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

Amina, appreciate you joining us today. Do you wish you had waited to pursue your creative career or do you wish you had started sooner?

it took me more than three decades, 36 years to be exact, to discover a career that really moved me. In the beginning, it frustrated me that I hadn’t started my millinery career earlier. But as I continued to develop my business, I realized that each prior job and journey, toil and trouble, brought a valuable lesson. And everything I’ve learned has been important to my success. This can be a hard concept for ambitious artists to embrace, so when I give presentations to students, I remind them failure is an important part of success. Hopefully hearing that allows them to give permission to be gracious with themselves.

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

My name is Amina Hood and I am a Kansas City native and a fashion milliner, or hat maker. I create custom millinery couture and produce a ready to wear line of hats that I sell directly to consumers and boutiques. The art of hat-making came to me by happy accident when a friend asked me to create a top hat for her to wear to Burning Man. I reluctantly agreed. To my surprise, as I stood at my kitchen counter and sculpted that mini black felt top hat with long purple feathers, my heart fluttered. I fell in love with the art of millinery.

A consistent thread- pun intended- of my career is my admiration for high-quality, beautiful fabrics. I have a background in luxury retail, including running Neiman Marcus’ million-dollar cashmere program. I have been involved marketing, buying, and creating visual displays.

After I made my friend the amazing ‘Burning Man’ top hat, I knew I needed training so that my technical skills could match my passion. So, I headed to New York City to study with renowned milliner Anya Caliendo.

In the times when I’m not sculpting custom millinery, or building a business, I am working on a capsule collection of cashmere caps & capes for the luxury contemporary fashion market. Amina Hood originals have been spotted at The Kentucky Derby, Royal Ascot, comic con and Paris Fashion Week.

What’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative in your experience?

My favorite part of being a creator is using my hands to create a perfect accessory for my clients’ incredible life adventures. While some readers might consider Kansas City flyover country, it’s home to strong supportive team of creators and artists. These creatives have embraced and supported me. I really appreciate being part of this community.

Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?

You have to love what you do, because creative journeys are like dragging a steamer trunk uphill. On an unpaved road. I’ve been designing hats for nearly eight years and have been developing my business for the past five years. My designs have been featured in Vogue, L’Officiel and have been on exhibit at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. As you can imagine, it has been a rollercoaster of wins, losses and many big moments of almost happenings. One time I was contacted by an editor of a widely-read glossy-paged monthly publication. A mention in this magazine does for a small business what a fairy godmother tapping her wand does for a girl without anything to wear. Long story short, the mention didn’t happen. While I was devastated in the moment, especially because I had already told my mom it was happening, I’ve learned to roll with the disappointments and be grateful when things go my way. I have to remind myself that I’m a milliner and not a magician.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.aminahood.com
• Instagram: @aminahood
• Facebook: @shopaminahood
• Linkedin: @aminahood

Image Credits
Samantha Levi Paul Versluis Meg Kumin