It's so funny when I think about the title I've commonly used to describe myself professionally for some time now — Creative Strategist. Reflecting on it, I fully recognize that I've been a creative since my childhood.
My name is Leila and I was born in Sierra Leone, West Africa. I came to New York at the age of 4 and was legally adopted by my mother's older sister. I grew up in Yonkers, NY, attending two different elementary schools, and then middle/high school before moving to NYC for college. Because I didn't come to the States with my siblings and over 10 years passed before we were reunited here, I spent my pre-adolescence as an only child. What this meant for me as a kid was using my imagination to fill the space. I had a blast. When I wasn't playing house with my dolls and other toys, I played with cousins, family friends, or classmates at school. I was affectionately nicknamed my Aunt's "handbag" because outside of playtime, I was attached to her hip, going just about everywhere with her.
Throughout my childhood, I thoroughly enjoyed and was fascinated by cartoons. I would watch them, rewatch them, and even draw them. On Sundays after church, my Aunt would pick up a copy of the newspaper from the corner store just so I could devour the comics. I still have the composition book where I saved many of those drawings. I loved cartoons so much that my Aunt enrolled me in a claymation class at an art center in White Plains. I particularly loved "Wallace and Gromit," a British claymation series about a man named Wallace and the adventures he had with his dog, Gromit. I can attest that my Aunt nurtured my creativity in many ways. When I entered my teens, she subscribed me to Seventeen Magazine and Teen Vogue. I loved them! This love of fashion, and animation, led me to set my sights on the Fashion Institute of Technology (FIT) during my senior year of high school. I don't recall whether I even applied to any other schools at that time! Even before starting my undergraduate program, I took a pre-college art class there in 11th or 12th grade. I remember how cool I felt taking the subway into the city by myself on Saturday mornings for that class.
I know many African kids can relate to how discontentedly their parents view fields other than medicine, finance, law, or engineering. Friends from other cultures have expressed similar sentiments. In my case, it probably didn't help that I broached the topic with, "I want to be a model." A what? Yeah, that's the response I got. But when it came time to start thinking about colleges, my Aunt indulged me when I shared my interest in computer animation. Although the idea was completely foreign to her, she scheduled college tours and began to see that there was in fact a business behind technology, graphic design, fashion. Being a creative wasn't an arbitrary concept, it was a viable path that could be transformed into a meaningful and sustainable career. I have to admit, it felt nice to have my Aunt onboard.
Regardless of what I called her, I grew up seeing my Aunt as my mom. She was my first phone call for just about anything, even when I knew her reaction would be less than pleasant — like the times in high school I deliberately missed the school bus in the afternoon so I could hang back with my friends who walked home. I loved spending time with my friends and relished the independence I felt when it was just us heading downtown after school. The freedom was fun, but explaining to my Aunt why I'd missed the bus was always considerably less so.
But back to FIT. Moving to NYC for school gave me an even greater taste of freedom. I majored in Communication Design in the School of Art & Design for the first two years, and then moved to the School of Business & Technology to study fashion business. As a fashion student, I seized every opportunity, cold-emailing or messaging as soon as I came across something I was interested in. I worked backstage at countless fashion shows and interned with Italian fashion house, Piazza Sempione's Madison Ave showroom, in the fashion closet at Seventeen Magazine, and with People's Revolution, Kelly Cutrone's PR agency (featured on MTV's "The Hills" and "The City," with Lauren Conrad and Whitney Port).
I worked in the fashion industry for over 10 years across marketing, public relations, publishing, and ultimately strategy. In my last role within the fashion industry, I handled strategy for Cartier at their media agency, Mediacom. Here I was: I'd landed a role with my dream client from when I was a fashion student but within a matter of months I began to really struggle with an internal dilemma…