Aki is a self-taught designer, writer, poet, performer, creative entrepreneur and all-around creative who is passionate about building the creative industry and helping others unleash their creativity. She believes that the ability to create something from nothing other than your imagination is a gift that when harnessed unleashes amazing creations unto the world. With this “superpower” in hand, she endeavoured to go forth to unleash her creations by merging creativity and style.

She shared:

My fashion journey began in my childhood. As a child, I was always sketching! I would draw anything and everything that I saw or imagined! I remember I once saw my dad drawing my little brother when he was on the potty, and I was entranced. My dad was trying to potty-train this young boy and had told my brother that if he sat still, then he’d do a drawing of him. And so he sat, excitedly waiting for the drawing as he “did his potty business” I watched my dad put pen to paper and create what must have looked like a masterpiece in my tiny little eyes and from that day on I wanted the ability to do precisely what he did. My dad is an amazing man, and I had watched him do very many amazing things over the years, but this one thing, for some reason, stood out from all the rest! From that day forward, I started drawing everywhere!

Sometimes I would sketch some things and feel the desire to see them in real life! I would look at the outfits I sketched and think how cool it would be to have them or how they would best suit the people I knew. Those were the kinds of thoughts that filled my mind the more I drew. One day, to my mom’s shock, I took scissors to one of our hanging curtains! I remember she got back home and found gigantic holes in her sitting room curtains and me busy sewing away (my imagination had broken down the doors of reality and was insisting on being let loose into the world!)! I do not know how I escaped a beating that day, but I was asked never to do that again, to simply ask if I needed material; and she went ahead and gave me her old kitenges, which I turned into the beautiful things I saw in my head!

These are a few of my creative encounters in my childhood. The more I write, the more I remember. Looking back, I can say for sure I had the creative bug; I just never knew it because no one ever told me that this was unique in any way! I always thought that it was normal for people to write, draw and create!

Fast forward to high school, my classmates who would happen to chance upon my drawings started asking to see more, and some even asked for me to one day make them some specific outfit! One, in particular, said, “Aki, you are going to make my wedding gown!” About 10 years later, I did make her gown!

My lightbulb moment happened during my Form 6 vacation, I was sitting with my dad in the living room, and I decided to plait my hair, something that I always do. When I was done, my dad looked at me and said, “Aki, if I had not been sitting here as you did your hair, I never would have believed that you had plaited yourself! You are an extremely creative young lady! Come to think of it, you have always been creative since childhood!”

That was the first time it occurred to me that I was creative and that being creative is a gift! Those words stayed with me, and about 5 years later, I decided to teach myself Fashion and Design and pursue a career in this field! A lot happened in those 5 years leading up to that decision (but that’s a story for another day), and I am grateful for those moments that pushed me towards following my gift and using it to bless others!