Expanded x Ep. 25 - Agnes Baddoo, Designer and Stylist
“Start with what you love and you will find your people, and then you go from there. ”
Agnes Baddoo, designer and fashion entrepreneur, joins Lacy on this episode of the EXPANDED Podcast. Agnes shares with us her Afro-Caribbean heritage, NYC upbringing and how her stylish parents expanded her to manifest her own career in styling and eventually starting her own gender-neutral leather goods brand. She offers business advice for those of you interested in starting your own entrepreneurial ventures, shares how her low points in life have contributed to her journey and inspires all of us to pay attention the kismet connections in our lives.
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Words from Agnes:
“My earliest like socialization like school situation was a playgroup that I went to was a playgroup from the UN it was called the international playgroup, so before I knew that people - before I knew that it was a problem I knew that everybody came from someplace else, and that everybody was different. Like I knew that people dressed differently, ate differently , spoke differently. I knew the flags and where places were on like this children's atlas book that I had from Rand Mcnally. I would say that being multicultural in a city like New York, impressed upon me in the sense that - I just understood that everybody was different, and that wasn't a problem for me - like it had to be taught to me later , that you know these countries or these races or these nationalities have conflict with each other, and they’re preferred or not preferred in this context or not you know, like all that to be broken down as your awareness grows.”
“So I was his assistant and so from that position i- of course I wasn't doing anything specifically creative but I saw how the magazine worked, every last aspect of it and I could sort of see who I would wanna be, within that world, and I knew I didn't really wanna be actually in the art department—you know I just sort of went through - everything had to go through me to get to him, so I got to work with a lot of - well I worked with anybody that had to do with like the magazine, and what I liked was having always liked fashion and known about fashion , I liked the freelance under contract fashion stylist, like very specific, like you got to do the stories you got to travel, but you weren't caught up with ‘who stole my Manolos in the closet’ - like you had nothing to do with any of the in office drama, and you’re creative but you have community, and you get to travel.
“My mom gave me my business, if I look- if I go backwards at the time I was just doing what unfolded, but when you think about the fact that she’s encouraged me in many different creative ways my entire life, and so i was getting to the place where i was not liking the dynamic, like, where i was like- all of that, you know, like I like styling enough but the joy of what it was was not being reciprocated by the income at all that so, then you know, I am sitting there and i look up and there's this bag, you now, so it's like, that is definitely something like i didn't buy that, that was the bag she had that- and even then I had changed it but it was like that came to me because it came through her.”
“I think the heartbreaks come from getting caught up i the momentum of what you think’s supposed to happen at the time, so learning to recognize that some things aren't supposed to happen at that time and it's okay, because I’ve already had enough experiences with that to know that it was a blessing that whatever i asked for didn't happen when it did , or that what i got was better than what i was- what I needed it, rather than what i thought i wanted at the time.”
In this episode, we talk about:
Growing up in NYC and Afro-Caribbean heritage
Her mother’s struggle with MS and eventual death
How her parents’ cultures played into her upbringing
Her parents trusting her intuition and honoring her judgement
Her father being a diplomat from Ghana to the United States
Her mother’s involvement in fashion
Her astrological profile
Being exposed to arts and music early on
Spirituality and how her mom exposed her to the world of self care early on
Making her own potions and eventually going into business with her creations
Starting her first line of atmosphere sprays
Being a connector
Majoring in painting in college
Working at Elle and realizing she wanted to be a stylist
Manifesting travel and her job as a stylist
Falling in love with Los Angeles
Transitioning from styling to entrepreneurship
Finding unconventional manufacturers for her bags
Selling her sprays and bags at the Echo Park Craft fair
How she got her brand press
Staying at her bridge job to allow her small business to grow
Her mother’s death and communicating with her mom now that she’s on the other side
Her mom inspiring her business
Kundalini yoga, breath-work, mantra, candle magic, crystals
Her shadow aspect of feeling like she lacks consistent follow through and how she has learned to delegate skills
Turning her weaknesses into strengths
How she turns inward to come up with solutions
Sustainability and how her brand is evolving
New products coming soon
Resources:
Heather McCall - psychic
Where to find Agnes:
Website - http://www.agnesbaddoo.com/
Instagram - @agn3s
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