As a kid I was always making things, but it was the things that I could wear that fascinated me the most. I would string beads together into bracelets, necklaces, even stretchy rings. I was immediately attracted to rich saturated colors and anything with shimmer and sparkle. I remember I designed my first two outfits when I was around 7 years old. I drew one blue dress and one yellow blouse and matching skirt, and my parents mailed the designs to my uncle in India to have them tailored to my size. When I received my two new outfits I was completely shocked that I was wearing my own designs! I wore them proudly to school often.

It was in highschool that I started to become worried about my future career. I was unsure if I wanted to pursue a creative career, because I honestly was not sure if I would be successful. I also had taken a liking to science, which only added to my confusion of which path to choose. Ultimately I applied as a life science major, and graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Biology from UCLA.

However, in my final quarter at university I made the sudden decision to completely switch gears and pursue fashion design. Professors and classmates often asked, what is your next step? What job are you looking to do after graduating? I didn’t have an answer. All I knew was that none of the jobs biology graduates typically applied to were sparking joy for me. During this quarter I was following an Indian TV series, and every episode I was in awe of the heroine’s outfits. I would hit pause multiple times to catch all of the details, colors, beads, embroidery, jewelry, everything. I probably had her character’s entire wardrobe photographed on my phone. I would even contemplate other combinations of her outfits, different color stories, other silhouettes and styles as well as what I would have done to make them better. One day while I had the TV paused it occurred to me: why am I not pursuing this? Designing? Why am I not doing fashion design? This is what I should be doing!

Over the years growing up, my lack of self confidence, fear of future failure, and confusion over figuring out my true passion had all together extinguished my desire to become a fashion designer. But I found that force in me once again, this time in tremendous volume. It was that very day that I made the firm decision to wholeheartedly pursue a career in fashion upon completion of my undergraduate degree without caring about any possible failure. Because my dream was worth at least one sincere try.