There’s been a trend on Instagram over the last couple of months where certain Influencers have posted reintroduction dog themselves. Since the pandemic has place many of at home, we’ve had more time to scroll, leading to more follows, which I’m sure is what lead to the uptick in timeline intros. This prompted me to think about doing my own intro. Truth be told, I’ve accomplished a lot for someone with no formal training, but simply a vision. Time to dust off that resume of mine…

I have always had a love for fashion. Everything I’ve learned about it was self taught. From the designers and design houses, to their origins, pronunciation, and seasons, collections, fashion weeks and their schedules. I even know the difference between black labels and purple labels. With that said, I always knew that I wanted to be in that realm, even if I had to create my own. Which I did.
My first deep dive into fashion was my very first fashion brand: Fashion Week Mississippi. Yep. That’s right. I own a fashion week! Crazy, right? And in Mississippi, at that! I started it back in 2012, and at the time, it was unheard of. I did interviews with the New York Times, and was on many of our local news channels throughout the state. I developed an internship program with three of the major universities in Mississippi, along with college reps at each campus.

A few of my interns, college campus reps, and designers at a Fashion Week Mississippi Meet-and-Greet.

Fashion Week Mississippi, or FWMS, went on to have two events (and boy, was that a struggle, lol) before doing its first Bridal Fashion Weekend. ( I told you I am a visionary.) I created some of the best work of my career at that time.

One of my best creative moments to date. Even got a like and comment from THE Margaret Avery @margaretshugavery on Instagram!

But enough about that.
FWMS led to my next development, The Pruitt Agency. TPA was a modeling agency that started off as a school and developed into a full-on booking agency! We book music videos, commercials, runway shows, magazines, promos. You name it. I was even booking stylists and MUAs. These ladies, and a few gents, were afforded the opportunities to work with some of the reality stars you see on TV now (and some you’ve probably forgotten about, lol)! Sometimes I can’t believe I’ve done all of that myself.
I would be remiss if I didn’t tell you that it was hard. Really hard. I mean hard hard, y’all. One time at a poor event, I cried all the way home in the car for an hour straight. I mean ugly cry. Kim Kardashian cry. Snot and all. Because it was so hard and I felt like such a failure.
I didn’t realize it then, but all that was required to take me to the next level. It had to be done. It had to be hard. I learned some tough lessons. Such as you’ll never be able to please everyone. There’s always copy cats and haters. And the number one thing: you are going to fail. There’s no way around it.
As I reflect on this journey, and that time period, I can’t help but feel proud. That was a lot for a girl from Mississippi. The timing wasn’t quite right. But now, maybe it is. Fashion Week Mississippi has always had a shocking ring to it. 2021…? Until next time…

Yours in Style,

XoXoMo

Checkin’ For Me

Chicago Style Cult

chicagostylecult@gmail.com