Wildflower by Aurora James

Author:Aurora James [James, Aurora]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Crown
Published: 2023-05-09T00:00:00+00:00

The Tyre sandals were a hit.

They sold out at Moda Operandi’s trunk shows and at Opening Ceremony, as well as on our little website. With so many orders coming in, I was able to hire my first employee, Samantha, in the summer of 2014. It was such an exciting time and felt like a dream coming true.

I had met a woman at a cocktail party who worked for a developer who owned the South Street Seaport, which had been badly hit by Hurricane Sandy. They were looking for ways to revitalize the neighborhood, and after several spirited conversations, she offered me a space on Fulton Street where I would pay a percentage of sales as rent. That meant I now had a storefront, which could double as an office. It would allow people to try shoes on in person (which meant they would no longer have to come to my apartment—hooray!).

And so in November 2014, after one last apartment photo shoot for Meghan Markle’s blog, The Tig, I moved Brother Vellies from my Bed-Stuy living room into what was an abandoned Ann Taylor store that still had flood lines on the wall from Hurricane Sandy. The Okpo sisters took the space next door.

Thanks to all the press coverage Brother Vellies had gotten, I had a surge of inquiries and a few other retailers interested in placing orders but no clear strategy for how I could afford to support this increase in demand. So I went to the New York Small Business Development Center, a free resource, where I was actually told, “You are a Black woman, there must be tons of free grant money out there for you.” This was not the first time that someone had said this to me. I had heard rumors of government grants and corporate initiatives to support Black and brown entrepreneurs. But actually finding those resources was another thing entirely.

I had, however, applied for the Council of Fashion Designers of America (CFDA) Eco-Fashion Challenge, which was essentially a grant for fashion businesses that adhered to a sustainable model for all or parts of their collection. I was not even sure how they were defining “sustainable” but thought Brother Vellies was a great fit. Plus, the prize money was seventy-five thousand dollars, a staggering amount for someone like me. But first, I needed a detailed business plan with financial projections to be eligible.

At the New York Small Business Development Center, I was introduced to Ricardo, an African American man my age with a gentle voice and a disarming smile. I showed him everything I had and told him that I felt way in over my head. I explained that the financial wherewithal of running this business on a shoestring budget was overwhelming, and that I thought often of all the artisans, how excited they were to be part of this company and how much they were counting on me to get it right. That was when I began to cry.

“No need to get emotional,” he said kindly.

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