We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful owner of Essence Gold, Fa Dullah. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Fa below.
Fa, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today. Let’s kick things off with your mission – what is it and what’s the story behind why it’s your mission?
The mission is to inspire others, help people express their values through fashion/lifestyle and to look good while doing so. The meaning of Essence Gold is to have your Essence, (which is your natural state of being) shine like Gold and watch your whole life transform. It’s all about getting back to our original selves and operating from that standpoint. There is no temporary shine on the outside that can overshadow inner peace and happiness. Once you shine from within, that light has no choice but to illuminate on the outside.
Fa, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?
My story first begins with music. At the age of 6, I began rapping and by the age of 12 I was fully invested, writing my own lyrics and constructing songs. By the time I attended college, I got my degree in Graphic Design and started designing random projects such as my own album covers and for other artists, logos, etc. I gravitated towards Typography a lot since writing was already my forte. After graduating, I started to gain an interest in the fashion world. I wanted to create pieces that first spoke to me and where I was in my life at that present moment. For example my first t-shirt design said “Become Bigger Than Your Fears”. At the time, I was taking a leap with starting my business, leaving a job and figuring out my way. The statement is saying become bigger than the self limitations that you are placing on yourself. Once you actually get started, you realize that the things you feared so much are so minuscule and sometimes nonexistent. I also knew that others could benefit from this statement so that was also important to me. This then led to more powerful affirmation pieces such as “Love Before Anything, God Before Everything”, “MindLOVE”, “My $oul is Rich”, “Self Care (is a priority)”, etc.
One of the feats that I am most proud of is that the pieces speak to various people from all walks of life. Whether it’s a different race, religion, age; the designs usually invoke a positive reaction from people. That is what feeds my soul, knowing people are inspired by what I create.
Where do you think you get most of your clients from?
I would say the best source of gaining clients has been word of mouth. Funny story from a customer; She wore the LoveGOD t-shirt and said she was walking down the street and people kept saying stuff like “that’s right!” And “I agree” and she was completely dumbfounded until she realize they were reading her shirt. I always provide additional business cards with orders so they can always be passed along to others.
We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.
I would say early on around when i first started my business, I wasn’t too happy with the manufacture I was using to create my pieces. The quality was lacking overall and I was missing out on opportunities due to their schedule being backed up. At that point I felt I was at a crossroads and didn’t know exactly what to do next. I then begin to do extensive research on how I can do it myself. If it’s one thing that I will do, it’s figuring it out and seeing if it’s possible to do myself. This led to me ordering all of the equipment I needed, going through trial and error of what works/don’t work, etc. what I loved the most about this decision was that I was able to move at my own pace, create when I needed to and not have to rely on a third party. This display of resilience not only showed that i was the owner of a company handling the day to day duties but also doing the back end work as well.
Contact Info:
- Website: essencegold.com
- Instagram: Instagram.com/essencegold
- Facebook: Facebook.com/essencegold
- Twitter: Twitter.com/essencegold