We had the good fortune of connecting with Kahlelah Goodine and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Kahlelah, what was your thought process behind starting your own business?
I had always wanted to run my own business, but when I was younger I had several ideas, with nothing concrete. Singing was my first love . . . God-given talent, but only shared in controlled settings (mainly, church). I think I entered one or two talent shows, but self-doubt and shyness at a young age put an unfortunate stop to that dream. Then, I wanted to be an artist! I love art and artifacts, unique finds to beautify a home or office. I even envisioned myself running a museum. But again, my love for accent pieces and abstract paintings did not translate to a career move.

No matter the path, though, the artsy side of me took the most precedence in my mind (I’m right-sided in the brain, with a decent sprinkle of lefty, lol), and over time, a love for fashion & style emerged. Using clothing as my artistic expression, coupled with my years as a fashion model and eventually a model manager, I found a deeper love for fashion in the form of designer placement. Runway was the primary genre of my modeling career, so my experience allowed me to study the runway: how to place designers together to curate a memorable fashion show experience. I learned that many independent fashion designers like to focus solely on creating and designing, without having to worry about putting together photo shoots, finding fashion shows to participate in, getting celebrities or influencers to wear their garments for red carpet appearances, product placement, etc. Knowing how the business works, showed me my concrete business path: designer management.

Thus, the birth of Designers of Los Angeles, co-owned by designer Faith Rudder.

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
Getting to this point was most definitely a journey! I moved from modeling on the runway and on the camera, to behind-the-scenes. The road was very rocky, in that being a model your look is your job, so if people don’t like your look then you don’t work. Not only does that hurt financially, it also hurts mentally to know that your income is predicated on being people’s cup of tea. I navigated the runway and ventured to more stability in promo modeling . . . which kept bills paid. But even then, as a promo model on steady income, even a regular household name may not want your look as a representation of their brand, so even then stability is relative. Nonetheless, I kept going. I kept my name and face out there. I kept meeting people, kept sending model submissions, kept working what was consistent.

Taking a backstage approach was a challenge in itself, working with people who thought I was trying to take from them: when I lived in South Carolina for 3yrs (temporary circumstantial leave from California) I recall working with my first boutique called Divas Classy Chique Boutique. The boutique owner was thrilled to work with me, and trusted me to build her customer base. She later accused me of attempting to take over her business to claim as my own, and needless to say, our relationship severed; unfortunately, she closed her boutique soon after. I learned that you can’t build with everyone. You can’t help everyone.
Nonetheless, I kept working with designers, I kept getting behind-the-scenes, kept cultivating relationships in the industry. I didn’t let the bad experience stop me.

Designers of Los Angeles, co-owned by designer Faith Rudder.

Designers of Los Angeles is a management firm dedicated to the growth of small businesses, primarily independent clothing designers. We are responsible for filling a designer’s monthly schedule with the following: photo shoots for Fall & Spring lookbooks, celebrity rentals for red-carpet events, wardrobe pulls for TV & Film, product placement in stores, registration for various Fashion Weeks and other runway platforms, selling opportunities at pop-up shops and other vendor events, themed curated showcases, etc. Our aim is to keeping the designer in the spotlight, while the designer keeps focus on their craft. Faith is an amazing woman, for whom I modeled since 2008. Our working relationship flows so well, and we are in complete synergy. We help each other, we build with each other, and I can’t wait for the release of the Designer of Los Angeles docuseries . . . coming soon!

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
If my girlfriends came from Chicago or South Carolina to visit me, I would first take them to The Gathering Spot to start the morning. I’m a member so I would host them for breakfast. After breakfast I’d take them to enjoy some sunshine either at Venice Beach, Santa Monica Pier, or a boutique hotel’s pool party in West Hollywood. After an afternoon of sun rays, we’d grab lunch at a spot along the beach. On the way home we’d stop at stores either on Sunset or Melrose for a little shopping. At home we’d either get re-dressed to head to dinner at Delmonico’s in Sherman Oaks, and then find a swanky bar in DTLA to end the night . . . or I’d cook dinner and we’d stay in for our own nightcap.

Of course other places to show them throughout the week would be the Hollywood Walk of Fame, the Hollywood sign, Universal Studios City Walk, LA Live, Malibu, and various rooftop brunches & parties. If there are tickets available, I’d take them to art exhibits like The 90s Experience or the Van Gogh exhibit. We’d also hit up pop-up shops and fun one-day events.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
I want to shoutout and give sincere thanks to Faith Rudder, for trusting me to take Designers of LA to the next level.

To the first designers who gave me the opportunity to get them going on the runway:

Shani Soils of G.G. Virka
Akon Anyiam of Grace & Moore
Maria Hildreth of Bellaria Swim
Pamela Williams of PW Boutique
Chandra Jones of Sitting Pretty Lifestyle
KeKe York with ASL Designz
Von Salters of Salters Avenue Collection

To the first platforms that allowed me to place designers for their showcases:

Columbia Fashion Week
Paramount Promotions & Sheen Magazine
COSMOLINX

To the show producers who passed me the mic to host:

Mario Benton with Runway Elite
Nikol Davis with OneStrut Models
Samuel Wesley (rest in peace) with Runway Rhythm

To the clothing lines that gave me the stage to coach their runway models:

Yolanda Mangum of Lady MV boutique
Chinyere Ibekwe of Yere Designs

Special thank-you to Cynthia Hudson of Aspiring Magazine for bringing me onto the team! Shoutout to lady bosses like Neko Cheri, Lynique Browning, Ashawna Lane, Shamika Saunders, and so many others who I follow and watched grow into dynamic businesswomen.

Website: lelah-international.com

Instagram: instagram.com/the_supermodelcitizen

Linkedin: linkedin.com/in/kahlelahgoodine/

Twitter: twitter.com/lelah_g_intl

Facebook: facebook.com/lelahgintl

Other: instagram.com/designersoflosangeles instagram.com/aspiringmagazine

Image Credits
Dametreus Ward Javohn Oddie

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