The month of April I claim it to be a month of empowering women. I will be conducting interviews with successful, and up and coming professional women. From these interviews I hope to inspire, promote and bring about sheer goodness !!
Once upon a time.... in January 2011 I was curled up with a cup of tea and digestive biscuits, the wonder of Black Girls Rock Awards shone upon me, I thought i'd bring a lil piece of the action to blighty!
The concept of Black Girls Rock is a non for profit organisation for the youth; to empower and motivate young women and turn around the negative way in which black women are portrayed in the media. The organisation seeks to mentor and build these youth with high self esteem and self worth through various educational programs
As a woman whose motivated and inspired by 'real' women what better way than to bring our true heroes to the forefront. I'm constantly filled with beaming pride when I see my peers filling the roles they have worked hard towards.
So people lets raise our glasses (cue something bubbly), here is a clink to our hard work and perseverance to attain our dreams.
Without further to do our first empowering interview is with
I meet the beautiful Chantell in the buziness of St Pancras after she has finished from a thought provoking meeting about the next steps of her ever growing fashion line.
Chantell WaltersHer personality, character and talent is one which has drawn attention from various bloggers and esteemed editorials such as the New York Times fashion pages, Essence Online and Grazia Daily. Her fashion story started at the young age of 5, with the influence of her trendy young mum who she was 'embarrassed' by, because she didn't fit the norm at that time, thankfully her mum continued to regularly visit boutiques finding treasures and experimented with hair and beauty styles, and "after hours of dressing up in her [mothers] clothes" her mother ultimately became a fundamental influence in her life. Mamma Walters precious word for Chantell during her teens were that "she hadn't raised her to become a follower".
28 yr old Chantell made her first dress at 19, after graduating from the prestigious London College of Fashion her fashion story really began.
PASSION.. her greatest passion in her life is her cute Son, his innocence and "carefree attitude to life" and aptitude for being anything he wants "if he chooses to be buzz light year, he will be" inspires her and drives her determination. Since being a mother she feels even more passionate about her goals in life, more so, to be a great role model to her son, to teach him that "working hard" will get him anywhere he wants and enable him to achieve anything.
the MOTHER, Chantell sometimes likens herself to Will Smith's character in the film the Pursuit of Happiness. Encouragingly she has a strong family network who help her to achieve her dreams, even though her trips to New York can be bittersweet being away from her son, she is able to maintain continuity in her sons life by exposing him to London's rich arts culture and relishes reading time.The hard work, juggling her mother designer role, for her is all worth it for the long term. As with all us women she has the innate ability to "multi-task".
RISK taking, it seems is fundamental to Chantell's successes, on one of her trips to New York during fashion week she walked straight through to sit front in the coveted front seats of a runway show! "If you don't go out there, no one is going to know you exist" her wise words of WISDOM for those who don't want to live with regret is "if you feel like doing something follow your instincts and go for it !"
MOTIVATION 'Carpe Diem' seize the day. To keep her in her energetic state of mind her daily routine is reading something positive and regularly listens, in particular, to motivation speakers Les Brown & Eric Thomas the Hip Hop preacher
her main FAVOURITE DESIGNERS Alexander Mcqueen, Hussein Chalayan, Balenciaga, Ralph Simmons for his Menwear, Vivienne Westwood.
'No one can make you feel inferior without your consent' Eleanor Roosevelt
Whilst at uni one of her teachers, tried to make her feel inferior by constantly predicting her very low grades, irrespective of her unconditional offer for the university and constant high grades that surpassed average marks i.e., achieving "A", needless to say Chantell Walters survived through this and frenemies by her unrelenting "Tunnel Vision" of her goals and surrounding herself with successful, encouraging people and mentors; in addition, listening to successful business stories helps her to focus.
FUTURE is her inspiration, her childhood interest on sci-fi has heavily influenced her designs, consciously or not.. Looking at the names chosen for her previous collections AW10 Space Odyssey , SS10 The Hitchikers Galaxy go to show she and her designs are is very much fashion forward, unique and most importantly wearable.
Chantell Walters plans to re launch herself and her brand very soon. Definitely one to watch with collections that leave a statement and beautiful fluidity with much personality.
I left Chantell feeling pumped from her infectious and positive energy.
Check out her designs, her next collection is sure to be another show stopper which are to involve interesting prints, I imagine not too far removed from her science fiction origins.
www.chantellwalters.co.uk
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