We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Kierra Nichole a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Kierra, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. The first dollar you earn is always exciting – it’s like the start of a new chapter and so we’d love to hear about the first time you sold or generated revenue from your creative work?
In high school, I became obsessed with menswear designers like Tom Ford, Tommy Hilfiger, and Ralph Lauren, and to this day, I’m still absorbed by the Thom Browne team. I was really into preppy suiting and tailoring, and in my teenaged words, I wanted to be a “haberdasher.” Following that passion, I started making bowties, selling them on Facebook and Etsy, and using my dad and brother as models. Naturally, my dad made my first sale, but soon after, friends and family started asking where I was located, and that’s how my first fashion brand got its start. I sewed bowties literally until my fingers hurt and eventually expanded into matching cufflinks and handkerchiefs, proudly running my little sweatshop out of my parents’ dining room. When we traveled I would take a suitcase full of my accessories and sell them out of the back of my mom’s car until finally I did actual pop-up shops. Just before college, I was thrilled to get my line into a local store, but by that point, I was exhausted from running everything by myself. I don’t think I saw a dime from being in a brick and mortar! Til this day, people still ask me about bow ties and looking back, that experience was my first real glimpse of what it takes to build and manage a brand.
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.
For those who may not be familiar with me, I’m a womenswear fashion designer based in Atlanta, focused on creating artistic pieces that allow women to feel a balance of strength and softness. My journey into this industry began with a self named brand that featured ready to wear pieces and has since evolved into bolder contrasts, concepts and silhouettes. Each collection is not about following trends but creating pieces that tell a story and make people wonder. I love experimenting with textiles and visual textures, constantly pushing myself to innovate and create something new. I’m most proud of the connections I’ve built through my work. Whether it’s a client who tells me how my designs made them feel confident at an event, or the collaborations I’ve done with other creatives, those relationships mean everything to me. It’s incredibly rewarding to see my vision come to life and resonate with people in such a personal way. What I want people to know about my brand is that it’s about more than just fashion— it’s a project that uplifts the spirituality of art first.
What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?
I know for a fact, ten toes down, that I’d be a millionaire right now if I never cared what other people thought. I’ve always had an instinct to share what I’m working on or interested in online and now there are whole industries built on that. If there’s a regret I have in this life it’s deleting the Youtube and Tumblr I had when I was 11. My problem was, the second someone I knew saw what I was doing I stopped and took it down. I never gave anything time to reach my audience because I was that afraid of criticism. Now I recognize what people think about me or what I’m doing has nothing to do with me; it’s simply done of my business.
Is there something you think non-creatives will struggle to understand about your journey as a creative?
Answering this question is funny because I know the people that support me are doing it in a loving way, but sometimes folks will “what’s next” you to death if you let them. I’d like people to slow down on consumption because it puts creatives in the position of constantly pushing out garbage quite frankly, never allowing an idea to ruminate or hone resources to make the best possible work. The creative journey never stops and we literally can’t turn that part of us off. Therefore, there will ALWAYS be something that’s next. That’s inevitable for the rest of my life. I think that non-creatives perceive creatives as procrastinators because we don’t always produce immediately but our brains are constantly sketching, filmmakers are always marking, musicians never stop humming and I’m always looking at how something drapes. The journey can be slow but quietly inherent in our everyday lives until you see it all come together on stage and by then it looks like it happened overnight.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://rosabyrd.com
- Instagram: @rosabyrd.studio
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@KierraNichole
