We were lucky to catch up with Cassandra Youngs recently and have shared our conversation below.

Cassandra, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Did you always know you wanted to pursue a creative or artistic career? When did you first know?

From childhood I had always been drawn to the arts of all forms but when paint, clay or other mediums had no longer inspired me, I suddenly became captivated by my grandmother’s sewing room. At the age of 14, I hassled my grams to teach me how to use her old Sears Kenmore machine. I think she may have secretly grumbled at the idea and later vocally complained on my lack of pattern usage. Little could she understand the manor of my creativity and how my mind saw the shapes I could cut and sew together to make something beautiful.

The initial spark that lit a fire within my heart to learn was a selfish desire to create my own clothes for school. It was another form of creative expression for me, a fresh one. Nothing like anyone else was getting into so to me it felt exhilarating. A full on dare to be different.

Cassandra, 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?

For everyone that doesn’t know me, I am a small town girl to my core. I grew up in the town of Henderson NY with only 45 kids in my high school graduating class. My childhood was full of building forts, raising hogs, climbing trees, shooting guns, and doing a list of chores before I left the house in the summer.time: Included but not limited to: Mowing the lawn with a small tractor.

I am the oldest of my two younger sisters and we were all raised with exceptional values. I would have to thank our parents for instilling the best balance of masculine/feminine energy within our family. There was always love, but a lot of discipline. Sometimes it was helping pops change the oil in a car or helping mom prep dinner. There was always something to be done.

These were exceptional life skills that were instilled at such a young age, they’re all very present in my life today.

My high school was like a modern day reparatory school… we had FFA, Technology, Drivers Education, Home Economics and if you didn’t excel there we had an out program attached to school where we we could learn a trade. So without further ado;

I must also give homage to the teachers that were supportive towards my creative self expression. Maybe if I didn’t know where I would end up, I have to believe they all may have seen it coming from miles away. My art teachers Roxanne Locy and Jeri Haldeman advanced the curriculum so I iad more classes to take and Any opportunity I had to hall pass to the art room was usually granted by other teachers.

My physics and chemistry teacher Mr. Reff must have known I was reading numbers backwards. The periodic table of elements were my personal hell. A chaotic vision board of numbers and letters.

Now that we’ve covered a wide range of subjects most people would never have guessed about me just by first glance, we can move onwards to the moment I knew Fashion Design was a full on career choice.

Freshman year of college I had enrolled to study Studio arts at SUNY Potsdam.

I had participated in a student organization called BSA. Black Students Alliance. I know…. I know. I am not even sure I am politically supposed to say that today…. but it’s what they called it and for what ever reason it was just a huge group of kids from all walks of culture and backgrounds coming together as freshman sharing common grounds. . It was a melting pot of culture and a whole world of fun. 2004, we threw a fundraiser event and it just so happened to be a fashion show.

Wow if I could tell You the excitement of making clothes to showcase had quickly overcome any feelings I had to pursue a career at teaching Art.

The summer break came fast, and I was over the thought of another year in 20 degrees below zero weather…. I quickly researched different schools that offered fashion programs and I graciously stumbled across the art Institute of Miami. Blue skies and Beaches, I will take it.

At the age of 19 I drove down with my personal belongings packed in the trunk of my car and the rest is another story for another day.

All I can tell you is I just turned 40 and I’m still on the journey to pursuing my career as a couture fashion designer. I am established yes successful, yes, but also moving onward towards new goals every day.

What are things I can sincerely share with everyone that I pride myself on is a story of where I came from and how far of come today. I also have managed to make a living at my craft, and I am one of the only designers that I personally know that hand cuts and so is everything from start to finish. It’s truly some sort of a dying skill amongst our newer generations.

In your view, what can society to do to best support artists, creatives and a thriving creative ecosystem?

Pay close attention to quality over quantity, open your eyes to the amount of pollution that is accumulated from fast fashion. Mindfulness when making purchases in fashion would ultimately lead to the success and support of our local creative community.

For you, what’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative?

I have the ability to choose, I get to wake up each day and choose what I feel like creating. Sewing was a gift handed down from my Grandmother Youngs. My projects come from my heart, they are always fulfilling. Sometimes I sell and I make a boatload of cash and other times it’s just A simple soul project that yields a boatload of joy.

Contact Info:

• Website: Wew.cassandrayoungs.com
• Instagram: Cassandra_youngs
• Facebook: Cassandra Youngs