Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Edwina LaShan . We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Edwina LaShan, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Let’s start with the story of your mission. What should we know?
Nine years ago, we created “Edwina LaShan Fashion Blog” to bring attention to shopping under a budget and still being stylish. With a huge lack of fashion and diversity within our community, we wanted to show our supporters that fashion is obtainable, where ever you reside.
We wanted to spark conversation about fashion and bring awareness that fashion does exist in Chattanooga. We started off just by taking photos of ourselves to share our style. We would take photos around town in super bright and bold-colored outfits, in front of super-cool colorful art murals.
As time went on…. We started to use our blog as a platform to highlight all fashion influencers. We feature influencers from our hometown, surrounding areas, national influencers, international influencers, to celebrity influencers.
We began hosting fashion shows, modeled, worked as models and behind the scenes staff for Chattanooga Fashion Week, styled for photo shoots, and hosted our own events.
Our signature event “Unwine in Style” is a fashion networking event that highlights Fashion Designers, Fashion Stylist, Fashion Boutiques, and Fashion Influencers. It is a time for fashion lovers to come together, unwind, eat, drink, and enjoy fashion shows! It also a time to support local musicians and shop local small businesses.
Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers?
Al’leta LaShan studied Sociology and Criminology at Middle Tennessee State University, she has a Bachelors in Science in Sociology and a Double Minor in Criminology and Paralegal Studies.
Marquita Edwina Ector studied Fashion Design and Speech Communications at Tennessee State University, she has a Bachelors of Science in Speech Communications.
We are known for our fashion blogging and fashion styling. We have pretty unique styles. We are not afraid of color, prints, bright colors, or nude colors. We honestly play around in all colors. We believe fashion and style are about having fun and going outside the norm.
Trying new things. Colors are so much fun. You can stack color or add a pop of color. If you don’t feel comfortable with color, start with a nude piece and begin to add color. Overtime add more and more color. We love wearing head wraps and turbans. Colorful earrings.
We love to switch up our hair styles, big afros, braids, straight hair. The list goes on… We are not afraid to be ourselves, we try to encourage others to do the same… if you like it, wear it!
Don’t worry about what others think. Do you! Style it to your liking. It’s not about what you wear, but how you wear it! Be confident!
We love using our platform to highlight other fashion bloggers, fashion stylist, fashion designers, models, MUA, hair stylist, celebrity style, multi cultural style, and the list goes on…
Can you tell us about a time you’ve had to pivot?
We believe the road to success is not easy, but in the end… it pays off! People may not support or get what you have going on at first, but keep going. Maybe they will eventually wake up and understand. If not… that’s on them. You have to work hard, to get to where you want to be. Invest in yourself. Believe in yourself. Eventually the right people, the right investments, will come along to open the doors to get you to where you want to go.
In life we make mistakes. Allow grace for yourself! It’s ok to make mistakes, mistakes are a part of life! We wouldn’t be human, if we didn’t make mistakes. Allow yourself to be human, make the mistake. learn from the mistake, grow, and get better! Take your time… Some of the most successful in the world, didn’t succeed over night! It took some yrs before they achieved the success they wanted to achieve. Take your time, but never stop dreaming and believing!
We’d love to hear about you met your business partner.
We are sisters! Lol Thank God he put us in the same family! Being family has it’s pros and cons, just like any other partnership, we have our ups and downs, and disagreements, but we “get” eachother! We can trust each other to get the job done and to get it done right. We bounce off of each other when it comes to planning and creating ideas, we know what we like! We have very different, yet similar styles, so it flows together!
Contact Info:
- Website: www.edwinalashan.com
- Instagram: @edwinalashan
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/edwinalashan
- Twitter: @edwinalashan
- Youtube: https://youtu.be/ltHTaj_knRE
Image Credits
Casey Yoshida Millicent Garland Photography T Rowe Photography