Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Lynne Dixon-Speller. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Lynne, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today We’d love to hear the backstory behind a risk you’ve taken – whether big or small, walk us through what it was like and how it ultimately turned out.

My husband and I made the decision to develop Edessa School of Fashion after my previous institution closed down. I had developed the program, enhanced the curriculum and selected the entire faculty. The department was thriving and doing really well as far as the placement of graduates was concerned. People thought that I had reached my peak, I believed it also. As the college was closing, I became the final president and was responsible for breaking the school down. As I dissolved it, I realized that I was simply building it up backwards. I paid more attention to what I was learning and decided that we could actually build a college after that, and have it be high quality. We assembled a team from the previous institution and began to design the college. Naming the school, logo, curriculum, policies, facilities, catalog, 501c3, Incorporation, admission policies, etc., all had to be developed. We then had to approach the State of Wisconsin for program approval. That step was supposed to take two months. We had poured our life savings into this endeavor and had the opportunity to lose it all. The process with the state went back and forth and back and forth. It began to look like we would not get program approval. After two years, and a white paper written by my husband to the state, we were approved, and that’s when the battle for survival began. Our team stuck with us, but no one beyond them believed in us. We still had a lot to prove. No funders would invest in us, no banks, no donors. We were on our own financially, program approved with no money. This is where the risk met the road!

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

I began to sew at the age of nine. When my parents got divorced, my grandmother Edessa spent more time at my father’s house. I was with him during the summers. She taught me how to sew, and did so as a teacher. She had a degree in Home Economics from Tuskegee Institute which she received in 1920. She taught like a teacher and that was the real difference. I excelled at sewing and became very proficient at it. I studied Interior Design at Western Kentucky University, and during my senior year decided that I didn’t connect with that major and I wanted to change it. I had really connected with my textiles courses. My major advisor suggested that I finish my BS degree in Interiors, with a strong focus in Textiles, and then that I get my MS degree in textiles and clothing. I celebrate her everyday, that was the best decision of my life. After I received my master’s degree, at the age of 21, I entered the PhD program at the University of Maryland. I knew I wanted to become a college professor and felt that was the only path to that particular goal. I matriculated there for a full year when they informed me that my goals would take 6 to 8 years. I decided that I didn’t have that to give so I quit school for the very first time. A year later I was invited to teach at the University of Delaware as an Assistant Professor, ultimately realizing my goals. I had attended six universities in the five years that it took for me to achieve two degrees. Fisk University, University of Tennessee Nashville, Western Kentucky University, Tennessee State University, Howard University, University of Tennessee Knoxville. I didn’t lose not one credit hour. I wanted to experience HBCU’s and was able to hit three of them during my undergraduate years. The experience helped me to understand what students of color are dealing with in mainstream universities. Tolerance. Not acceptance or celebration. Just tolerance.

My career was spent in higher education as a professor, instructor, department chair, dean and president. I have done it all. I have taught at five institutions of higher learning. University of Delaware, Mount Mary College, MATC, Art Institute of Wisconsin, and Edessa School of Fashion. I have taught apparel and interior design. As I mentioned before, I attended many Universities while in Undergrad and graduate school, and taught at a few, I understand best practices very well. The college that we have developed is the result of those best practices. I learned what works and doesn’t work as far as curriculum is concerned, how to include all students and make them feel respected and accepted, not just tolerated, and how to do the same for my faculty. Everyone in this endeavor is important, equally.

While teaching at the University of Delaware, as an assistant professor, I wrote a grant to the Center of Teaching Effectiveness to develop a course in the apparel department that celebrated the contributions of people of color in the apparel industry in the USA. The course was called “Ethnic Influences in American Fashion”. It was a hit and allowed me to connect with The Black Fashion Museum in NYC and it’s founder, Lois K. Alexander. Because of that connection, I donated three garments of mine that I had designed for international faculty competitions, and that had either won or placed, to the museum. Later, the Smithsonian Museum of African American History and Culture absorbed the collection at the Black Fashion Museum including my garments. I learned five years ago that one of my garments was curated for the permanent collection of the museum. I literally died and went to academic heaven. I knew that no one in higher education in the Milwaukee area could boast such an achievement, and that it solidified my career as an academician. I had reached the top, finally. I would also like to mention that the course I wrote has been taught at three of the institutions I’ve worked with. It continues to be taught to this day.

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

Allow them to become properly prepared. Education is the greatest preparation available to us all. Somehow artists continue to use the term “self-taught”. It makes me cringe every time. This is my personal quote, “You cannot teach yourself something that you do not know”! Everything that I’ve learned, I was taught by an educator or an expert. Including my Grandmother. She was an expert and an educator as well. This society has become extremely anti-education. They have put a price tag on education due to the student loan crisis. Yes, some people do very well without a formal education, but they are few. Some people receive an education and do not do well, they are also few. The mean is the student who seeks formal education and uses the tools it provides. A good school not only educates you in your field, they also prepare you for the professional world. Granted, talent is not teachable, but technique, and execution are. At Edessa, we hone talent and teach technique and execution. We also prepare the student for the professional world. Some students don’t have that example at home, we take up that particular space with them. Make education accessible, for everyone. I am a boy Mom, if either of my boys had decided to study apparel design or fashion marketing, there would have been nowhere for them to attend in this area. The only other program in the area is at an all girls catholic college. At Edessa, the gender or religion of the student does not determine their eligibility to attend our college and to take advantage of our offerings. We do not discriminate, we are open to all!

Can you tell us about a time you’ve had to pivot?

When someone pulls the rug out from under you, get a new rug! My entire team had the rug pulled out from under them at a vulnerable time. We were all working together at the Art Institute of Wisconsin, when the corporation decided to close our location. A lot of people thought that they new the reasons, but I can clear that up here. It was not because of the quality of the education we offered. It was not financial. It was the federal government targeting the For Profit colleges in the US, and making sure they shut them down due to what a few had done. The shut down our accreditor, with no time to start the process with another one. Most of our locations were accredited by HLC, which also is the accreditor of UWM and Marquette. The exact same level of accreditation. Our location was newer and was not. We had built an extremely strong program and had garnered accolades from many of the apparel companies in the area as supplying the industry with the best prepared graduates in a very long time. We couldn’t let that go so we decided to follow the MIAD model and to not take no as an answer. Several faculty members of MIAD (formally the Layton School of Art) decided to keep the school going when the school decided to close many years ago. They worked for free and kept teaching and building the school back up. This new school became MIAD. We had already embarked upon our journey when we heard this story. It inspired us to keep going. We used the last few months we were together to start developing Edessa. The team is still together and going strong. The entire team is a volunteer army including the administration. Only the instructors are being paid currently, but we hope to change that soon.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.edessa.fashion
• Instagram: @edessafashion
• Facebook: Edessa School of Fashion
• Linkedin: Edessa School of Fashion
• Twitter: edessafashion
• Yelp: Edessa School of Fashion
• Other: Googling will provide you with many other publications and interviews.

Image Credits
All of these images were taken by me or friends.