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

Carmen , appreciate you joining us today. Naming anything – including a business – is so hard. Right? What’s the story behind how you came up with the name of your brand?

The thought process behind my company name was absolutely based on my lifestyle and the love I have for the motherland Africa. I would travel back to Africa every so often and I would bring back authentic African goods to sell in the diaspora. I always wanted my business to be a representative of who I am. My name is Carmen DeCharisse. De, is another way to spell “the”, so I decided to use the first part of my middle name. Carmen, is my first name. Afrik, is another way to say Africa. So that’s how I came up with DeCarmenAfrik. DeCarmenAfrik is a namesake fashion brand.

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

Growing up, I always been placed in leadership roles. I played basketball throughout my childhood and also played on the collegiate level. After graduating from college, I had a very hard time finding jobs I actually liked. I graduated with a psychology degree and most jobs required you to have a master’ degree. And I just wasn’t ready to go back to school for that. So I would work these jobs I didn’t enjoy at all. I was basically working to pay the bills. I always knew working for someone else wasn’t apart of my goals for myself. I always wanted to do my own thing and be a entrepreneur. At that time I started creating other ways to make income on the side. I would sell my unwanted clothing on posh mark, I also started do makeup and I created a beauty channel on YouTube. That’s when I started to tap into my creative side. Basically I did a lot of things until I found my passion and purpose. Even though growing up I played sports but I also was a girly girl. I loved high heels, clothing, and makeup. I can remember before ever game day, I would wake up early in the morning before school to get my hair done . After ever home game, I would come out the locker room well dressed with high heels on. So fashion has always been a way for me to express myself. DeCarmenAfrik basically started from the love I have for fashion and Africa. I’m so proud of my brand because it’s a true reflection of who I am. I moved to Nigeria in 2019 to kick start my brand. I sacrificed a lot for the sake of my company. The personality behind my brand represents, bravery, strength, determination, confidence, femininity, romance, and luxurious. We manufacture and produce all our garments on the African continent in a sustainable way. We select from dead-stock and vintage fabrics. We only produce in limited batches to reduce garment waste. My mission is to motivate any female out there, young or old, is to never give up on yourself or goals no matter where you are in the world. Things hasn’t been easy for me at all but I took that bold step to go after the life I want for myself. I can remember in college writing down my 5 year goals and to look back over my life and actually living out most of those goals. No matter what life throw at me, I never gave up. I truly believe I never gave up and not giving up because of the character that was built within me during my basketball years. I honestly believe God has been molding me for these current days that I’m living in.

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

Living in Nigeria has been a real life testimony that illustrates my resilience. I moved to Lagos, Nigeria based on dreams & hopes. Although before moving to Nigeria, I used to visit so often but it’s totally different from living there. Not having certain things I never had to worry about in America. For example, such as not having a car. And Nigeria is a place if you don’t have reliable transportation, it can be really stressful especially when you are try to scale and grow a business from the ground up. No matter what I felt as setback, i tried/try to view them as impermanent. Because God has truly been faithful and good. I reframed my thinking to see setbacks as a opportunity for my personal growth. Since I been in Nigeria, I learnt so much about myself and as a business owner. I always had confidence but I’ve unlocked another level of confidence. I learnt to be just thankful for what I have, because some people have it worse than me. I learned to be optimistic at all times because tomorrow just might be my day. Nigeria isn’t a easy country to live in but I took that brave and bold step for the betterment of DeCarmenAfrik. In America, to start a sustainable fashion brand is expensive. They expect you to make so many pieces as a start up company and I honestly didn’t have that capital. But I can make how many pieces I want to make here in Nigeria and I also get to be there every step of the process. I truly believe because I stayed determined, that’s why I can see the growth of my brand. We just recently opened our first showroom ever here in Lagos, Nigeria. This gives potential clients the opportunity to come in and try our clothing on physically and it bring more awareness to our brand. God has truly shown his faithfulness in my life. I’m so thankful.

Can you talk to us about manufacturing? How’d you figure it all out? We’d love to hear the story.

When I moved to Lagos, I enrolled into this fashion school to learn to ABC’s of the fashion industry and also learned how to sew. This was in 2019 and then Covid happened so I wasn’t able to finish school. So at that time, I made it my priority to find a tailor that would be producing our garments. Our first tailor was good but wasn’t what DeCarmenAfrik needed. We needed someone who understood the different silhouettes of women. I wanted someone who could draft patterns and cut. So we had to find another tailor. Our first collection was basically produced off free hand. And we had a hard time selling the pieces because they just didn’t fall on the body correctly. So we had to make adjustments and hire another tailor. Currently we work with a female Streamtress. She cuts, sew, and draft patterns. We manufacture all our garments on the African continent. I’ve learnt how to choose quality fabrics and which materials best represents the brand. I’ve learnt so much from my tailor during this process. We’re learning from each other. I don’t think you would know who’s right for your business until you just try out vendors/tailors. Don’t be scared to make those adjustments and let people go. You will definitely find the right manufactures that understands your goals for your company.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.decarmenafrik.com
• Instagram: @decarmenafrik
• Facebook: decarmenafrik
• Youtube: decarmenafrik

Image Credits
@james.oflagos