We recently connected with Chazahyah Bat Yah and have shared our conversation below.

Chazahyah, appreciate you joining us today. Learning the craft is often a unique journey from every creative – we’d love to hear about your journey and if knowing what you know now, you would have done anything differently to speed up the learning process.

When I was 8 years old, my mom bought my first sewing machine. See, I had two moms, my dad had two wives when I was born and though my non-biological mom didn’t give birth to me, she always loved me as her own. She had come to visit me once from the US (I was born and raised in Israel) and she surprised me with my first portable sewing machine.
I loved to sew clothes for my barbies by hand, and my mom, knowing this, decided I needed an upgrade lol.
I was so excited about my machine but I hadn’t the first clue on how to use it.

In the community I grew up in we made the majority of the clothes we wore. So it was inevitable that I would gain the skill, same thing with crocheting (We had traditional crochet pieces that we wore which is why we had to learn how to crochet as well.)

I gleaned from different individuals here and there. I had a best friend who was amazing at the craft, she sews professionally today. I learned a good bit of the basics, as well as some advanced things.

Fast forward to high school, I was super excited to find out that our school was going to be offering a fashion and design course with credits. I was psyched.
I learned more in the fashion and design course, which lead me to experiment a bit more, attempting to make difficult pieces, some were a success, others were a catastrophe LOL
One main thing I learned though is that the pieces you mess up, become the most creative, artistic and fun projects.

I also scoured YouTube, trying to learn more, techniques as well as some of the basics that I’d missed through the years.

All in all I wish I’d had someone to teach me A-Z, because my mind needs to know that I went in order from beginning to end in my learning process.
Although I’m pretty good and can do a lot of different styles and techniques. There’s still so much I want to learn to do.
I want everything I make to be immaculate, inside and out, that’s who I am in all things so the desire to learn and keep perfecting is always there.

Being totally honest, there are so many things I love/loved to do, so many artistic expressions, which has been the reason I haven’t given myself over to one craft fully. I know it’s hindered me in many areas. Sewing, however, has been my most loved craft throughout my life.

I’ve attempted to start different clothing lines over the years, Let’s just say God had other plans.

Now that my life has changed though – most notably, what I believe about God and the right way to live – I’ve got some things brewing, A few treats for the modest girls and the girlies who want to add modest, trendy and expressive Fashion to their wardrobe.
Soon come,
Good willing.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

Currently when it comes to physical products, I mostly offer crochet items, I have a TikTok and IG page dedicated to my crafts called Chazahyahkreations, I plan to launch a new clothing line by the end of 2024. I’m excited for that. I want to cater to a specific demographic, my modest girlies and girls who’d like to add modest, fashionable pieces to their collection.

I believe the problem I solve is where a lot of women see modest as boring, I’d also like to bring awareness to true modesty, because I believe some representations of modesty can be misleading and not true to the claim.

I am most proud of the collection I plan to launch. I’ve learned so much over the years, and that means that I have so much to put into the pieces I want to offer.

I’d like for people to know that though I am a Hijab wearing woman of faith, I am relatable and I bring all my life’s experiences into everything that I offer.
It’s often assumed that believers should be one way or another and that’s true to an extent. But In the words of my awesome husband “Faith is the common denominator, Yeshua (The Messiah) is the essence but LOVE is the ultimate goal.
The scripture says that you cal fulfill the law of God through one word and that’s Love, and we all know that love is an action word!

All that said, I bring love in what I do and offer, you never know the life/lives you can touch even if it begins with a skirt or a scarf 😊

What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?

I’ve had to unlearn and put into perspective the “It’s meant to be/ Not meant to be” mindset that I had.

With that mindset I would give up too easily on things I should have fought harder for. If I’d wanted to start a business for instance, and failed in one way or another, though disappointed, i’d shrug and say “It wasn’t meant to be”.
With that mind, I didn’t fight hard enough for the things I wanted to accomplish for myself. I could’ve never made real progress. I would push everyone else but I didn’t have the same passion for myself.

Have you ever had to pivot?

Oh yes, yes, yes! I’ve had to pivot too many times to mention, in business and in life. But, the greatest pivot for me was everything that took place beofre and after coming to live in the US in 2019 and the life change I could’ve never expected!

In may of 2019 I’d found out that my grandma who’d had alzheimer’s for a long time, had fallen and broken her hip, she was 88 at the time, and usually with elders who have that fall it means it’s time to say your goodbyes.

I have to take it back to 2016 when I gave birth to my daughter in Israel. Because I served in the military from 2007-2009 I was eligible to apply for my Israeli citizenship and my daughter by default would have gotten her citizenship as well. But, because I hadn’t lived in Israel for two consecutive years prior to her birth, when she was born they gave her an ID number in the hospital, however, the ministry of interior quickly revoked it. I’d talked to lawyers, went back and forth with the ministry of interior (Who are responsible for handling civil matters of citizenship and immigration), they took me hoops, through lengthy processes and stalled me out. Even purposly neglected to process files that they had until i mistakingly found out while in their office 10 months after submitting the documents. So when I found out in 2019 about my grandma, I had to make some life decisions quickly. The ministry of interior informed me that my daughter (who was three by then) was an alien despite my being a citizen and her being born in the country) and if i left the country with her, that i could get return and the country but she couldn’t. The week I got the call about my grandma was the same week I was on a plane out of Israel. I had recently invested in launching a new clothing line for little girls. I had a whole life that I had to consider giving up.

I remember so vividly being in the airport that night, distraught and stressed, I didn’t know what life would be like in the US, i had relatives but i didnt have a job or a plan. I just knew that i didn’t want my grandma to die and i was not there to see her. That’s when I reached a point where I asked myself if I wanted to stay in a life I was familiar with but not happy, whole or at peace, or would i go to the unknown and trust that God would take care of us.
I have to mention that I know God moved for me in the airport that night because the lady I spoke with at customs, at first was so rude and cold, it was all so overwhelming and she was not helpful at all. I left out of the office frustrated and feeling defeated but not too long after I went back in the office and she was a lot more helpful and compassionate, so I know God moved her to help me. So there we were on a plane to the unknown.

Once here we spent time at the hospital with my grandmother and relatives. Ten days after arriving she passed away. After the funeral I had to figure out my next moves. I was in contact with the Israeli embassy, trying to get answers and solutions for our return to Israel. I was looking for work and enjoying time with family.

I was no closer to a solution for my daughter being able to return to Israel when I reconnected with a woman I’d met on FB, her story was an interesting one.
She and I talked about business building and raising our children together so it seemed fitting when we came to realize that we both knew a guy, As it happens he he was
a “polygynyst man.” We all talked about planning to be a family.
In our planning we decided that I’d move down to Atlanta, she and I would live together while we planned the for the “Marriage” and life we wanted.

I remember leaving my sister’s apartment, getting in a cab and crying profusely, I was just overwhelmed with my life and all the changes, I was disappointed in myself because I felt that at 30 years old I hadn’t accomplished all that I believed I should have, I was also tired of the fight with life. The taxi driver was an older black woman who noticed my tears and began to talk to me about God, although we didn’t have the same beliefs I took that conversation as a sign from God that he was still guiding me.

We made it to Atlanta and jumped right into executing all the plans we talked about. Of course they would take time, but we tried our best as two single moms to stay focused. My daughter and her sons quickly became siblings.
Now for the greatest pivot of my life, The woman (Let’s just call her Lilly) knew another guy (i’m not giving any tea on the matter LOL). One Friday we had traveled two hours south of Atlanta to meet another mutual female friend, Lilly told me that the guy wanted to come visit. I remember being so annoyed because it was getting late, we still had the two hour drive home as well as we would have to get the children, cleaned, fed and in the bed.
I had no desire for company, especially male company.
She told me a little about him prior to his arrival, but it was in the way of, he doesn’t want a woman to do this or that, naming little things that made me wonder why she would want to deal with him.

When he came to the house he immediately took over like he owned the place which made me think “who does this man think he is” LOL But as I watched him do things for her I quickly realized this man loved this woman, I remember thinking and telling her I don’t know anyone who does the things he’s doing just because, ans he’d only been there a day. I told her, “that’s Love!”
He cooked for us, a dish called New Orleano, the food was amazing.
That day, she and I were supposed to go to a festival but she ended up saying that she couldn’t go, I don’t remember the reason.
Instead she asked him to take me because he had intentions on going as well. When we left to head to the festival, it started pouring buckets, we couldn’t have possibly gon to an outside festival the way it was raining. Instead he took me to a friend’s house and after to the movies. I took advantage of that time to ask him questions about the things Lilly had concerns about.
Everything I asked he had an answer for, not just any answer, he put God first in everything, everything that seemed like it could have been a concern, his reasoning was for his love and honor for God.
All of it was refreshing to me as so many people I had come across throughout my life claimed to live for God but it turned out to not be true. I was moved by his love for God!
To fast forward a little, she and I both married him.
Some time before I met my husband Abemunah Ben Yah, I had been diagnosed with a stomach ulcer, i’d seen my mom suffer from the same thing growing up, all I’d known her to do was drink milk to sooth the pain. There were certain foods I couldn’t eat because they’d cause excruciating stomach pain and heart burn. I’d also had liver spots on my back that traveled up my neck, my stomach and eventually worked their way up to my chest, I had no idea what to do, I did a little research and tried some natural remedies.
Not long after we were married, I was complaining one day about the pain in my stomach and said how I needed to go to the store to get milk.
My husband took me aside, put his hands on my stomach and prayed for a healing for me. I can only testify that God heard him and had mercy on me because from that day on I never had those pains again, even though prior to him praying for me I would have the pain daily. And the foods that would cause me pain I could eat now with no problem. The liver spots began to fade away as well until they were gone completely, I never took any medication or herbal remedies for either of these issue!
See, my husband is not a normal man, he’s lived a past life in the streets of New Orleans so he’s no novice to real life issues, But God changed his life at the age of 19, and he never turned back, he gave up a lot to dedicate his life to God. He was called to be an apostle and God has done so many things through him, from raising his eldest daughter from the dead when she was a little girl to prophesying the destruction of New Orleans before Katrina happened in 2005 (Which by the way is all in court documents).

The life that I lived before meeting this Man of God, was so confusing, I’d searched for how to really live for God all my life. I couldn’t relate to the religion I grew up in, and I always said that to call ourselves the people of God, we were embarrassing Him by the way we lived.
Not too long before everything that happened with my grandmother, I prayed to God to teach me how to reach Him, I didn’t want to pretend like I saw so many do. I’ve learned that and so much more being not only a wife but a disciple of truth and the Gospel of the Messiah Yeshua.

So yes, that is the greatest pivot of my life and one I will always be thankful for :)

Contact Info:

• Instagram: ChazahyahKreations
• Facebook: Chazahyah Bat Yah
• Other: TikTok – Chazahyah 🌸 TikTok – Chazahyahkreations

Image Credits
Chazahyah Bat Yah