On February 21st, The Griot Institute welcomed Iyana Ife as a speaker for one of the spring series talks. Ayana Ife is a modest fashion designer with over fifteen years of experience dressing women of all sizes. She helps women feel beautiful, comfortable, and heard by empowering them with unique styles that represent their values. The event brought together people from different departments and majors in one room as Iyanna took us through her journey of discovering what she’s passionate about and how she got to where she is now.
One of the main ideas she tried to emphasize in your speech was the perseverance needed to achieve your dreams. One of the great examples she gave in her speech to push this idea was her experience taking part in the famous series called Project Runway. On this series show that is made for designers, Iyana was rejected several times; she stated that this process was so challenging that in one of her tries to get into the show, she changed her whole idea to fit what she thought the public or judges wanted and ended up still getting rejected. But she got accepted when she decided to stay true to herself and try again. All those difficult moments paid off. She went on to make it to the final and emerged as a runner-up.
Her story inspired many people who attended the event. “ The one thing that stood out for me was how she described modesty. I remember she said that her plan for modest fashion in the future was to make it accessible to everyone because clothing shouldn’t be labor. Still, rather modest fashion should be something that anyone can wear that will describe what modesty means to them” (Gloria ‘24).
As Ayana launches her sports collection, she hopes to continue inspiring others by joining the fashion industry.
