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

Samantha, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Can you talk to us about a project that’s meant a lot to you?

The project that holds a special place in my heart, is the costume I designed for the movie Black Panther Wakanda Forever. Growing up every chance I could get with my dad, I would make him play the game Marvel Ultimate Alliance. My father has always been hard working, It was rare for us to spend time with him. So his love for superhero’s and comics became something we got to share together. He opened up a world of endless possibilities and superpowers for me. Once I found out Spider-Man was also from Queens, just like me. I swore that meant I had spider senses and could fling webs out of my wrist. But unfortunately that didn’t work out.

Instead a decade later, I found a different kind of superpower; design and with an incredible team.

In 2021, I had the honor to work with the amazing Oscar Costume Design winner Ruth E. Carter. On Marvel’s most beautiful works of art, Black Panther Wakanda Forever. A story following Shuri as she dealt with grief and adjusting with new responsibilities in her world. Ruth Carter wanted to make sure we captured all the emotions the character was feeling throughout her journey. With that in mind, I had designed “The Bush” look Shuri wore in the film. It was my first time creating apparel and the amount of storytelling that went into every small detail that we created is truly magical. To work with Disney/Marvel to create a costume for a superhero I grew up admiring was a dream come true.

My biggest lesson was the power of yes and believing in yourself, saying yes to new challenges and being out of your comfort-zone.

My second most important project being the Humanrace Animal Pack NMD I got to design with Sarah Sabino and bring Pharrell Williams vision to life in such a fun way. To see my first color way pack was a special moment, and how the consumers reacted and wear them was a highlight of my career.

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’m Samantha Alvarado, I’m 23 years old and was born and raised in Queens, New York. My mother is biracial (black & white) and my father is Puerto Rican, making me a.. wonderful mutt. Growing up with completely different flavors, making me neapolitan ice cream. Unfortunately at a very young age I had learned that not everyone accepts different or new flavors, and that they stick to the one they know best. I thought that meant I had to do the same. So throughout elementary, middle, and high school, whichever one of my ethnicities had a higher population, that was the side I would claim, scooping out the rest of me and throwing them away. Even then I was constantly being rejected, for not looking white or black, or not speaking Spanish. I was left stranded without a stable identity. I needed an escape, a safe space to completely be myself. Luckily I found one early in life, I took to drawing and painting where colors were, well just that, colors. I developed a passion for creating my own characters and world where any shapes, sizes, or colors were welcome.

That same passion got me into the specialized High School of Fashion industries, where I majored in art all 4 years. My love for art turned into a love of design, when I began learning photography, and graphic design. That was the first time I had hoped I would be able to turn my passion into a career. But being the eldest daughter and the first of my family to attend college, I had the weight of the world on my shoulders. I was scared to let everyone down by going into a creative field. When it came time to go through the college application process, I got lost again. Now my family’s income defined me. My dream colleges were out of reach, even community colleges weren’t an option. I had to make the hard decision to drop out for my first year and work to save the money to go. Although the only choice I had, the decision made me feel like I failed… I had retired the idea of becoming a creative.

That year I began to work different jobs. In retail I learned how seasonal products worked, how the colors change for men, women, girls and boys. While working with the customers I picked up on the importance of consumers and how they shopped, and what they wanted out of products. As an assistant makeup artist, I learned color theory, making sure to color match and correct shades on anyone, but most importantly listening to the client and being able to bring their vision to life and leaving them feeling beautiful. I worked 2 more jobs in the food industry where I was exposed to different consumers everyday, all coming in with their own styles and trends, I would keep track of each one. That year quickly came to an end.

After all my hard work, I made it into college, undeclared.

Even though I had finally gotten where I’ve always dreamt of, for the first time ever the world felt less colorful. Being undeclared made me feel gray. I didn’t think dreams were supposed to feel that way. A few months into the semester, the Adidas S.E.ED program was presented to me. The program was the first of its kind, a 2 year program partnered with Pensole Academy, and was supported by Pharrell Williams, they teach everything you need to know in footwear design; briefs, sketches, tech packs, color/materials. It was created for women of color to be brought into the Footwear Industry, because the industry had been lacking people like us. I was hesitant at first. Yes, it meant design could be on the table for me. And back in my early teens I had a short lived obsession with Jordans and being in the hype/reseller world. But I couldn’t imagine leaving college for something so new and unknown. Yet, all it took was my mother to say, “You better go apply!” She believed in me, so I believed in me, I wouldn’t be letting her or my dad down. I’m forever thankful for both of them. I applied.

After a few rounds of interviews, I made it to the program finals. Which happened to be the same day as my college finals. I had to make the second scariest decision of my life, and I chose to see the competition through. I made the right choice, after the 3-day creator camp, I got in, I was one of the final 6.

The world got colorful again.

I was the youngest and least experienced. Yet it was the first place that accepted me for who I am, for every flavor I brought to the table. I no longer had to scoop any of myself out. I was seen and embraced for who I am, as a person and a creative. During the program I was taught the ins and out’s of design while working on real go-to-market projects. I would focus on the consumers and building out meaningful stories. In the midst of it all the color work came naturally to me, I shifted focus to color graphics and materials midway in the program. Since my graduation I have been fully engrossed in the colorful world of design, I went on to do footwear design, color graphics and materials on the HumanRace team and Color Design on the Yeezy team. I found my path to becoming a designer after all.

Throughout my journey so far I’ve learned that we are not the labels we are born with or into and that we have all the power to craft exactly who we want to be, as long as we believe in ourselves. Your path does not have to be and will not be, linear.

I am neapolitan ice cream, an artist, a designer, a limitless creator, a little bit of a nerd, a mentor. Most importantly I am a mentee. I share all of this in hopes that it will reach someone, inspire you or resonate with you. My mission is to pay all the opportunities i’ve gained and all of my learnings forward to the designers of tomorrow.

Is there a particular goal or mission driving your creative journey?

The most important moment of my entire journey occurred last year, that changed everything. Early this year I was a speaker for the Young Women’s Career Conference at the Girls Academic Leadership Academy. It was the first time I ever had the opportunity to speak with the youth on my creative journey. The school and students I was speaking to had a focus on the STEM program, meaning college was the path they were all on. That brought me a little bit of fear, fear of not having a degree or college experience, I wasn’t sure if my story was something they needed to hear.

But boy was I wrong, they were all so excited and the amount of questions they had that day, took me by surprise. In that moment I realized my story may not be the “typical” path, but it is a path to success that worked for me and can work for others. It was important for them to hear, so they can have hope and a model in case college doesn’t turn out to be something they want, they can now know that there is always another way. I didn’t have that growing up, It was always college, and that a creative career was limited and a “risk.”

That day unlocked my new mission. After the class, I had a line of middle school and high school students waiting to speak to me. I remember needing to hold back my tears at the sight of them. Only being a few years older than some of them, they were inspired, a few mentioned they sew and draw fashion designs on their free time and that they never knew it could become a career until today. My heart melted. But the last middle schooler who came up to me with a huge smile, had one simple question for me, “Are you a Latina?” It was my proudest “yes” I have ever given. Her face lit up and she explained to me so was she. That little girl changed my whole mission that day.

Since then I’ve been working my hardest on being a good leader. Knowing now by seeing first hand, the power in representation. The positive ripple effect and impact that representation, can change lives. It changed mine, the adidas SEED program was about giving women of color the space, and bringing them into the industry, without it I woudlnt have been in that room that day.

I’ve been working on this mission through volunteering for creative classes to teach the youth or events to bring the community together through art.

Any resources you can share with us that might be helpful to other creatives?

I think one of the biggest misconceptions as a creative is that we cant learn and evolve on our own, and we need professional degrees to become masters. There are so many resources out there, whether it be a free class somewhere, instagram/tiktoks/youtube videos, and books to help improve sketching and mindsets. Yet, the most important resources I was so afraid of and thought were out of reach for me, were people in the industry. You would be so surprised to know and hear how many people are open to mentoring or taking time out of their day to meet with you. So the importance of LinkedIn and reaching out to those in the industry that you want to be in or are already in, and finding mentors or mentees to keep spreading the knowledge and building those connections.

Contact Info:

• Website: SamanthaJoyAlvarado.com
• Instagram: @BlurryBlueFish
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/samantha-joy-alvarado/

Image Credits
leeorwild (for black and white bubble photo)