We were lucky to catch up with KIMAYA MCPHERSON recently and have shared our conversation below.

KIMAYA, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today What’s the backstory behind how you came up with the idea for your business?

Today we continue to serve brides all over the country and cover their wedding fashion needs, from the bride, mother of the bride to the wedding party. Growing up I did not understand my talents, Although I had a profound curiosity to create dresses, I had no idea how it would play a part in my life today. In my adolescent years I arrived in the United States and understood that I could do anything! After years of struggling with myself I finally had the confidence to move forward with doing what I love to do, creating bridal and eveningwear dresses. It is my passion, my excitement and my ultimate escape into fantasy.

I knew that my business idea was a worthwhile endeavor when women began coming to me for custom dresses. They wanted pieces that were different and unique to their personality and style. This has always been my superpower of being able to pick style, silhouette, color best fit for my clients and creating pieces that they love.

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

My name is Kimaya McPherson. I am a fashion designer and owner of Kimaya McPherson Bridal Couture. I went to school for fashion design and merchandising. After my time in college, I knew I wanted to have a brand in fashion however it was not until after my own wedding I decided that this was the path I will go on. I wanted a dress that was unique, had color and details that were not of the typical wedding gown. I wanted something that was regal and bold, opulent, fitting with my fantasy of the bride I wanted to be. This led to designing the Queen’s collection. A collection of wedding gowns to serve to women who wanted the same thing as me. A collection that was for the woman who wanted to be the center of attention and remembered on her wedding day! The collection sparked my career as a wedding dress designer.

Today we continue to serve brides all over the country and cover their wedding fashion needs, from the bride, mother of the bride to the wedding party.

Learning and unlearning are both critical parts of growth – can you share a story of a time when you had to unlearn a lesson?

One lesson I had to unlearn was that even though I did not know much about building a brand is that I am so worthy of fulfilling my dreams. I mentioned before of my uncertainty of my talents and abilities. I had to realize that my talents are special and that it could turn into whatever I wanted it to be. I get to define that, God gets to define all that it becomes, but no one else! Anything contrary to that knowing from within is a lie and must be ignored or unlearned.

There is something about knowing that I have got this and that no one can stop you from your path to greatness except you. This confidence drives me forward and it drives my brand Kimaya McPherson Bridal Couture forward. There is something about that knowing that changes EVERYTHING.!

We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.

There was a time in my journey that I only dreamed of doing what I do today. I would often take my dresses that I created for my final collection in college and let them hang from the drapes and from the top of my doors in my home and I would lay in the middle of my apartment floor and just dream!

I remember thinking to myself that one day I would have a collection of white pieces, (this was before I even knew I would get into bridal wear) and that the pieces would be about the renewal of glory and the strength of a woman. I wanted the collection to be dedicated one’s higher self. It was the rebirth of a woman reclaiming all who she is. I envision that the white pieces would be captured with the skies in the background and on top of water symbolizing serenity and power.

A few years later I began creating a mini bridal collection, which is our current collection. The collection has three different looks. To be completely honest I had not visited the campaign location for shooting the collection before shooting. That day it rained all day and by rain, I mean thunderstorms and lightening. Every circumstance concerning the weather for an outdoor campaign photoshoot stated that we should cancel or reschedule this photoshoot, but we continued to have faith and moved forward. We persisted! We had the faith that since the date was selected for the photoshoot that we will go until the very end.
As the day went forward the projection of rain went from raining 100% to 80% chance of rain. As we got closer to the location, it went from 80% to 40% chance of rain. By this time, I was already sobbing because I could not believe how faith was working in our favor. As we were approaching the location, I joked around saying to our team, “won’t it be interesting if the clouds started parting?” Crazy enough the clouds started opening and the skies became blue! I mean blue skies and sun! We had an amazing time and the photos turned out magnificent!

As some time went by, I remembered the time I spent dreaming of the collection over the water. I had a complete epiphany!!! My mind was blown! I could not believe that this was the moment, The moment I was praying for when I felt that I had no way of living this dream! I went back to my journal and found all the journals I wrote about this collection being dedicated to one’s higher self. I realized that it was in details, the exact same vision I had except now in reality!

Faith is something powerful! It a tool we can all utilize. If you have a vision, write it down and trust and believe that if you do not give up in it will happen. It will happen in detail! It will happen in its timing. It will happen the way it should happen. Maybe for you, it has already happened!

Contact Info:

• Website: www.kimayamcpherson.com
• Instagram: @kimayamcpherson
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/KIMAYAMCPHERSON

Image Credits
Dioburto Photography Vivian Author Photography Islandboiphotography