Today we’d like to introduce you to Lailaa Robinson.
Hi Lailaa, so excited to have you on the platform. So before we get into questions about your work-life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today?
Since I was a child, I was always a creative. I spent a lot of time with my great-grandmother Eula. Her house was like heaven for me, I could paint, I loved writing stories, she taught me how to crochet and she had a beautiful mint green sewing machine. I believe her machine was an antique. I remember being ten and for Christmas, I got my first computer. My mom asked me for my list and the only game I desperately wanted was “Barbie Fashion Design”. You could design her clothes and print them out on Felt Paper and actually dress the doll. I just loved clothes, I always knew that I would make clothing in some way. In high school, I would be the one to cut up my friend’s jeans and T-shirt’s so we can wear them at different school events. When it was time to graduate from high school, my parents refused to allow me to attend fashion school, so I ended up taking up journalism and making bare minimum grades just so that I could just say I had a degree that I knew I had no intention on using. My grandmother Paulette sent me money to purchase my first sewing machine. At the time, I couldn’t buy it because I had to pay my light bill but shortly after, I got one and taught myself how to sew. It was the only way that I could feed myself in Texas, I made clothes to survive. It was therapy for me, it was a form of expression.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
Sewing for me hasn’t always been easy. In the beginning, the quality of some of my clothes were really terrible, it took so much time for me to study and research different machines and fabrics and the way they worked together. I wanted to master sewing so bad I would use my bill money and be facing evictions, disconnection notices, nights I didn’t eat because I began to buy fabric and other materials that I needed. But it worked, I started making clothes in 2012 so it wasn’t as trendy as it is now. A lot of people didn’t want hand-sewn clothing so I suffered financially sometimes. I didn’t have a large clientele. That year I abruptly moved from Texas back home to Chicago fleeing an abusive relationship. I fell into a deep depression because I left my clientele that I built, at the time the friends that I had who supported me. It was hard, really hard starting over. It was a painful process.
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
I am a fashion designer, I specialize in prom dresses. I also have a ready to wear brand where I design, cut and sew certain quantities of special pieces that are sold online. Those are my babies, I’ve went through so much in the last ten years working so hard just to see others happy, it makes me happy. I’m proud that I am able to operate a business alone. I have built so many long-lasting relationships with many parents and their daughters from me just producing awesome work. I don’t have a large social media presence at all, my prom page has less than 500 people following. It’s amazing to me how much business I get just from building trust and rapport.
Before we let you go, we’ve got to ask if you have any advice for those who are just starting out?
Stay true to yourself, build confidence and follow your heart. When I was in college I interned with a fashion designer and her words to me were, “Why don’t you just give up, you are already in your 20s why do you even want to sew? You don’t even know how to sew.” As hurtful as that was to hear, I knew God wanted me to be bigger than what I could dream. In the beginning, I let my fear of not being perceived well interrupt so many opportunities that I received over the years. And I wish I didn’t. Take advantage of any and everything that you can that will advance what it is you want to do. YouTube was my best friend lol. It took me ten years to finally see my vision playing out the way I’ve always wanted it to and it was worth it!
Contact Info:
- Email: MajFatal@gmail.com
- Website: www.majfatal.com
- Instagram: https://instagram.com/laiproms?utm_medium=copy_link
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/prom.dresses.391
- Other: https://instagram.com/majfatal?utm_medium=copy_link
