We recently connected with Mina Dia-Stevens and have shared our conversation below.
Mina , thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Can you open up about a risk you’ve taken – what it was like taking that risk, why you took the risk and how it turned out?
If someone had told me at 20 that I would feel this professionally and personally fulfilled as I do today at 50, I would not have believed them. My path to contentment could not have arrived without risk. Some risks I chose, and some risks were inevitable. Both have finally allowed me to fully submerge into who I desire to be as a woman, wife, mother, and Creative of color.
My professional journey in the fashion industry was not typical.
Early on, as a college design student, interning at Tommy Hilfiger in New York, I recognized the intense; and often cold work environments, lack of community, and minimal advancement and pay for Creatives who shared my reflection in race and gender; was overwhelming. There was no room in the industry for empath personalities or for those of us who had learning differences. The “Devil Wears Prada” persona was more than the norm, and those that struggled to align with that; were left to either stay; and manage our workplace environment anxieties or change course away from the mainstream fashion industry altogether. The use of amazing design school graduates as “interns” for fresh, innovative ideas, but little to no pay or security was starting to become prevalent.
I knew then that I wanted to eventually foster creative environments that allowed individuals to feel financially valued, seen, heard and individually celebrated for their abilities and talents. I also knew that independent design and fashion entrepreneurship was discouraged by academic design programs and professionals. So my dream, of establishing my own brand was placed on the back burner; but the fire never died.
Years as a fashion educator in secondary and post-secondary academic programs allowed me to invest in the lives of future young creatives for more than two decades. That part of my journey was extremely valuable and rewarding. I pushed my high school student-designers towards entrepreneurship and encouraged them to use their mastery of tech and social media to their advantage.
Unfortunately, my journey as a fashion educator abruptly ended during the pandemic, and I was left to soul-search once again. Just one year prior, I spent the summer with my family in West Africa. While I was there, I reflected and reconnected with my creative soul and voice. A voice that I had silenced for so long due to my desire to align with what the fashion industry’s blueprint dictated I should be.
While in Senegal, I spent hours talking to my father about my family’s history, which had been thoroughly preserved for centuries by griots.
I returned to Goree Island, where I heard the encouraging voices of my ancestors…calling me to creatively return to what I’d run from for decades. It was time to finally risk it all.
I decided to step away from fashion education permanently; and focus solely on building Royal Fulani Living; a lifestyle and fashion brand that is inspired by my unique bicultural upbringing in the U.S. and my birthplace of Senegal, West Africa. Although we are still in the fledgling stages of building; the contentment and joy that is sparked by a dream no longer deferred was well worth every chosen and inevitable risk.
Mina , before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?
I was born in Dakar, Senegal in West Africa. My upbringing was very unique. I am the product of an amazing African and American blended family unit. My parents divorced when I was an infant, and I spent my childhood living between two distinctly different continents. I always like to say I had the best of both cultural worlds.
My initial introduction to creativity was through fine arts classes as a child. I attended several programs throughout grade school and high school, but my introduction to fashion was from my late teens to early twenties as a runway model. As much as I loved modeling, I gravitated towards the designer’s role in fashion.
I ended up at Moore College of Art and Design as a student. Following graduation, my professional experience included various roles in the fashion industry, ranging from designing junior activewear apparel to shoe design and trend consulting abroad. I eventually became a faculty member at Moore for 15 years. My final journey as an educator involved researching, establishing, and implementing an extensive curriculum for 9th, 10th, 11th, and 12th-grade creatives in the area of fashion and textile design. In addition to nurturing student creativity, I developed a curricular component geared towards cultivating my students as young professionals. This included reinforcing the importance of creative accountability, professional etiquette, and social expectations within their class/future work environments.
I am currently expanding my family’s West African textile business into the brand Royal Fulani Living.
Royal Fulani Living is an African and American lifestyle and fashion brand. We create beautiful Senegalese-inspired prints and combine them with luxury living room and dining room decor, as well as apparel. We even have specialty products for your pets. What sets us apart from others is that we’ve researched, created, and trademarked our own original African textile designs and had them printed on new and modern fabrications so that we can offer you unique products in gorgeous colors, prints, and textures that represent our Senegal.
What we do is extremely unique because the history of West African textiles involved centuries of design, production, and ownership by European companies. The origin of those designs is purely of African inspiration and is solely derived from African cultures. Those textiles are then sold to African vendors who benefit very little financially and/or creatively from their sales in comparison to European corporations. Therefore, perpetuating a false impression that the consumer is purchasing, wearing, and experiencing true “African” fabric.
Our flagship website offers an extensive range of our products, and we previously had a contract with Wayfair for our dining decor. We are also a part of the pioneer cohort of the Amazon Black Business Accelerator, where we recently launched our official Amazon store. We collaborated with SHEIN (SHEIN X Royal Fulani) for their SHEIN X program that supports and promotes independent creatives.
We recently added an educational component to the brand that caters to a community of beginner sewers with learning differences. Our YouTube channel Royal Fulani Living Sew School shares sewing tutorials that are carefully curated for the neurodiverse, newbie, and non-sewing beginners.
Is there mission driving your creative journey?
My driving goals are and always will be directed towards ownership, ownership, and ownership. As a veteran fashion professional, having complete control over how, when, and where my work is used, and determining the value of that work, is liberating. Many creative industries give us THEIR blueprint of how, when, and where OUR work is used, and they tell us what our value is. That can be disheartening. Who we are as true Creatives is not just about our work. It is a way of life. It is innate and permeates every fiber of our being. I don’t just encourage ownership for myself and my family, but for my creative peers. For so long, there were very few routes and resources for creatives who desired to financially thrive as independents. Industries are now evolving to include, support, and partner with talented individuals without requiring them to relinquish total control and ownership.
Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?
In 2016, I took a professional leap of faith and left 15 years of teaching collegiate-level fashion design to restructure and develop a professional fashion program for high school students. I was a faculty member at a rare charter high school where all the courses were taught by actual design professionals who were leaders in their fields. Our charter was recommended for non-renewal by the School District of Philadelphia in 2017-2018, and we were fighting to stay open.
In 2019, the school district determined that the school’s professional design program was too valuable to eliminate, and that they would keep the school open and transition it into a city-wide architecture and design high school.
In the midst of the uncertainty of the pandemic, the school district changed course and decided to close the school permanently. It was an extremely difficult and mentally challenging time for my student designers and fellow faculty.
Although I was unsure of what was next for me, I was certain that it was time for me to creatively explore and move professionally on my own terms. I leaned into all of my professional experiences, all of the pros and all of the cons. I leaned into every single lesson learned and shifted full throttle towards building my own brand.
The most rewarding aspect of being a creative is waking up every morning knowing that I am doing what I love for a living and for life. There are too many of us feeling trapped in toxic work environments because the world tells us that this is our only option and that our choices are limited. I implore others to tap into that creative thing that you explore as a hobby or side hustle. That does not always mean leaving your full-time profession. Indulge in those things that simply bring you joy and enhance the lives of others. 
Contact Info:
- Website: www.royalfulaniliving.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/royalfulaniliving/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/royalfulaniliving
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@royalfulanilivingsewschool
- Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/RoyalFulaniLiving/
- AMAZON Store: https://www.amazon.com/stores/RoyalFulaniLiving/page/A1870985-FED1-4DF0-9FD1-378073DEEE91?ref_=ast_bln