We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Shontay Racquel. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Shontay below.

Hi Shontay, thanks for joining us today. Let’s jump back to the first dollar you earned as a creative? What can you share with us about how it happened?

The feeling that I felt when i sold my first ever garment, was one of the greatest feelings that I ever experienced. About a year after graduating from college, I was still exploring mt options as a fashion designer to figure out what route I wanted to take since there are so many possible roles in the fashion industry. I received an email from an art gallery in my home town who had a new exhibit called, “50 Years of Ebony Fashion” and the staff were reaching out to designers of color to submit pieces to be sold in the art gallery’s gift shop all February for Black History Month. I packed up about 10 different garments of mine and took it over. I remember checking me email every day and being bummed every time I saw I didn’t receive a message alerting me on any sales. At the very end of the month, I received a physical check in the mail for two of my pieces that actually sold on the first day that the exhibit opened. I was shocked! I’m an extremely sentimental person so to this day, I still have the other half of the deposit sheet showing what sold. One was a burgundy floral print short sleeve peplum jacket. The other was a brown faux fu vest that I made inspired by the one that Diana Ross wore in Mahogany, the scene where she is on the phone fussing at her fashion studio. Now that garment was a little hard to part with. I remember finding that small remnant of the softest plush rich dark brown faux fur. I immediately knew that I had to make my own version of that vest. I actually do not know who the client was who purchased the pieces but i hope they took really good care of them, especially that vest. Geesh, that was hard to part with but making that sale was such an accomplishment and confidence booster, I’m so happy they purchased it.

Shontay, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

Growing up, I would describe myself as an introvert and I would often find comfort in solitude, whether that was drawing, writing poetry, watching a movie, or watching tv. When I was in middle school, there was a reality show on UPN called R U the Girl. This became my favorite show and I would often record each episode on VHS and throughout the week as I’m waiting for the new episode to air, I would rewatch the latest episode. I remember there was this one particular challenge where the contestants had to use unconventional materials to create their performance look. This instantly became my favorite episode and I would gather up all the materials I could find around my house and I would do the challenges with them. I like to say that was the very first moment when I was bit by the fashion bug. Before I knew it, I started wearing these outlandish designs that I upcycled to school and it started catching the attention of others. Once I got to my junior year of high school, I decided to go to college to study fashion design, and I have been in love with it ever since.Although I was super quiet and introverted, I’ve always been creative. And because I was quiet, sometimes I would feel as if I was being overlooked. Once I started wearing these upcycled and eclectic designs, I started to receive a lot of attention. Most of the time I was receiving compliments, but a lot of these designs and styles were very bold so they also became conversation starters. Eventually, I started using the way that I dressed to express myself. My clothes became a way of letting my presence be known that I was in the room without me having to say one word. That’s actually a method that I still use today. If I’m feeling a bit nervous about attending an event, I usually decide to wear one of my boldest pieces and I often have people coming to me asking me where I got it from or wanting to exchange social media which really breaks the ice and helps me become a little more comfortable.

How did you build your audience on social media?

Before the fashion bug bit me, I wanted to be an illustrator. Growing up, I loved to draw more than anything. Besides constructing garments, another important skill that we had to develop in school was our illustration skills. When I was a graduate student at SCAD, I took an intense fashion illustration course during my first year, and one of our assignments throughout the quarter was to explore different techniques and media to illustrate our designs. One day, it was almost time for class and I ran out of ideas. I was looking all around my dorm trying to figure out what’s in my room that I can utilize to complete my homework assignment. I had some decorative sand in my room so i poured it on to a purple poly bag that I had in front of me, and used the sand to create a figure. I had a very strict professor who i thought was going to hate it, but he was actually impressed. I still didn’t think much of it. I just remember we had to bring more unconventional drawing supplies to class to complete a different assignment. So, i bought my glitter and was using it to create designs and my scary professor happened to walk behind me and exploded with excitement looking over my shoulder, asking me if I realized what I just done? However, I still didn’t realize what I just did. It was maybe about a few moths later when the pandemic hit and all classes went virtual I had to create some quick sketches and using the glitter to quick sketch became a little “”cheat” code for me to help me speed up my process. I used TikTok , which was musical.ly at that time, to record because I wanted to utilize some of the cool filters before I presented it to my class. I guess I forgot to save my video to private which was no big deal because i had less than 50 followers and never posted much. I few weeks later, I logged in again to make another video and was so shocked when i saw how many new followers I got and the video got over 2000 views. That’s when it really hit me that I had something special. I began to upload more videos that started to go viral. My most viral one has 1.7 million views an my second one has 999.7k views. That helped my social media presence a lot. I know many of my followers follow me to see my glitter videos, but I also try to mix it up and share my physical designs with them also which has a positive response as well. My advice would be not to focus on going viral. Focus and doing what you love and just wanting to share it with the world. Once you find that niche, keep going with it and keep elevating and your tribe will find you on social media.

What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?

The most rewarding aspect for me is being able to make a living from what I love to do. Growing up, that wasn’t the norm for me. During my adolescent years, I would always hear people around me saying, “be a lawyer, that’s where the money is at, or be a doctor, they make a lot……” It was always money, money, money, and never about what makes you happy and feel fulfilled. Of course, no one wants to struggle their whole life and be in survival mode and I am thankful that that is not my life even with going the creative route. It is such a rewarding experience to be able to wake up everyday and do what I love. My heart always skips a beat from excitement when I’m tagged on social media and see a client wearing a piece that they ordered for me. And another big one is the celebrities. I have been blessed to have my designs on a few celebrities and that’s another rewarding experience. especially when it’s some one that I am a big fan of or grew up watching in the media. Because it’s like who would of ever thought my designs would be on them, because growing up, I couldn’t have imagined this in my wildest dreams. As a designer, the feeling you get when you see others shining in your clothes and designs is like no other.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.shontayracquel.com
• Instagram: https://instagram.com/shontayracquel
• Facebook: https://facebook.com/shontayracquel
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/shontayracquel
• Youtube: @shontayracquel
• Other: TikTok-@shontayracquel

Image Credits

1) Red Sequin Gown- Photographer : @sabo24fps | MUA : @yanikbeaute | Hair: @tellyetouched.it | Styled by @thewardrobeconnect | Model: @_slaylene
2) Black & Gold suit with Large Hat- Model- @thejazminroze, Photographer- @matte_films, MUA- @makeupbykianalazo
3) Black and Gold Look (2 models)- Models- @not.nikaa @thejazminroze, Photographer- @matte_films, MUA- @linasiia_makeup & @makeupbykianalazo
4) Black & Gold Jumpsuit (runway model) @femi.nichole
5) Royal Blue Sequin Jumpsuit- Muse @_gilly_gill, Photographer @leslieandrewsphoto, Stylist @summertinch_, MUA @paintedbyjeremy, Hair @andreamonab
6) Purple Sequin Gown- Photographer: @leslieandrewsphoto, Model: @malia, Stylist: @summertinch_, Prop/set decorator: @culayrestuff, Styling asst: @geekjunky, HAIR: @blyelharris, Makeup: @paintedbyjeremy, Venue @laraiyasbodega
7) White 5 Model Group Shot- Photographer: @danielmphotography2996
Models: @mira.xa @janeemodels @victoriacofficial @ltruyellow @fashionfit4u
8)White Double Shot-Models- Joi Oliver & @mira.xa
Photographer- @danielmphotography2996