Discarded to Divine, DeYoung Museum 2007

Thinking back to childhood memories, I can remember the point in time when I was introduced and even more curious about my mother’s sewing machine. That curiosity changed my life forever as I learned to sew on that old machine in the basement of our home. At that point, sewing and fashion became an integral part of my life. There was not one semester of high school that I missed of a sewing class with Ms. Fryer, nor a chance to make and alter my new handmade clothes. Fashion became a creative outlet for me and a dream to be apart of. Moving away from home to my undergraduate school I decided to major in Fashion Merchandising, I learned the business aspects that I was so eager to explore. The idea of my very own boutique that sold my own designs and vintage seemed to be the most fusible vision of my future which led me to fashion school. In time I caught myself heading into the city; working on fashion events at dance clubs and underground venues that featured street wear and art wear. 

For personal interest, the business side of fashion was not enough; I persevered through it knowing sometime in the future that this education had its benefits for my label. I also knew that this education was opening my eyes to an industry that is heavily focused on business and merchandising. So I continued learning, trending, marketing, buying, management, and believe or not environmental sustainability. With a few extra liberal studies and science credits floating around, I pondered in these courses learning a great of information on environmental topics in the world. These courses changed my views forever, and taught me new ways to perceive earth issues. I was fascinated with sustainability and questioned why this was not a common practiced norm.  So I became an advocate and leader of my University’s ECO (Environmentally Conscience Organization) organization; working on different campaigns we researched. With sustainability in mind, I felt pulled away from fashion, which has certain evils and did not fit my mold of ethics. Although something kept me near this creative outlet and I focused my attention to fashion in a new way. I started to design much differently, using organics but mostly vintage fabrics and recycled items found at thrift stores. Working with these new materials brought back my motivation, making me striving to new levels. After undergraduate school, I put my Fashion Merchandising degree into play. I started my fashion line JDY of originals, handmade, one of kind pieces and sold them in area boutiques in the city (LUXX, R.A.G., Earth Shine to name a few). I also started a job as a Visual Specialist, dressing windows at former Lazarus department store, now Macy’s. Unfortunately this specific creative experience ended when the doors closed due to low profits. Relocation to a suburban mall was offered, though I had other plans for my future. I felt the long awaited desire to apply for graduate school to study fashion design pulling me. When Lazarus-Macy’s closed I realized my calling to fulfill a dream of being trained as a professional fashion designer at a master’s level.

The Academy of Art University and Simon Ungless helped make this dream come true. I packed my moving truck and traveled West without looking back only leaving the future open to travel though maybe this time New York or Europe.

When arriving in San Francisco, I grew into a mature designer with the guidance of the faculty here at the Academy of Art. Design and construction courses tightened my sewing skills in order to fully understand all aspects of design in ready-to-wear. In this time period, I was able to start work in the fashion office at the University. This experience gave me knowledge of how the school’s department worked as well as the development process of the annual fashion show. I then took a position within the school as a sewing lab technician; this allowed me to spend more time to sharpen my technical skills. Other part time jobs included working at a local Discount Fabric store which helped me to expand knowledge of fabrics and trims. I was also able to spend time working in the industry with internships at New York designer Kai Kuhne and with local San Francisco designer’s Margaret O’Leary and Nice Collective.