LU: I know before you launched your line, you worked for several non-profits. Tell us about some of the places you lived, worked, traveled to…
MB: Throughout my graduate studies, I worked for the Harlem Children’s Zone, a nonprofit run by the well respected Geoffrey Canada. I worked as an academic advisor for high school students participating in HCZ’s artist program. This allowed my creative side to be fostered simultaneously with my academic side. While there, I started a girls group, where female students met once a week to share their feelings and challenges. It was during my time with this group that I began to tap into my interest in, and commitment to, women’s issues. After graduate school, I helped design a micro finance project for USAID and the Jamaican consulate in Miami. I also worked for a Miami-based national nonprofit that offered afterschool programming.
I am addicted to traveling and other cultures. I have visited 30 countries, and lived in Europe, Africa and the Caribbean. As an anthropologist, trips are never just a vacation for me, but always an investigation. This has greatly affected my approach to fashion. I’ve had the privilege of seeing fashion trends start in underground subsets in London and Paris and make it the US three years later. I recognize original African influences in color, fabric and silhouette throughout its diasporic communities. This international perspective is a major reason I am currently manufacturing the Enlisted collection in India.
LU: Tell us about your line, and the message behind it.
MB: Aliakim is a distinctive accessory and clothing line that blends fashion with activism. Each piece uniquely melds cultural images with high-end fashion elements to artistically raise awareness of current world affairs. Our mission is to provide cultivated women everywhere with clothing and accessories that express their advocacy as sophisticatedly as their femininity. Giving meaning to the term “revolutionary chic,” it is the intention of this line to put the “wear” in “awareness” and, as a result, inspire change.
LU: Where do you see it going in the future?
MB: I am moving to New York to better market and expand the awareness of my brand. I plan to open a design studio where I will host weekly sales parties. I intend for this studio space to be a beacon, haven and hangout spot for fellow artists, Aliakim soldiers and fellow creatives. In a year, I will open my first boutique, the first of many. I am also in the process of organizing an event that will focus on the role of fashion as an empowerment tool for women. Throughout the next year, I will host these sales parties and empowerment event in major cities around the country, like LA, Atlanta, Chicago and DC.