Name

Fatima Fahnbulleh

How old are you?

25

Where do you call home?

Indiana

What do you do for a living/profession?

I am a Peace Corps Volunteer in Zambia by day, Clothing Designer by night.

When do you feel most empowered and alive?

I feel empowered and alive when I can bring a group of people together socially and intellectually. Whenever I have a young girl tell me she wants to be an engineer, I get inspired. I also feel empowered when I am given the opportunity to empower someone else. And finally, I truly feel alive anytime I am dancing or designing.

Where do you see compassion shaping your life?

Compassion has been shaping my life since the beginning. I wouldn’t be here, serving as a Peace Corps Volunteer, if I didn’t have compassion for humanity and a deep desire for peace.

I also find that in doing what I love, giving back and meeting new people, compassion is present. Nothing compares to that.

What dreams/goals do you hope to achieve in the next 5 years?

I plan to continue serving in humanitarian work. I am looking to make a massive improvement in my clothing brands, SRKS; including a business team that I manage. I want to focus on building up a recognizable brand. Finally, I hope to continue to travel. Japan is at the top of my list.

Who is your role model and why?

My role model now is Virgil Abloh, a fashion designer.  He is where I wish to be. With his clothing brand, OFF-WHITE, he is a major inspiration to me. He quickly became a major inspiration as he is a black individual that is breaking barriers and dominating the fashion industry in an elegant manner.

If you could have any superpower, what would it be?

That’s an easy one. I would control time.

What your favorite veggie friendly dish?

Hands down, basil stir fry.

Queen Bee Lady Boss Style: SRKS

What prompted you to explore design and start your own business?

In college I developed the desires to own a clothing brand, being a professional DJ or both. One of my friends had started a clothing brand, so I decided to work with him. After some few weeks collaborating to develop the brand, I felt my vision wasn’t being fully realized. I was getting pretty good at graphic designing and doodling and I decided to take a risk and go my own way.

I presented at the African Culture Day event on campus. At this event, I displayed a few articles of clothing that depicted my experience as an African person living in America. My approach was to use sewn fabrics on plain garments. After the event I already collected a encouraging list of emails and phone numbers of people interested. That’s when I knew. I could totally do this.

From there I focused on school, kept designing, and still found some time for DJ-ing. I graduated college, joined Peace Corps the following year. It was while serving I started the my clothing label SRKS in 2016.

What your favorite aspect of being a lady boss?

I haven’t yet accomplished my goal to become the ultimate boss lady, but when I do, my favourite aspect will be supervision. Overseeing the business operation and working with a dedicated team.

What is one of the biggest challenges you face in successfully running a start-up?

Using my creativity as the designer is brilliant. However, not having much business skills and a firm base has been been quite the challenge. Executing the business aspects of running a successful start-up is an area I still plan to develop.

What advice would you give to women seeking to adventure in entrepreneurship?

People will doubt you, even you might doubt yourself as well, but here’s my advice:

Stay positive. Get better. Fail and learn. Cry if you need to.

Thanks so much to our July Queen Bee Fatima Fahnbulleh. Keep up the awesome work and inspiration lady boss!