TiAsia Reconnects with Her Passion

TiAsia spends her days honing her design craft and making plans for a career in the fashion industry. But connecting with this passion wasn’t always easy. Growing up in the Bronx, one of TiAsia’s favorite things to do was sketch clothing designs. She dreamed about a career as a fashion designer, but she didn’t have access to the resources at home or at school and eventually gave up on it.

TiAsia was working as a home health aide when she moved into Louis Nine House (LNH), our residence in the Bronx designed for young adults who have experienced homelessness or aged out of foster care. She left her job at the start of the pandemic because of health and safety concerns—and soon, fashion started to work its way back into her life.

“Fashion crept up on me again when I got dressed on my birthday. I styled myself… and it just sparked something in me.”

TiAsia started sketching again and hoping to work in the fashion industry, a dream she hadn’t thought about since she was much younger. She showed some of her sketches to the staff at Options, NCS’s vocational, education, and employment program, hoping they would know of a program to help her grow her design skills. Elaine, a Vocational Specialist at Options, connected TiAsia with Custom Collaborative, an entrepreneurship and workforce development organization that trains, mentors, and advocates for and with low- to no-income and immigrant women. She enrolled in their Training Institute, a fourteen-week program that teaches the art, technique, and business of fashion design.

“We learned a lot of things, from pattern making, sewing, drafting, everything. It was very challenging, but I also felt at home the whole time.” TiAsia completed the program this summer, and participated in the graduation fashion show.

Custom Collaborative may have challenged TiAsia, but she also had many achievements in the program. She was so successful, in fact, that her class selected her to speak at their graduation!

After completing the program, TiAsia participated in a photoshoot with her fellow designers to show off their creations, and it caught the attention of some major publications, including Vogue!

TiAsia’s past has not always been easy, but through her hard work, dedication, and self-reflection, she looks forward to her future. She is currently working toward her GED and plans to go to college for fashion design so she can use that education to start her own clothing line.

“I’m very, very proud of myself. I never thought I would be able to feel this way,” TiAsia shared. “I can’t believe that I know how to sew. I remember I didn’t know anything about sewing, and now I know how to sew. I know how to make clothes from scratch.”

We’re also proud of TiAsia, and we can’t wait to see what she does next!