKER_03: So maybe the soul searching will come later, and maybe I'll have something intelligent to say about that.
• 1:01:16
  SPEAKER_03: I feel like now it's it's just how does this affect my son negatively?
• 1:01:23
  SPEAKER_03: How does that like you know?
• 1:01:24
  SPEAKER_03: I he needs to see me and I need to see him.
• 1:01:27
  SPEAKER_03: So, how are we gonna make it work whilst we're trying to build a brand?
• 1:01:32
  SPEAKER_03: I think there will that's my focus, yeah.
• 1:01:35
  SPEAKER_02: Uh an alimo by ao baby brand.
• 1:01:43
  SPEAKER_02: Sorry, I think there'll be an Alima by uh Io baby brand, a baby brand soon.
• 1:01:51
  SPEAKER_03: Oh listen, I would love to.
• 1:01:55
  SPEAKER_03: I would love to, but then you know what?
• 1:02:00
  SPEAKER_03: Maybe this is the year that I'll stop saying I would love to and then give myself an excuse as to why it's not happening.
• 1:02:06
  SPEAKER_03: Because I've thought about it since he was born.
• 1:02:09
  SPEAKER_03: Like, even if it's even two capsules a year, let's just do it.
• 1:02:15
  SPEAKER_03: I think that would be so yeah.
• 1:02:16
  SPEAKER_02: So maybe everybody has so much style.
• 1:02:18
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, so maybe after this podcast, yes, babies do babies are so cute to dress up, and my team members would tell you like when I like even this linen, when we took delivery of this linen, I told them I need some left for my baby.
• 1:02:37
  SPEAKER_03: Because I can see, you know, I can see something, I can picture something for him, and then for all my nephews and my niece.
• 1:02:44
  SPEAKER_03: So maybe this is the year, maybe this is the year that we we stopped talking, actually stop talking about it and and just do it.
• 1:02:51
  SPEAKER_02: I love that idea for you.
• 1:02:53
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, that would be so cute.
• 1:02:55
  SPEAKER_03: It's just yeah, so please maybe be my please be my accountability partner just to make sure that I, you know, you know I am I carry it through.
• 1:03:05
  SPEAKER_02: Call you and hound you.
• 1:03:09
  SPEAKER_02: Okay, so you know, this podcast really is, as I mentioned earlier, it's about highlighting builders in Africa, really trying to build Africa.
• 1:03:19
  SPEAKER_02: You know, we're all here for the development of Africa, but we're doing it while living this life, right?
• 1:03:25
  SPEAKER_02: There's so many that are going on, and we really want to live fully.
• 1:03:29
  SPEAKER_02: So, what does living fully mean to you?
• 1:03:32
  SPEAKER_02: What does that look like?
• 1:03:35
  SPEAKER_03: Living fully.
• 1:03:37
  SPEAKER_03: Business is thriving.
• 1:03:40
  SPEAKER_03: I mean, I'm doing interior designing, I'm traveling with my son, and then I'm having my own adult travels, like you know, and having some downtime.
• 1:03:49
  SPEAKER_03: I actually enjoy downtime, not doing anything.
• 1:03:53
  SPEAKER_03: So having some downtime, spending time with my loved ones.
• 1:03:57
  SPEAKER_03: I love to cook for my for my family.
• 1:04:00
  SPEAKER_03: So, like, you know, a good meal to get them to come together.
• 1:04:05
  SPEAKER_03: Um, that's living fully.
• 1:04:07
  SPEAKER_03: Being able to pick up a book and and not do anything, not turn on the TV, not touch the phone, but read a book, a physical book.
• 1:04:17
  SPEAKER_03: That's living fully.
• 1:04:19
  SPEAKER_03: Enjoying my garden, like I'm planting flowers and some greenery and they're thriving.
• 1:04:27
  SPEAKER_03: That's living fully.
• 1:04:29
  SPEAKER_03: Um, having money in my account, that's living fully.
• 1:04:34
  SPEAKER_03: Because all of that costs money.
• 1:04:36
  SPEAKER_03: I mean, let's not be fooled.
• 1:04:38
  SPEAKER_03: Like, you know, I come from a generation where we weren't like, you know, we weren't encouraged to talk about money, and you realize, okay, so where we've been taught the money, it's not good for us, but but we need money to propel the things that we want for ourselves.
• 1:04:54
  SPEAKER_03: For example, if I want to cook for my family, it's gonna cost money.
• 1:04:57
  SPEAKER_03: So I can buy, like, you know, the good things to cook for them.
• 1:05:01
  SPEAKER_03: Um, enjoying my son, taking him on trips, it's gonna be fueled by money.
• 1:05:08
  SPEAKER_03: But it's not the end all be all.
• 1:05:10
  SPEAKER_03: But these are the things that bring, you know, bring some happiness to my life, cooking for friends and family, having some downtime, traveling, um, designing and seeing the designs coming to fruition.
• 1:05:23
  SPEAKER_03: And then every now and then, let me tell the most beautiful thing is when you have a client who is not a friend who walks into the studio and they and then I happen to be there by chance, and they're telling me how their outfits make them feel, or how they wore an outfit on the streets of London and they got compliments from one end of the street to the other end, and people walking up to them and asking them questions.
• 1:05:49
  SPEAKER_03: And like, you know, it really warms my heart.
• 1:05:52
  SPEAKER_03: Like when people are telling you how they feel when they wear your pieces, it's always an affirmation that okay, so you're really not crazy.
• 1:06:00
  SPEAKER_03: To think that you were, you know, trying to do something that would empower people, or you know, because these all these things are buzzwords right now, right?
• 1:06:09
  SPEAKER_03: Empowering women, confidence, uh, sustainability, da da da.
• 1:06:15
  SPEAKER_03: But then when people come to you and they tell you that this is how they actually felt when they wore the piece, or or they're coming to you and telling you, oh, I have this award coming up.
• 1:06:23
  SPEAKER_03: I'm being, you know, I'm being honored with an award, and I couldn't think of anybody else to like, you know, to style a piece for me, and it had to be you because when I wear your pieces, this is how I feel.
• 1:06:35
  SPEAKER_03: And when I wore this dress, my husband complimented me so much, and you would think that this unassuming dress, I love it, it warms my heart, and it's always a testament that I leave, you're not crazy, you're not crazy.
• 1:06:50
  SPEAKER_03: So I love it.
• 1:06:50
  SPEAKER_03: So that's what it means to live fully.
• 1:06:52
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, crazy, and I love that for you.
• 1:06:55
  SPEAKER_02: I have a question.
• 1:06:56
  SPEAKER_02: Is there you call it studio and not store?
• 1:07:02
  SPEAKER_03: You know what?
• 1:07:04
  SPEAKER_03: Do I even know why?
• 1:07:05
  SPEAKER_03: I feel to me it's like a studio because it's always like a work in progress, you know what?
• 1:07:09
  SPEAKER_03: A store feels very transactional.
• 1:07:12
  SPEAKER_03: And um, the studio, I call it a studio because we're working from there.
• 1:07:15
  SPEAKER_03: That's where I sketch from, that's where my artisans are making the pieces from.
• 1:07:20
  SPEAKER_03: Um, and then when I wouldn't call it a store because when people walk in, I'm not selling.
• 1:07:27
  SPEAKER_03: I have conversations, I have clients who come in to pick just one piece, and we end up talking for hours, and they tell you, you know what?
• 1:07:35
  SPEAKER_03: This was the best three hours of my life.
• 1:07:38
  SPEAKER_03: I felt very heavy the past week or just this morning, and then just coming in here and having a conversation with you has really um lightened my mood.
• 1:07:49
  SPEAKER_03: It's making me um feel better about something.
• 1:07:52
  SPEAKER_03: So a star is like a brick and mortar space where it's very transactional, where I'm giving you, you're giving me something, you're giving me your card, I'm handing over a paper bag, but then it feels more than that.
• 1:08:05
  SPEAKER_03: So for now, I think the studio.
• 1:08:09
  SPEAKER_03: No, at some point, I think I think it will be a home.
• 1:08:12
  SPEAKER_03: Because at some point I want it to be where you know what, if you are having a busy day or what, like for example, Diane, you come to a car and you're like, okay, I've left a meeting and I'm overwhelmed, there's traffic.
• 1:08:23
  SPEAKER_03: You could I want it to be a space where you could say, I'm driving to the studio and I'm just relaxing.
• 1:08:30
  SPEAKER_03: You can take off your shoes, you can have a glass of wine, you can have like you know, a fruit punch, you can have a glass of um water, you have something to nibble on, and then just be, you don't even have to buy anything, just be in a space and feel rejuvenated.
• 1:08:45
  SPEAKER_02: You know, honestly, my guilty pleasure on like Friday afternoons, don't tell my bosses, but like Friday afternoon, I would just come by, it's like part of my self-care, like I'm winding down for the week.
• 1:08:56
  SPEAKER_02: Um window shopping, sometimes I'm placing an order, picking up an order, but there was something about it.
• 1:09:02
  SPEAKER_02: I would just walk in and feel like woo-sah.
• 1:09:04
  SPEAKER_03: Like, yeah, yeah, and that's how I want the space to be.
• 1:09:08
  SPEAKER_03: So for the woman who resonates with the brand and we resonate with her, I want it to be a safe haven for you.
• 1:09:15
  SPEAKER_03: So I think a stall, calling it a stall would be inappropriate.
• 1:09:19
  SPEAKER_03: I can't call it a home now because it doesn't feel homey.
• 1:09:22
  SPEAKER_03: Because I really want, if it was a home, I want you to walk into a space where there are various, like, you know, sections, right?
• 1:09:28
  SPEAKER_03: So you could walk in here, you could walk in, and then for the phone call, there'll be a masseuse too, like, you know, give your head massage just to relax you.
• 1:09:37
  SPEAKER_03: You go into another space where you could actually ask for a three-course meal and you'll be saved a three-course meal, you know.
• 1:09:43
  SPEAKER_03: So for now, studio, because I feel like it's a work in progress, yeah.
• 1:09:48
  SPEAKER_02: If it ever becomes that kind of home, so you so much for your time today.
• 1:09:58
  SPEAKER_02: This was really so great.
• 1:10:00
  SPEAKER_02: Uh, I feel like I've learned a lot about the fashion industry, but it was also great to catch up.
• 1:10:06
  SPEAKER_02: If there's one thing you want everybody who's watching to walk away with, um, what would that takeaway be?
• 1:10:15
  SPEAKER_03: I'm saying live and let live.
• 1:10:18
  SPEAKER_03: Love it.
• 1:10:18
  SPEAKER_03: We should just stop judging people for their choices.
• 1:10:21
  SPEAKER_03: So you live and let them live.
• 1:10:24
  SPEAKER_03: Love it.
• 1:10:26
  SPEAKER_02: And I wish you all the best with your brand and baby friends.
• 1:10:32
  SPEAKER_02: Hold you accountable.
• 1:10:33
  SPEAKER_03: Thank you so much.
• 1:10:36
  SPEAKER_03: Thank you, and I wish you the very best, and congratulations on your podcast.
• 1:10:40
  SPEAKER_03: Thank you so much.
• 1:10:41
  SPEAKER_03: Thank you for being a part of the inaugural season.
• 1:10:43
  SPEAKER_02: We'll see how far it goes.
• 1:10:45
  SPEAKER_03: I was gonna go all the way, and the next time you're in Ghana, maybe you can you can you can film one in the studio, you can bring whichever guest or wherever you want to interview.
• 1:10:54
  SPEAKER_03: I'll bring you guest because clearly she's gonna be.
• 1:10:59
  SPEAKER_03: Thank you so much.
• 1:11:00
  SPEAKER_03: Ciao, you're welcome.
• 1:11:02
  SPEAKER_03: Ciao, ciao.
• 1:11:03
  SPEAKER_03: Bye.
• 1:11:06
  SPEAKER_01: I hope you enjoyed this episode of the Diane Decidi podcast.
• 1:11:09
  SPEAKER_01: Don't forget to subscribe on YouTube, follow on Instagram, and reach out at ddeside at advisory.com.
• 1:11:17
  SPEAKER_01: We'd love to hear from you.
• 1:11:18
  SPEAKER_01: Until next time, live strategically and with purpose.
• 1:11:21
  SPEAKER_01: See you soon.