Meet Ngozika Okeke | Conscious Fashion Designer & Philanthropist

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

Hi Ngozika, can you walk us through the thought-process of starting your business?
My thought process behind starting my business was that I wanted to build a company that fused my love for creating, fashion and philanthropy.,; specifically philanthropy that aided survivors of sexual assault and domestic abuse.

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
My professional career started out in a multi-cultural marketing firm. Having been formally educated in business marketing, I found myself after graduate school with two degrees and a marketing career but no real love for the field, in the capacity that I was working. I’d been designing part time since 2007 and had only keep it as a side job of sorts whilst still pursuing a career in marketing and advertising. It paid the bills and was an interesting job most times, but my true passion was in fashion design and my other interests lie in volunteering and other humanitarian efforts. It definitely wasn’t an easy transition from corporate America to a full time career in fashion because it was hard for me, at times to try and be a part of both worlds and effectively do both. I wanted to excel in my marketing efforts but I also wanted to produce collections consistently so it wasn’t long before I knew for sure that I needed to plan to make my exit and run a profitable fashion business. The lessons I learned along the way I currently apply to my fashion business, I keep a list of goals to hit weekly,monthly and yearly. Planning is essential when you are responsible for providing a salary for yourself and your team. I’ve also realized how important it is to stay true to your brand and the reasons behind stating it. So many industries are saturated nowadays and for someone trying to make headway in a field that they may feel is saturated, could be overwhelming. You have to stick to it and run your own race despite what others may be doing. Keep moving forward and constantly work on improving.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
My favorite spots in the city consist of a few places starting in the fashion district and ending in Malibu. Having been in LA now for 7 years, I can say that a truly interesting place to me is Santee Allee and all that the heart of the fashion district has to offer. You can get lost in the vastness that is the district. From fabric to production houses, everything that an artist could want is there to see. A few other things I think are great to do (sans pandemic) are getting to a game show or talk show filming. There are a ton here so getting to shows like ‘Lets Make A Deal’, “The Price Is Right’ and other shows could be pretty easy if you plan ahead. The Santa Monica pier is a great spot to check out because there’s so many places to eat-which is always a good thing to do on vaca. After Santa Monica, you can check out a lot of the surfing spots in Malibu or do more eating at Nobu.

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
I’d like to dedicate my shoutout to my family who has shown me unwavering support and my two design mentors that introduced me to fashion design and construction. Without Patsy Madu, (the woman,who has now passed on, who taught me how to thread my first machine and drape) and my mentor and beloved friend, Stephanie Thomas,who prompted me to follow that dream and pushed me to my first collection debut in 2009, there would be no brand today as it exists nor would I have experienced so many of the amazing opportunities that came my way at just the right time due to their mentorship.

Website: www.ngozikaokeke.com
Instagram: @FashionDivaNgo
Twitter: @FashionDivaNgo
Facebook: Ngozika Okeke Clothing

Image Credits
Yoshawn Smith @sartorial_losangeles