We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Aisha Armstrong a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, Aisha thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Let’s start with the story of your mission. What should we know?

My name is Aisha Armstrong and I was born in Memphis, TN. I grew up in a small town in North MS…Coldwater. As the child of a Principal and Educator, education was always stressed to me at an early age. I can even remember moments of actually having a school desk at home and using it when doing homework assignments on my own.

I remember my mom telling me how I always had a thirst for knowledge which eventually led me to testing gifted at the age of 7. I participated in mostly every academic club and won contests throughout the state and national level.

This strong educational background led me to graduating as Valedictorian of Coldwater Highschool in 2011 with a GPA of 4.0.

I accepted an offer of full tuition and board at the University of Arkansas as Pine Bluff as a United States United States Department of Agriculture (USDA)/1890 National Scholar.

Upon graduation I accepted an offer from USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) Michigan as a Soil Conservationist. In my 9-5 work life I work to build strong relationships of landowners and students with Agriculture.

Aisha , 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?

Aside from being academically inclined, I was also a very creative young child. My paternal great grandmother and my mother were seamstresses in their spare time and I was first introduced to fashion from then on. I always loved colors and patterns. This led me to being an art student and being one of the more flashy dressed children at school and eventually people were excited to see what I would wear next and dubbed me a trendsetter. From early childhood, I have always been intrigued with beauty, fashion, sneakers, and just all around having a fun life. Thus “Designs by Esh” was created in 2016. Named after my nickname and love for designs. I have always been known as a trendsetter in fashions with the way I dress and put looks together. I began creating my own bleached/distressed clothing which started a buzz unbeknownst to myself and in a short amount of time I started to get order inquiries.

Each piece was a handmade and custom creation of my revamping t-shirts. I also sold distressed jeans and denim jewelry. Designs by Esh also offered styling services which are referred to as “Styled by Esh”. This included styling consultations/personal shopping/creating fashion looks for customers. I put my business on pause when I reached a creative peak. I wanted to do something different.
In August 2017 my YouTube channel: “Life as Aisha” was born. Which I thought would be easier than just starting a lifestyle channel and showcasing my life to the public. It began as a vlog channel and later transitioned into much more: makeup videos, fashion hauls, sneaker hauls, hair reviews, budgeting advice, etc. YouTube was fun and so many of my peers were encouraging during the process. I reached 1000+ subscribers and 60,000+ views. It continued until April 2021 as I realized I could produce the same content at a faster rate with Instagram.
Becoming a content creator has taken my life and business in such an exciting direction. Not only can I maintain working daily but when I get off of work I can create content for several companies I’ve always liked and never dreamed of working with. Also beginning a new phase of entrepreneurship.
In the future, I see myself encompassing all my passions into one. Revamping Designs by Esh. Making Life as Aisha a full-time brand and bringing YouTube back into the fold.

I started another Instagram page: “Sole of Kicks” which focuses on my love for sneakers. That page grew quickly and opened many doors for me. From 2020 until now I’ve had numerous IG live streams/blog features showcasing my involvement within the sneaker community.
I hope to one day to work with a major sneaker brand to create a signature shoe or just collab on an already existing model. Possibly design clothing and style celebrities and take my overall passion for fashion to new heights.

We’d love to hear the story of how you built up your social media audience?

I was organically into taking pictures of the outfits I wore daily. For me, Instagram became a thing when I was a freshman in college. I loved to dress up going to classes so it wasn’t even a question whether or not I would share it with my audience and my page grew from there. People started asking me for fashion advice and tips and places I shopped. Now it’s a thing to share content and record daily habits but I’ve been into vlogging long before it was popular to do. Hashtags matter and are a great way to expand your reach and also find others. I consider myself a micro influencer and I love my small niche of followers because we genuinely support one another. They really are my extended family and friends.

Are there any books, videos, essays or other resources that have significantly impacted your management and entrepreneurial thinking and philosophy?

I always recommend The Four Agreements – Don Miguel Ruiz because it’s a great starter for anyone on a self discovery journey and changing their way of thinking and how they respond to life experiences. Some others I would recommend would be The Alchemist-Paulo Coelho, New Jim Crow- Michelle Alexander, Milk and Honey- Rupi Kaur, and Vibrate Higher Daily – Lalah Delia

Someone whom I listen to often is Sarah Jakes Roberts. Tracee Ellis Ross, Denzel Washington, & Issa Rae are a few I like to hear their viewpoints and way of thinking.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/_lifeasaisha/ https://instagram.com/soleofkicks
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AishaArm
• Youtube: http://www.youtube.com/LifeasAisha
• Other: https://linktr.ee/_LifeasAisha

Image Credits
Not applicable