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

Hi Colleen, thanks for joining us today. It’s always helpful to hear about times when someone’s had to take a risk – how did they think through the decision, why did they take the risk, and what ended up happening. We’d love to hear about a risk you’ve taken.

Recently, I have taken the risk of renting a space to sell my clothing line, CQuinn, at the Glendale Galleria pop up shop: The Drop at Glendale. It’s a large investment of my time and money while I’m in the middle of wedding season – my busiest season since I make custom wedding dresses & offer alterations. While this will be an incredible learning experience for my brand – seeing what styles/colors/fabrics sell or not – it’s scary to be putting in such a large personal commitment when I don’t know what the payoff will be exactly. I also am not much of a risk taker – I’m pretty good at talking myself out of doing things – but with the incredible support of my family & loved ones, I can always count on them to help me take a risk that could end up with a great reward in the end!

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

I started sewing around age 5 and continued developing my skills, culminating in studying fashion merchandising at the University of Georgia and later fashion design at FIDM. After school, I worked with smaller brands, first developing wearable tech and later managing the design & production of a contemporary women’s brand. Throughout my career, I also ran my side business of designing and creating custom special occasion garments, which developed into me starting a line of women’s clothing last year. While I am the owner/fashion designer of my own brand, CQuinn, I also work with other designers and making their brands. This can include anything from sewing & patterning samples, sourcing fabric and production mills, and technical design to production sewing and creating custom special occasion pieces. It’s been an incredible journey, and I can’t wait to see what comes next.

We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?

I had to unlearn “negotiating with myself”. This is something a friend’s mother mentioned to me when I was up for my first year review in my first “big girl” job. She told me that people (and especially women) have a tendency to “negotiate with themselves” when asking for what you want at work. Essentially, you ask for “x” salary and immediately say “oh but I understand if things are tough right now and you can’t make that happen”, etc. She said, be direct and ask for what you want and then shut your mouth! The worst they can say is “no”. I often have to remind myself of that: “the worst they can say is no”. It was so hard to unlearn, and to tell you the truth, I’m still trying to unlearn it almost 7 years later! We’ll get there!

What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?

I personally always feel most rewarded when a woman wears something I made and she just has that look of “everything is right”. It’s an incredibly empowering moment for her, and that’s why I make clothes. I find that women often have to fight to empower themselves, and if I can help them feel empowered just by looking in the mirror, then it makes the fight just a little easier.     

Contact Info:

• Website: www.cquinndesigns.com
• Instagram: @cquinn_designs
• Facebook: CQuinn

Image Credits
Brooke Squires (not all of the images were taken by her though)