We were lucky to catch up with Ayanna Muhammad recently and have shared our conversation below.

Ayanna, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Innovation comes in all shapes, sizes and across all industries, so we’d love to hear about something you’ve done that you feel was particularly innovative.

Starting my business has been the most creative thing I have done. Motorcycle industry is a male dominated industry, as a woman in the game I thought it was important I design safety apparel for women. Being able to not just design it but find a company that could manufacture them in sizes for all women has been a GREAT accomplishment.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

I am a girl from Chicago and degree of choice is in Information Technology. I am a computer nerd by day but a motorcycle rider by night. As a curvy woman rider I found a void in the fashion of motorcycle jackets. I came up with the concept and honestly the rest is history. I now design and sale jackets online via my website. www.CurvyRiderz.com

Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?

Trying to design jackets for curvy (plus-size) women on paper is very easy. Trying to get a manufacturer that can actually do it was a challenge. I had everything setup with a company as I started to place an order they decided their size chart was better. Here I was getting ready to go to shoes and show off my product and I had to completely drop everything and start all over with another company. The money and frustration was enduro give up but I kept trying.

How did you put together the initial capital you needed to start your business?

Amazingly I have had no financial backing for my business. I have word my 9-5 will trying to hustle my jackets. I did what most would say may not have been the best move but I pulled from my 401k and personal loans to fund my business.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.CurvyRiderz.com
• Instagram: Curvyriderzgear
• Facebook: CurvyRiderzGear
• TikTok: CurvyRiderGear

Image Credits
One pic I was in a scene from P-Valley (sitting on the bike with green bandana)