Navigating the Fashion Industry as a POC

[00:00:00.200] – Zahiyya

Welcome to the Designers’ Plants & Coffee podcast, where we discuss how to succeed as a designer while staying true to yourself, finding peace in the process, and making money doing what we love. Subscribe on YouTube and wherever you get your podcast. How did you get started in the industry?

[00:00:14.350] – Izetta

My first job was as a caseworker first, and then I was running a foster care unit. I quit my job with no backup. I’m a single mom. Then I spent five months trying to figure out what is it that I exactly wanted to do and wrote this list I came into buying and planning for retail. Then from there, I started on the sales floor in Macy’s, then I left there. Kept progressing in my field. So interested in being a big-time buyer. That was my goal at the time.

[00:00:44.630] – Zahiyya

Really cool. Basically, you didn’t have any formal training. You taught yourself. What clothing company did you start?

[00:00:49.590] – Izetta

I had a clothing company called Closet Freak, and I was doing my own designs. I had hired a seamstress, and I also repurposed, deconstrued constructed vintage clothes.

[00:01:01.510] – Zahiyya

What was the transition into Beauty Boom?

[00:01:03.950] – Izetta

I had my first business when I was 13 years old. I used to go organize and get rid of people’s clutter. I got into styling because a lot of people, they like the way I dressed, I guess. First, I had went into doing workshops and styling that didn’t really sit with me. Then I decided to transition into Beauty Boon in honor of my grandmother. I decided to use her name. Her nickname was Beauty, and her maiden name was Boon. I was like, It would be really cool to have that as a name in honor of her. I started off very broad with Beauty Boon. First, it was like it was lifestyling. I had coined this phrase about lifestyling, and then I was helping people with their businesses. Then I started scaling down. But even today, I am looking to change the direction of Beauty Boom because it doesn’t 100% fit where I am today and the impact that I could probably make to other people.

[00:02:00.180] – Zahiyya

Where is it going now?

[00:02:01.680] – Izetta

I feel like I want to move more into doing workshops, helping people to be better about their business. But also, I haven’t neglected my creative side so much. I want to tap back into some of these creative aspects. Whether it’s me maybe finally releasing the documentary that I pitched back in 2017.

[00:02:24.550] – Zahiyya

What’s that about?

[00:02:25.410] – Izetta

Really being part of the global majority, definitely Black, in the retail field and the impact that it had on people’s lives and careers. Because myself, I was considered a very high performer, but I never got past a senior manager position. A lot of times, It was simply because of this. I literally had people leaders in brands tell me that they would not give me a position because they couldn’t have a black person represent this business. My career didn’t progress the way I felt like it should because of it. I had direct reports who were not part of the global majority, and I mentored them and trained them, and they became VP. I know that I have the capability. I know that I made these businesses money, but I could never get over this hump. And a lot of that messes with you. I felt like these stories needed to be told. I felt like there were people that had lost so much mentally, emotionally, financially, fiscally because of what they experienced in these brands. I do want to somehow bring those stories to life.

[00:03:41.460] – Naima

How do you stay encouraged with those experiences I can’t say it.

[00:03:45.720] – Izetta

Definitely any place that did not honor me or respect me, I left. I literally had people leaders in brands tell me that they would not give me a position because they couldn’t have a black person represent this business. I ended up quitting my job, and I had been wanting to lead this place for so long because I was dealing with so much racism. It was getting to the point where it was impacting my mental health. It took me a year to really shake that stuff off and realize that that had nothing to do with me. It was them healing. It took me some time grounding myself in my own rituals. I like to work out. There were things that I had to do, therapy, because sometimes these people are out here to destroy you. And it’s like, you think that you’re strong, but you don’t realize that once you put your sword down after you stopped being the warrior for 20 something years, that you’re like, Oh, I’m really messed up. There’s something that I need to work on because they got me questioning my self-worth.

[00:04:52.670] – Naima

They think you are going to stay in that abusive situation until they sell you to the next plantation. I don’t have Stockholm syndrome.

[00:05:02.310] – Izetta

This is not beauty and abuse.

[00:05:04.690] – Zahiyya

I’m not doing that. If somebody wanted to get into the retail buying aspect of it, what point is what you give them?

[00:05:12.170] – Izetta

I think that if you’re a person that loves retail, fortify yourself, really stand in who you are and the skill sets that you bring. I think one of the things that really helped me in that industry was I was curious, I was inquisitive, I was big on understanding the business in totality and other people’s roles and how that impacted mine and vice versa. To know that whatever you want to do today, you don’t have to stick with that for 5, 10, or 15 years. I want to do something different, Sometimes every five years, sometimes every two years. It’s not permanent. All of this is temporary. If something is not working for you, you don’t have to suffer. You don’t have to be in silence. You can get up and go because there’s just way too much opportunity out here for us, for us to stay and suffer in one place. So understand your worth. Make sure you understand the marketplace that you’re in. Don’t rely on your employer to educate you. You go and you train yourself or get that education. To this day, I still take a workshop every month or something for a refresher.

[00:06:20.940] – Izetta

I have some subscription where I’m doing eLearning or whatever. I think that that’s very important to keep learning and keep growing and be clear about the impact that you want to have in the spaces that you are in. Because you may know how to do the job, but if you don’t know how to navigate and you don’t know how to take care of yourself or to ask for help or to learn how to grow, then you’ll be reliant and dependent on them and stuff.

[00:06:50.300] – Zahiyya

What services are you offering now for your clients?

[00:06:53.090] – Izetta

I do strategic planning, creative planning with them. I do analytics building reports, training. I definitely want to move more into helping people be better in their roles if they’re choosing to be a solopreneur, entrepreneur, or even if they’re wanting to go into the retail field, that I can offer some guidance and my own skill sets to help propel that person. I think people need to know that they’re not alone in what they’re experiencing in these fields and that you can talk about it without having the fear of losing your livelihood. Because if you can’t go work for a brand, but you have all these other brands that you could be partnering and working with, they don’t have to be these department stores or these specialty stores.

[00:07:42.530] – Naima

We have us. How do you find staying true to yourself in this social media world?

[00:07:49.790] – Izetta

Well, I’m actively in that pivot because I had started posting and then I just stopped. When it comes to my business pages on social media, There’s probably been almost a year since I’ve posted. It’s interesting, I get most of my clients or projects through word of mouth. I’m making more money than I ever had. It’s interesting, right? Right. Right. Right now, I feel like I’m still intact because I haven’t really delved so deep in putting my stuff out there on social media. I’m nervous about it. Also, I’m very vocal about speaking up about things that are happening in the world, at least on my personal page. Even though my personal page is private, there are still people who are following me there that if they don’t like something that I say, and I’m not going to stop saying it. That could totally impact my business. I know that if I’m taking a stand for anything, there’s always a potential that is going to impact. And really existing as a black woman, it does that on its own.

[00:08:56.180] – Zahiyya

It’s so crazy just by you being who you you’re offending someone else.

[00:09:02.950] – Naima

Latisha did a talk about being an introvert at work, and somebody in that talk touched on that exact thing. They’re uncomfortable with you being comfortable with yourself.

[00:09:14.700] – Zahiyya

They’re nervous.

[00:09:16.230] – Naima

That’s exactly what it is. I tell people all the time, the one thing Black people want the most, and this is men, women, children, boys, we want to be left alone.

[00:09:24.360] – Izetta

Hello?

[00:09:24.990] – Zahiyya

Leave us alone. Exactly. I’m not performing for you. I’m not trying to keep with whatever. It’s like, I’m not laughing if it’s not funny.

[00:09:33.470] – Izetta

It’s just I’m being me, and I’m very comfortable with that.

[00:09:37.830] – Naima

Great. I tell my kids that I teach all the time. If you need to be by yourself, then you tell me this is not the day that you want to sit with everybody else, and we will find a spot for you to work by yourself, because I don’t think you should be forced to socialize when everybody is not on all the time.

[00:09:56.010] – Zahiyya

But you can say that because you are- I know. I can say that. You understand that. You know what I’m saying? And introverted people do understand that you do need quiet time. You need place to recharge, to think, to do… A lot of people… I mean, I think the majority of people are extroverted, and they don’t understand… I mean, I can’t say everybody. People are now understanding the other side of things. But most people are just like, What do you mean you don’t want to hang out? And they think something’s wrong. It’s like, No, nothing’s wrong. There’s nothing wrong. There’s nothing wrong with you. Nothing wrong with me. I just need some time.

[00:10:28.880] – Izetta

Yeah.

[00:10:29.330] – Naima

It’s even Most of us are that oxymoron where we straddle both lines because I can go out and I can talk about fearless stress till I’m blue in the face. When I get in the car, I want silent. I’m going to need a day to recover. It’s a fine line, especially being a business owner.

[00:10:49.570] – Izetta

Yeah. I know when I was working in some of these brands, I would experience they would like to go out after work. It’s like, No, I’m going to go home. People would peg you as like, Oh, she’s not social. Social in this. It’s like, No, I’m actually social when I want to be, but I was just with you guys for eight hours. Why am I going to spend another hour? I literally have a family at home that I would like. Some brands that I worked at, it was fine. They didn’t hold that against me. Then there were other places that it would pop up in my review, and I’m like, Excuse me?

[00:11:19.720] – Naima

I don’t come to work to be social. I come to work to work.

[00:11:24.800] – Zahiyya

I always say, because it’s like I have a family, and You’re right. I spend eight hours there doing whatever. But I always say, I don’t drink, I don’t smoke, I don’t do all this stuff. So it’s just like, what am I going to do? Sit there and look at you?

[00:11:39.040] – Izetta

There was like some Christmas parties, and I watched these people get disgustingly drunk and not be held accountable for it. But if it was one of us, forget about it. Oh, did you see? Did you see? Did you see? And it was just so interesting to see that. And yeah, they are sending up their screw-inizing. You and who? I don’t want to be a part of A part of that at all. Good.

[00:12:01.340] – Naima

I remember when we first… I had been hybrid for years, years before COVID started. I’ve been hybrid, right? And so when COVID started, they’re like, Oh, you have to turn on your camera, and you have to do this, and you have to do that, right? And so I had set my camera up on a blank wall. There was nothing behind me, no pictures, no posts, nothing. White wall looked like I was in an asylum. I sit in this pink chair, and they couldn’t find anything else to look at. One day, the discussion actually turned to my pink chair because that’s all they could see. I was like, Are you kidding me? Are you kidding me? This is why there is a white wall. But I kept one wall because my house is very You’ve been in my house. My house is very well-decorated. My house is very well-willed. It looks like an artsy person lives here. They will never see that. They found out I had a business. They hunted me down at one of my pop-ups one day. Really? Yes. They hunted me down at one of my pop-ups one day because they wanted to know what I…

[00:13:08.300] – Naima

Because I don’t share these things. We’re not friends. I tell them all the time, We are colleagues. We are not friends. We are not. And I don’t apologize for it.

[00:13:17.130] – Zahiyya

So how do you keep your privacy and your integrity with yourself and still put yourself out there for your clients, the world to see?

[00:13:24.980] – Naima

I think the key is to curate your social media to your brand. You don’t know what else I do. All you know is what I show you.

[00:13:33.580] – LaTisha

You don’t like it? Unfriend me. Thanks for joining us. I’m LaTisha Winston of Keeping You In Stitches, along with Naima Dozier of Fearless Threads, Zahia of Region Design and Cover Me Chic, and Izetta, our special guest today from Beauty Boom. Thanks you all.