Episode 315: Breaking Into The Fashion Industry | Sophia Demirtas | Founder of Fonm Mon and Global Influencer of Fashion Design
Fashion designer and Fanm Mon founder Sophia Demirtas joins Kara for a conversation that spans continents and callings. From growing up around tailored school uniforms in Haiti to working in NYC homeless shelters, Sophia’s path to fashion was far from linear. She shares how social work shaped her business values, how eBay taught her supply chain basics, and why preserving craftsmanship and culture is central to her designs. This episode explores fashion entrepreneurship, ethical production, and the power of women-led communities.
“I wanted to do something that would ultimately be a positive contribution to humanity. So I delved into social work in some capacity. I think, in a way, I was set on trying to change the world.”
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Follow along using the Transcript
(00:00:03) - Introduction to Sophia Demirtas and Her Journey
(00:01:10) - From Social Work to Fashion: A Transformative Path
(00:01:44) - Challenges and Changes During the Pandemic
(00:24:53) - Creating a Positive Work Environment and Team Dynamics
(00:47:58) - Sustainability and the Future of Fashion
I was very much brought up around it and really aware of the power of a beautiful garment and how it really transformed somebody's mood, somebody's sway. Just really have a positive way of turning them into this really happy being.
That's fashion designer and entrepreneur Sophia Demirtas. I'm Kara Duffy, and this is The Powerful Ladies podcast. Welcome to The Powerful Ladies Podcast.
Thank you so much for having me. It's a pleasure to be here.
Let's begin by telling everyone your name, where you are in the world, and what it is that you're up to.
My name is Pierre Sophia Demirtas. I am currently in Turkey, and even though I live between here and New York, I spent most of my time here because this is where production is for our beautiful garments. So that really keeps me more so on this side of the world. And I guess I have been extremely busy, which I feel extremely fortunate to say such at this very moment because, there seems to be quite a lot going on and I know that having so many designer friends, things are somewhat different for them. So I feel very fortunate to say that. I am very busy with collaborations and I'm currently trying to wrap up my resort collection, which is going out early June during Market Week in, in New York. So there's quite a lot going on. I'm thankful for
So if we go back, would 8-year-old you imagine that this is your life and this is what you're up to?
No, not at all. Not at all. I think as a child I, like I never really fully envisioned myself being in fashion in any capacity. Even though I always had an admiration for fashion because I grew up around women who were very aware. My aunts, they had their dresses tailored. My uniforms actually were tailored every year, every season for the school year.
So I I was very much brought up around it and really aware of the power of a beautiful garment and how it really transformed somebody's mood, somebody's sway, somebody's like just really have a positive way of turning them into this really happy being. But I never really imagined myself, at that age or even a little older.
Having this as my career path, my path really started very differently. Even though my career is not necessarily what I envisioned at that age. I think when I became a teenager, that's when it became clear to me that I wanted to do something that would ultimately be of positive. To humanity.
And so I delved into social work and in some capacity. I think I was set to change the world starting with New York City homelessness situation. I really felt that was my calling and especially having been thrust into the foster care system myself at a very young age.
So that was really my mission. I felt like it was in life. And unfortunately once I graduated and got my first directorial position in a homeless shelter I really quickly understood that there was a lot more to this than just people being in need and you being put in a position to help and change their lives.
I live in Southern California and we have one of the, biggest crises for homelessness.
Yes. I'm aware. Unfortunately. Yeah.
It's really heartbreaking and I think the homelessness that people see is different than the realities, like the stats, I, from my understanding that like 75% are women and children, but you don't see them in the tent cities because they're in cars or, they're being safer or more hidden about it because they have to protect themselves, so 49 friends, couches sleeping in their cars, like there's a much more secretive protective approach. And then there's veterans, and then there's the homelessness that gets a lot of visibility, which is. And it's just, it's so frustrating when as compassionate humans, that this is not how it should be and there doesn't seem to be solutions for it.
So you having worked in that space and having I believe a master's degree in social work, what? Yeah.
I have a master's degree in public affairs and administration, but I work as a social worker. From, maybe informally as a volunteer from the time that I was about 16. Because my foster care mom who was like the very best person that I could have met in that situation, 'cause she literally was a parent. She was a social worker working for children's services. I was really brought into that environment because after school, I think I was one of the youngest girls not, I think other than the girls who had children, I was the youngest one. Within that. Home. She didn't have a group home, she had a home big enough in Bedford Stuy in that house, all of us. And, some of us had to share rooms, but we were still very comfortable, given the stories that we've heard. But, I was really someone that was somewhat clingy to her.
And she also had two biological daughters who were living away from her in Georgia. So I pretty much was, spending every chance, every time that I could get with her. So after school, I would go to that office on Bedford in Brooklyn and stayed there to do my homework.
Of course, like I informally became her assistant if she needed to go get something from the printer or whatever. So in some aspect, I understood. The dynamic of that facility and it was a no-brainer that I wanted to remain a part of that field. So I went to school and graduated college pretty early with my master's, with my bachelor's degree before I got my master's in like a concentrated program.
And I got my first job very early. I think maybe I was around 2021, like before I left foster care, I was already like a social worker. And even when.
I was like looking for my way into this field. I went and got myself certificates. Like I have to go and look for those things because moving into Turkey, I'm sure everything is piled up somewhere I have to go through to find my certificates and everything. But I got like dental assistance certificates, I got phlebotomy how to draw the blood, like all types of things.
And my very first job was working directly with people who were HIV positive That was. If I'm not mistaken, somewhere near the 14th Street area, like I have to go in and try to find the, with, I think it was Greenwich House, if I'm not mistaken. Like they had a lot of methadone clinics throughout, and even before I became a social worker, I had like my certificate to draw blood.
So you had all these HIV people who were who were also self-medicating, who had to go in to have their blood run so they could be given like methadones and things like that. So I was really aware of the issue of homelessness being tied to like heavy drug use. And that's why I went and I got my master's degree because I really felt I needed to be in a position to really go in and make a difference.
And I guess being so young and so naive, I didn't really understand. The pyramid that's really into that system, because at the end of the day, when you hear non-for-profit, you're thinking, that's really what it is. That's really all there is to it. But in reality it's a business, and I think that's what was really heartbroken for me to realize. And once I realized it, and unfortunately even the people that were like working with me or I was their boss, they found every reason to not make things easy for me. I was too young, I was too slim, I was too sassy, I was too knowledgeable.
Yeah. They were too old, old enough to be my mom. It's how could you be my boss? Like you are just too young to this, to that to the other. And not really keeping the focus on the people that we all found to help. And it just really became overwhelming. And again, being young and somewhat impatient.
I said, okay, if this is what this has entailed, and not necessarily because the people that I was working with that made things really difficult. It was more so of even the people, like that were my boss in the highest position. The psychiatrist I felt who were not even looking at the people who were, seated in front of him, it was just a matter of prescribing the next drug that was coming out.
And you had more of these pharmaceutical reps walking into these places, introducing the next drug and the next drug. So there was just so much happening that I was just it didn't sit with me because, it was a very different environment from where. Mommy used to work, Ms.
Jackson was, and like with the whole children's services versus you are now like being at the top and then you are working with the psychiatrist who doesn't even wanna hear anything you have to say because he's the psych director and then he's just giving whatever meds, and then.
As you start to connect the dots, you really understand how the pharmaceutical company is it's a business, I don't know which other way to say it. It's a business. And that realization on top of everyone that was just questioning and undermining everything because I was too young to have this position to this, to be in that position.
I just said, you know what, perhaps I need to just pull back and really reevaluate to see if I wanna stay in this sector or seek other things. And fortunately for me, I was just starting to date my husband and he was like you modeled in high school, you have such a great sense of style, why don't you really just tap into fashion?
And do it in a, I guess like serious way. So being someone who's extremely driven who I guess naturally innately have some form of business acronym, I just, I didn't take. I didn't leave my career to get into this as a hobby. I just within a couple of weeks I had a business on eBay.
And it just it went, it was not a smooth sailing, but it was like a sailing from there on.
Which is incredible because so often you build it and people don't come. Like my, when I'm not doing powerful ladies, I'm a business coach and I work with tons of small businesses and there's this illusion, one person the other day I was talking to goes I see these things online that if I just build an Amazon business, I can make money while I sleep.
I'm like, that's the biggest lie that's out there. Yeah. There's no job. Or you're, if you're making money while you sleep, that means you've been in business for at least 10 years. You spent Yeah, probably a hundred thousand dollars just on ads. Like there's all these things. I'm like, no, whatever you're gonna choose is gonna be hard work, let's at least make the hard work fun. Yeah.
Absolutely. And I think a lot of times too, especially now, I started online business in 2005 when just like the internet was becoming a thing, shopping online was becoming a thing. So you didn't have all these competitors, you didn't have all these websites.
And eBay really was the hub. That was where everybody felt safe to take the chance to buy something from a stranger knowing that if it wasn't delivered or whatever, there was some form of protection. So there was a lot of room to like to learn to grow. And now, fast forward 20 years, things are just a lot more complex.
And I think, like even for me, who. Went through that journey. I feel it was really somewhat, even though it was a business that was like being formed, it was really more of a schooling. At the time I didn't fully understand, but I feel like it was really a schooling that was happening for me.
And in some way I'm extremely thankful because, the creativity it's there, it's in all of us and once you start tapping into it, it could only grow and multiply. But having business acronym is something that's entirely different. And I think really that's the base that eBay did for me.
And that's why I'm always proud to tell people like, this was my beginning because it really just set the stage. And for me, who went into this, like full throttle as a seller, like buying hundreds of clothes to like to sell from different brands from like scavenging through the fashion industry through New York to, to find whatever sales or whatever deals that were not necessarily being populated to the general public, to really find these gems.
That just really made me savvy in a different way. In addition to really understanding what it takes to have a supply chain and understanding that and how that could either make or break you when to take risk into certain things. And I think more importantly for me, it was a school in a sense that it really taught me about the quality of garments quality of fabrics, craftsmanship, not necessarily to focus more on a label.
But to really understand like the work that people are putting, a lot of love, a lot of effort, a lot of energy in. So it really set the bar for me to convey that into my own brand. Because aside from that early introductory in, in, in Haiti, having my aunts seeing my aunt's garment being made, or having my uniforms being made and understanding the level of care that goes into a tailor's work.
And to now see that being represented in some other brand, whether it's like a Prada or a Gucci or like a fashion designer that's up and coming, that's really just putting her heart and soul into what she creates. So that really set up the stage for me to understand if I'm going to get into this, I want that feeling that I had interacting with all of these different brands at that early stage.
I want it to be reflective within my homework. So it was great.
In addition to the high level of like quality and detail that you see in your brand I also really saw the social worker empathy and how you talk about your business and, the, you TA and the teams. And something that really struck with me was that you moved production from Ukraine to Turkey.
Yes. Was that because of the war and how devastating if it was, how devastating was it to have to make that move?
Fortunately for me it wasn't, and I say fortunately because I think, if the war was the reason that pushed me to make that transition, it would've been really difficult for me.
Yeah. Really emotional because I worked with my team in Ukraine for many years, like many years, nearly a decade. So there was really that bond. That schooling, that nurturing, that really was established there because, even though I had eBay for x amount of years, it was more of a selling and buying.
So my team in Ukraine was really the crafts team that nurtured me into understanding what it really means to work with a group of people, and particularly with a group of women. So there was a lot of kind of deepened connection that happened there. And fortunately, the war is not, was not the cause that made me say, you know what?
I need to move into Turkey. It was because of the pandemic. I left Ukraine pretty much on the last flight that was being permitted to exit the country. And I went into a panic attack because I don't know if you remember when this whole explosion happened in Beirut. Yes. I think their port was blown for whatever sort of chemical thing that they said was happening there. And, here we are in the pandemic. By that time I had already been in Ukraine for more than a month. My children are not with me. My husband are, is not with me. And this explosion happened and there's this pandemic every day you are hearing a country saying this or that.
So it was just I literally experienced a panic attack for the very first time in my life and I had to hug myself, into a pillow to give myself breathing exercises. Yeah. To fall asleep. Because I was just like, oh my God, am I just going to exit this planet this way without having my loved ones close to me?
And I think the reality of really knowing so many people ended up. Leaving the world in that way, sadly because of the pandemic. It was that it's not just something I'm imagining there's a strong possibility that may be the case, and that really freaked me out. So I woke up from that and I called my husband.
I said, you know what? Like I, I think whatever it is that I'm going to be doing onwards, I need it to be like within enriching distance from you and my children. I don't want to take the risk of being stuck in another country overlooking production, and then this world is coming to an and I cannot hug them, my kids, if that's the last thing that I do.
So I came here a year prior, before the war happened, and I went through the whole process, the whole transitioning of. Developing here in Turkey, but also giving the team enough time to find work. Because work is not always very easy to find in Ukraine. So give them time to find work to like transition into doing their own thing, because they're very skilled.
So some of them went into doing, like tailoring businesses and doing other things, or finding other jobs. So for the time that we established in Turkey, I literally had the majority of our orders continued to be produced in Ukraine for that year transition. Yeah. And we had the team in Turkey kind of in training and dealing more with the wholesale orders.
And then Ukraine continued to handle mainly our retail orders, which was like daily. We have retail sales on the regular. When the war happened, I tried to convince. Pretty much everybody that was working for me Hey, I know what's happening. You are in a very unfortunately, terrible situation.
I'm here, I'm established here. And especially I think Turkey opened their doors to have people come in as refuge, if that's the word, as refugees. So I told them, come here, you have a space guarantee. You have opportunity and a job guarantee. And a hundred percent, all of them told me no, they would not leave their country.
They would stay here and fight. Some of their husbands went into fights, some of their sons went into fight. And they stayed there. Stitching military equipment and doing whatever it is that they could at the time to support the war. Unfortunately, none of them wanted to make the transition or I guess fortunately because you have to respect where they stood on that.
And yeah. So it's been nearly about four and a half years since we've been in Turkey, I think. Yeah, four years in a few since we've transitioned in Turkey.
I, before everything I'm doing now I worked in footwear and apparel fashion for 20 years. And in March we, I just launched a new company that's doing luxury garment bags.
Oh, how beautiful. It's really fun and it's nice to be making a product again. 'cause for a long time I haven't been, but I'm very familiar with having to change sourcing and dual sourcing and set everything up and. It's, there's so many tasks that we have in a fashion business that need attention every day.
Like there, the calendar doesn't stop. The to-do list doesn't stop. But transitioning like your production is such a huge project that has to be done. And I love that you had the luxury, whether it felt that way at the time or not, of having that transition with the two locations. 'cause sometimes, like what's happening now for some companies, like your country of origins just no longer available.
Yeah. And you're scrambling to find other things. So especially again, when the craftsmanship is so important and the relationship from maker to consumer is so important. I'm sympathizing with you and all the work it took to set Turkey up and to offboard Ukraine and, it's a lot. It's a lot. And then when you take your sourcing and production hat off, you get to be CEO and be marketing and yeah, be designer and it's a really interesting kind of dance I think that entrepreneurs like yourself have to do to have such a successful company as you do. We, and I don't think that people see all of it.
Yeah. There's such a perception of what it's like to be a fashion designer. And it's like that is the top 5% of all of it.
Yeah. And then the other part is just really in the nitty and gritty and the stress and the chaos, but I feel very fortunate that my approach is really human centered.
So in many aspect, it has made things a lot easier for me. And I think, in my business, in my line of production, our currency the strongest or I guess the invaluable currency that we have is really in our team. And I make that known to them, and I make that known to everyone who is supporting the brand because obviously we work in a very different way, in a very delicate way not just.
Our approach in what we do. But I, for me personally, I want to feel a sense of security in, in, in our workspace, in our environment, because we spend the majority of our time together, more than I'm fortunate to have my husband as my business partner. So to some aspect, my families were ingrained in in, in the business.
But my employees, they spent the majority of the time with, within ourselves more than they do with their family. So it was very important for me to help them understand, the importance of having a space to come to work where you are not. Feeling panicky because somebody's being caddy towards you or someone's being like negative.
So of course it wasn't very easy to establish in Turkey. And the difference between here and Ukraine is in Ukraine they are really, I consider them extremely skilled artisians.
In the aspect that they go to school to fully learn the construction of a garment. Like they, who, whomever is just like into fashion, they go deep with it.
Versus, you do have some youngsters and some other people in Turkey that kind of go through that whole fashion process as well. And then you have. In Ukraine where, even if someone is like going to school to learn to become a seamstress, they just really are curious about every aspect of it.
And what was a rude awakening for me in Turkey is how different things are approached here. And I guess for the most part it's heavily due to the fact that they are a production, country. Everything is like mass. Everything is numbers, everything is speed.
So here I am coming with, something that's very different. Not to say unique, but very different in the sense that it's really quality focused. It's really. Of course sometimes we have to rush orders, but the approach is very different in the sense that we're, we don't like mass print a pattern and mass produce a quantity.
And then I have to stress about selling that specific, quantity of garment. That's all unique. That's all the same and not necessarily unique. So we do a lot of customization. So that goes from a customer wanting a different fabric with a different embroidery to a different length, to a different sizing.
A smaller bus, a larger bus, a smaller hip, a larger waist. So you name it. So when you have that offering to your customer it's very important that the people who are receiving that and putting that together, that they are in a happy space. And that in turn channels down to me because obviously.
If I need to be away for a day or two, I don't need to come back to chaos. Yeah. So that's where it took a lot of filtering because of course you have some people who just prefer to sit in a factory in a band where they have a thousand people just like attaching part by part until they get to them to just attach a sleeve or whatever.
So everyone working for me, even if they came from that system, so first of all, like I go through the training process where I'm telling them like, you need to slow your hands down because we're making things for women. So we have to, first of all, happily want to make these. So there's like a presence that is required from you.
You're not just like running something through a machine. And in addition to that, there is. The ability that I want you to entrust in yourself to know you're not here to just attach a piece of a part of a garment if needed be. You have to be able to make a full garment. And that for now, it's benefiting, our workspace, our work environment, but ultimately it's you that benefits because if whatever was to happen here within our facility, then you could easily go and set yourself up to be a seamstress.
So we have people that comes in that don't know how to do the buttons. They don't know how to do zippers. They don't know how to, make the little intricate details. So they all go through that very. Training? I guess everybody on my team now are veteran. We don't necessarily have anybody new.
They've all been working for me for at least more than six months to four years. But every single person that works for me can teach anything that I design. And I'm very proud of that because, as I said to them, I do have quite a lot of young women working for me to, like our eldest employees in his seventies.
He doesn't wanna slow down and he works on the team that produces the online orders. So I split my team into two, similarly to how I like transition into Turkey. It's consistent. Where in Ukraine, before I like completely closed there, I had them making just the online orders and then they were like doing the wholesale here.
So I do the same thing here. I have a team that focuses on making primarily the wholesale garments. And then I have another team that makes. Just the individual online orders. But, so if the workflow needs to be reshuffled or things, I can just gather anybody from my team and they could just stitch me whatever it is that it, that's needed in totality.
I think in some way they the ones who have made it through with us up till now, they understand that this is something very different, something very unique, and they have ingrained and became a part of our core team. And we work as an extended family as I'd like to say.
So there it's a very different system that than they're used to. And I'm happy that we have all adapted, I have learned tremendously from them because when you have people who have been in this industry for. 10 years, for 20 years for 30 years, you cannot really come and think you are the one who has something to show.
'cause it goes both ways. So I have learned quite a lot from my team, which I'm extremely appreciative for. And one of them, the biggest thing being my Turkish is so much better because of them, so I tell her, I give them credit, I used to credit my mother-in-law, but now it's yeah, it's my team.
They literally however my Turkish is, like I could confidently speak because of them. So they have been my teachers in many aspects and I am proud too, that I have for the most part. Start them or showed them that, they are valuable. Their skill is not something that's just minuscule.
They are valuable and they are really a part of our story. And if for whatever reason they were to go elsewhere, at least, they would have that sense of value and worth to demand, in accordance to, to, to what they've acquired from us. So I'm very proud of that.
And I don't think we've said the brand name yet, so your company is called..
It's called Fanm Mon. And I know, it's a little bit of a tongue twister 'cause people say Mann, they say, they say differently, I guess it, it comes with the territory when you have a name that's just very culturally unique. To anybody Haitian, like a Haitian, like someone who's Haitian in Haiti they understand it specifically what it means. They pronounce it with ease. But, with other people it's a little different. So it's f mu.
Fa. Yes. Oh, there you're very good. And it means what Women of the Mountain is that? Yeah. It's it's a mountain women.
I guess that's like the simplest way to, to put it. But I name the brand I name myself that when I open my FB account because I don't know if you are aware, I'm really into like herbal things and nature and elixirs and that type of thing.
And a lot of them I make myself, which I learned from my grandmother from the herbal kind of like herb sellers that used to come and bring her things. So as she was teaching my grandmother precautions, I'm learning from her and has my grandmother revamped whatever knowledge they passed down to her.
I was learning it in that sense and. From one, which are like these women who either hawk fruits or vegetables, or they're the ones who are like working in the farms. They're the ones who are like the midwives or the doctors of their local community. I've always had an immense amount of respect for them.
Because I really feel like they are the backbone of Haiti. They work extremely hard to put their children to, to the highest level of education. They're like the caretaker, the nurturer of our nation. Till this day, and unfortunately in Haiti, it's like being called a is not necessarily.
Appreciated or looked easy upon because they didn't have a regular classroom education. Their their education really stems from nature, their connection to nature, and a lot of generational knowledge that's passed down to them from their great-great grandmother, like to them. So I always felt a sense of connection and I think that has a lot to do with even my own grandmother's love and appreciation and understanding for their knowledge.
So when I opened my Facebook account, like it was, it's so funny that every, almost every Haitian woman is calling themselves, like bad, like sexy this, sexy that like f sexy fa mo from all of these things. And here I'm like, f and it literally put my friends and even some strangers in a frenzy you don't look like a.
I'm like and innately it's really their knowledge that I tapped into that, that feels very familiar to me. Therefore I am one of them.
And I think you, like many of the other women who have been on this podcast and who I think you and I have in our circles, most likely I feel so lucky that I'm living at a time when modern and ancient wisdom is allowed to coexist in a way that it hasn't been before.
And of course this goes into a whole conversation about patriarchy, but 'cause so often it was the fon, it was women carrying these things through. So it was often disregarded as like a bunch of hoo-ha. It's yeah, it's woo. It's not real. What do you
call them? Witches? And Yes. All of these things. And it's, another thing is I. It's so uncanny, the similarity, if you go to Morocco, they call them the bare bears. If you go, like in, in Turkey they call them like village women, like or they call them gypsies. Yeah. And it's very interesting, like the gypsies here, that the interpretation of being called a gypsy in Turkey is very different than that elevated whatever gypsy we understand to be in the states.
But again, as I travel in so many different countries and cultures you really realize it's these f martin, regardless of what it is that specific culture refer to them as. It's these women who are really like the ring bearers. They carry the knowledge, the traditions, the healing entities.
The connection to nature. And I think it's very important for us to continue to embrace them within our culture. Especially now, I think as people think of technology, they're just thinking of advancement into that direction and to some aspect maybe reneging that much that necessity to continue to seek acknowledge in that sense.
And even though I have to say I, I feel hopeful not I feel very hopeful that I'm seeing there, there seems to be a movement globally particularly from this, younger generation who's really seeking knowledge, who's really trying to understand about herbs. And perhaps I'm sensing that I'm seeing that because, if you go on my Instagram.
It has a bit of fashion, but it's mainly about, the natural stuff, the natural remedies and these are things that I'm trying to teach my boys and hopefully, they're gonna clinging onto it enough to pass it down to their kids and their kids, and they will build from that and add on to that.
I'm very hopeful that our, the scare that was attached to a lot of the traditional ways or knowledge or understanding, it's really being dismantled and looked upon with a new gaze.
Yeah. It's, we're it's removing the patriarchy component. It's removing the colonization component.
There's so many things that are getting pulled back to give. To give all of these, this wisdom and traditions breathing room. Even I think it's also really inspiring to see how many younger people are learning languages that people thought were gonna be extinct. Yes. And this is, I think, where technology's helpful.
Like a Duolingo that's adding new languages all the time. And I heard on NPR the other day that there's more people learning Yiddish right now than have spoken it in the past, like a hundred years. Oh, wow. And you're like, what? Yeah. How did that become trendy? Yeah. So it's really interesting to see what's happened.
And I agree with, you see it showing up every, everywhere in it's showing. It's showing.
Think, our generation, if you're again, it depends where you're leaning on social media, they almost wanna make us think that the youth is just lost. They're just, they're just like all over the place.
They don't know what they want and they're all depressed. And I'm like, no. Like any like when it comes to fighting for justice, it's the youth that I see that kind of like burst through the door before anybody else, and that's in any kind of like country, if you're looking at any sort of march that's happening around the world, it's like it's them.
And I guess to some aspect it has always been that way. And maybe because I'm like an old lady now, you almost wanna think this generation is this way and then you're that way and then, they do something that really resonates and you are like, oh my gosh. Like we are not a lost cause.
There's so much hope for us. So much hope for humanity and I think the ability to. Connect to nature and to appreciate nature, to want to protect nature. It really, it shows all of that, or really to appreciate cultures and dismantle a lot of the stories his stories that we've been told to really question things, and it's really the youth that's doing that.
It's them that wants to learn not just how to speak a language or a new language or an extinct language, but to really go deeper, to maybe travel to the place that language is being spoken, to really dig deeper and understand that culture and eat that food and interact in a way that would really make them feel a part of, and not gaze from just behind, the screen of their phones.
So I'm very hopeful. I'm hopeful that. We are going to continue to nurture and heal each other. I'm very hopeful.
Similar to you, I've moved abroad, I've traveled a lot. I think a, I think, the younger generations are, have become, they were just born into a global community much more than perhaps even we were, and I think people are realizing that what makes travel and makes the diversity of what we have on this planet, so rich and interesting is preserving all those things. It's the monoculture that can sometimes happen through being globally connected is, it's just, it's boring. Like it's not, it's boring.
It's boring. Yeah. And yeah, I just came from St. Lucia literally Wednesday and. One thing that you hear a lot, and it's not just like instant Lucia or the Caribbean per se, as you travel, everyone is like hoping to have like development. Like I, I was in Sri Lanka in February and it's the same thing.
Everyone just they wants to see these developments and things like that. And I'm always like the party pooper who's telling everyone, then you know, what's going to keep that enrichment present. Because if I come here and I'm seeing the same buildings that I would see if I'm in New York City or if I go to Shanghai or, what makes this place what it is now?
What preserves your culture? What preserves your heritage? And then everyone is oh, but it could be this because, no one wants to really think. How, modernization. It comes with a cost, and that's not to say that we should not be moving forward. We should not grow and evolve and modernize things.
But I think it's very important to have that consciousness that attached to, it, it comes with its own form of destruction. And when I see how involved, a lot of the youths are and a lot of them are also very much aware, about climate changes. And then my son's 50 is 15 and like the conversations that I have with him, I was like, oh my gosh.
I was like a total dummy at your age. So again, it gives me a lot of hope because when you travel and, I find it, perhaps it's us all heads who see things a certain way. And then when you start speaking to someone that's a lot younger they know what they want, but they also know what they don't want to let go of. And I think that's powerful.
Yeah. There's one of the most inspiring things. Like I love documentaries. I love seeing people talking about what's happening in the world. And there's a documentary called Cuba Skate. And it was a bunch of skateboarders going into Cuba. And because you can't import so many things, you're getting really creative of how to reclaim some abandoned spaces to make an indoor skate park and supporting each other.
And that's a documentary. Yeah. It's so great. I'll send you the link and I'll make sure it's in our show notes Please too. But it's it was just so compelling to see, again, young people wanting progress, but still wanting to honor where they were and their heritage.
Yeah.
Yeah. And I think it's a new perspective. There's, we don't need like everything to be same. So yeah, there's so many ways to make commerce wherever you are with the skills and that ties into this whole sustainability too.
Yes. Because I think one of the reasons why it, it took me a while to even refer to myself as a designer, was really saying to myself if I didn't make one dress, no one would go naked.
No one would go naked. And I think when you're in this industry, it, if you truly care, it pushes you to really care. If you care, it's it could only build, it could only grow. The truth of the matter is when you're also seeing, as you said they, they don't necessarily have access to the new one.
They're just revamping what's already there. I think that's a necessity approach, to to every industry, to every industry. I was having a conversation with my friend. In regards to this whole trade war. And I think, we went back and forth and one of the last things that I said to him, I said if the whole world, like we had this reset with the coronavirus, and I think that really pushed everyone to realize I need to slow down.
I don't need this many, this, I don't need this many that. And I said if this trade war within five year span is really also going to push us to question and to realize what is really a priority for us to absolutely have and what is not, then I think it's a benefit to planet earth.
It's a benefit to nature. It's scary, because we are feel or think that we need to have this sort of capitalist way of being in this world. And it's like money that makes the world go around. But, perhaps if we need to trim it down. Similarly to what we did in during the Pandemic. I don't think it's such a bad thing.
No, I agree. Like it's the, I think how it's being done is just really silly for lack of all the other exclusives. We can't say so much about that. Yeah. So I think it's, I think it's done in a way that's very just ridiculous. Yeah. But I agree with you and it's, we're already seeing the consumer behavior in the US change and we're, it just like the pandemic, it's forcing, I was proud during the pandemic, people who came to me, pe clients already had everyone survived. And I kept telling them, I'm like, the, it's very, it's terrifying what's happening with when we were in COVI and it's terrifying what's happening now.
But both scenarios are forcing us to look at. Are we in alignment with their values? Is our business physically fit? Is it doing things for the right reasons? Like all the fats getting trimmed out of things. There's either not the resources, there's not the mental capacity.
Yeah, it's a lot. It's so much. And you know what I love so much about this powerful ladies community is it gives me relief that there are women in every corner of the world doing the good things, doing the good work. And I remember when I left the fashion world too, I was like, there was that kind of crisis about, again, why are we making more things?
But then I look at a brand like yours, that's a higher price point. It's such higher quality than what other people are doing. There's almost a responsibility that, again, from the outside in, but that is so visible to me of you're making things that you hope people are keeping forever, if not passing on to somebody else. If we're gonna make things, let's make them so that they fall into that heirloom space versus. Something that you only care about for a month and, yeah, exactly. Exactly. It's because like I, we've had a couple interesting conversations. We do a powerful conversation series where we'll pick a topic and have a panel, and we have another one coming up. I think you'd be great for us, so we'll reach out about that. But we've had some about fashion forward to it. Great. How we can balance this desire to be self-expressed and to be creative and at the same time have this conscious about what's happening to our planet and how we're contributing to it.
And I do I think that there are brands like yours that have found that spot. You're not making things endlessly, you're putting the quality into it. You like, you're being thoughtful about all the steps. And so thank you for making beautiful garments that have thank you intention behind them. Yes, absolutely.
And I think, it's very, it's it's almost like a tongue twister to try to explain. And particularly when we're doing collaboration, we've done collaborations with other brands whose approach is very different from ours. And, to me, what seems very simple, it seems so complicated to them because they just don't understand like how you just customizing everything, because to them even making a dress shorter or longer seems like it's such a huge task. Ruins the whole line.
Yeah. It's it's very simple. And that's because I don't try to have everything done and sell it afterwards. So I really do. Love the flexibility of how I create of how I produce, rather. Because it really allows me to continue to imagine, because I could have a roll of white fabric that I am inspired to make a gorgeous dress with, that I think every woman would see and would appreciate and would love and want to get.
But in reality, very few women reacted to it. But the fact that I only made one dress that is presented and then people react to it in accordance. Then I don't have the stress of trying to, sell a thousand of it if I had produced a thousand of it. So now my fabric is still pretty much bought and I can go back to my creative sense to think of something else, to make that very, to make it that very same fabric.
In that process, if I have something with a particular flower on it, but somebody would prefer another flower from my collection, or even a completely like their own favorite flower then it could, it gives me the flexibility to do it. And it's the same approach as somebody's buying something singular.
It's the same approach. It's, my wholesalers is buying something from me, in, in their order size. So it's it's a win-win, it's really a win-win. And when you're talking about sustainability I have I don't know if Sha when the pandemic was happening, I was really like in a.
Fog, really questioning do I really need to keep going with this? Do I really need to do this? Because like I said, I felt like if I didn't make a singular dress, nobody naked. And similar to what your, what you've said, she said to me like, you're doing something very different, so you cannot dare compare yourself to anyone who's mass producing something.
And I, her saying that to me really pushed me to remember how the whole culture of clothing that I grew up around, which was, my aunts getting fabrics, bringing it to a tailor, and the tailor would squeeze to make the majority of what could be made out of that fabric. A skirt, a dress, a blouse, like a short whatever could be made into that fabric, it would be made. And I also remembered, I didn't see my eyes just. Having these things and going crazy, loving them in that instance. And then within a couple of weeks she was over them. So the same joy that she had having these fabrics made.
And a lot of times frustrations because Taylor's would, they would tell you, I'll give this to you in a week. And then it's hey, a week went into five months and I didn't get my stuff yet. So the joy of finally having these garments really stayed with her or with them every time they're going to reach into their closet or, going into their cupboards to get these pieces to wear.
So that having that conversation during the pandemic really served as a reminder, not just like what I remembered as a child. But to go back to that heirloom piece that you mentioned this is really one of the reasons why I really. I'm thoughtful in the way that I make clothing, because if I'm making a dress for you to wear now and then, 20 years from now you'll have a young adult daughter, or like even 15 years from now you have a teenage daughter.
I want her to stumble upon this in your closet and to be just as excited about finding that dress to wear it. And I think, there's like a certain energy or a female presence that I'm really conscious of when I make present in my garment. I want that to remain and I don't want it to be something that someone feels like it's just could be disposed because they got over it or it's not trendy.
So that timeless presence in my garment, I really want it to remain, precedent for the mom and also the daughter or even daughter-in-law if she doesn't. In my case, I would like to be close enough to my daughter-in-law so she could get all my pretty dresses because I have two boys.
Yeah. As a wrapping up today, I have some rapid fire questions for you. The first is, when you think of the words powerful and ladies, what do they mean to you on their own? And do their meanings change when those words are next to each other?
Yeah, absolutely. When I think power, I think I women comes to mind and that's not to say that what men don't have their own power, but I think the energy that kinds of rocks around our power is really within our essence and is very different than the power that a men have.
We are the nurturers. We naturally have an innate way to, to love and to be tough and to structure things that kind of, exude its own power. So when I think of power, I think of our feminine essence of how it could, uplift and nurture and heal and really make somebody feel seen.
And when you think of ladies I guess, if I'm being in all truthfulness, ladies, is it's very different I guess from culture to culture. So if I'm thinking of women. That I'm used to so being a Caribbean woman or or an American woman, I feel, like when you put that with power it, it really makes differently in a sense that a lot of times we have a more outer way of ex exhibiting that power.
Versus, like when I think of some powerful women in Turkey or in some other cultures, it's a little bit more, it's like a hidden power. It's not something that's so much in the forefront, but nonetheless, they're extremely powerful. I say this all the time Turkish women are badass.
They they are like the boss in their home. Like of course the men have their presence, but for the most part, they're the ones who who lead the home in, in an unspoken way. And there's power in that, you don't necessarily need to always be boisterous about that strength.
So it's very interesting to see how the dynamic really changes culture to culture. But I think, in, in every sense of the word are when you put women and you put power together, I think it's a very, balance combination. Whereas the men, we could, naturally say lethal combination because, they're the one who likes wars and things like that. We like flowers and plants and.
All things to avoid war. Yes. Yeah, exactly. We ask everyone on the podcast where they put themselves on the powerful Lady scale. If zero is an average everyday human and 10 is the most powerful lady you can imagine, where would you place yourself today and on an average day?
Yeah it depends on the day. Today I could definitely say a 10 because I feel very much asserted in my being as a woman, as a human being. In. My direction for what I have accomplished professionally for being teenage moms. So I definitely see how I have become this butterfly out of my cocoon. I'm definitely not the same as I was, like in, in my twenties or even thirties, I think now at 44 years old. And seeing myself truly as myself and everything that I was able to accomplish. So be it personally or professionally. I definitely stand 10 toes down in my power.
I love that. That's a good version, like a good visual for that power. Yes. Thank you. Is there a ritual or daily practice that you can't live without or that allows you to be most in your power?
I think I, I wake up, the first thought that comes to mind is thank you. That's the word that kind of wakes me out of my sleep.
And then a sense of gratitude through throughout my day. I think this is really the true way. That kind of sets the tone for me for my day, to, to, to wake up in thankfulness and to continue throughout my day in, in this immense sense of gratitude. That's what makes me feel really grounded and that's what really I.
Makes my perspective somewhat clear and keep me very solution driven. Being in this field of work, it gets very chaotic, very crazy, very hectic, and a lot of people look onto me daily for the answer. So I think being grateful definitely keeps me humbled. It keeps me balanced. And that's like my, my, my thing.
This is a, big and powerful community and I haven't been a powerful lady yet who doesn't wanna pay it forward or help somebody else. So what is something on your to-do list, your wishlist, your manifest list that we could help you with?
I do have a couple of places in Haiti that I support. And I think, when it comes to paying it forward, perhaps, it's those places and I've mentioned them quite a lot because they're like at the top of what keeps me somewhat connected in Haiti in different aspects. So there is a grown in Haiti. He that's a young man who was a pretty well known, like a renowned photographer in New York who decided to move back to Haiti.
And his mom was also like a, not was she still is a very dynamic woman who's also like a lover of nature. So he went back to Haiti and started growing in Haiti and he's been really nurturing and growing that. In a very educational way to the youth. So I'm very much inspired by that, the work that he has done and now his mom has fully joined him in doing.
And another one is called PSA, it's project set on. They're also another organization that deals with giving out supplies when schools are opening and really helping to support and feed the nation throughout, different sort of programs. And there's another place I, the name is it's mixed, but I could maybe send it to you separately. Yeah. They focus on. Providing labor care for women who are in the rural parts of Haiti. I, if I'm not mistaken, I believe it's Grace Birth Center, but I have to confirm Sure email. Then I could send it to you.
Yeah. Or DM us. We'll put, we'll include it in the show notes. Yeah, absolutely.
Yeah. No it's, those are incredible. And then for everybody who wants to see your beautiful dresses work with you, support you just reach out and send you well wishes, where can they find, follow and support you?
We are on Instagram and as well as Facebook at Fon. It's F-A-N-M-M-O-N on Instagram as well as Facebook. And I think the team got something on TikTok. But I'm not sure I have to confirm with the social team. 'cause I did open an account, but for whatever reason my, I forgot my iPhone, my iPad's password, and like I got locked out of that TikTok, so we had to do another one. So I think it may be someone with some other like numbers or something like that. And then we have our website, which is ww doon.com. It's FA.
Perfect. Thank you so much for spending your late Friday evening with me. And just thank you for being a yes to me, to powerful ladies for everything that you're doing and just doing the good work, whether it. From social work to taking those same values into fashion.
Yeah, just thank you. Thank you so much for having me.
It's been a pleasure speaking with you, and I hope your audience will enjoy this little chat.
Thanks for listening. If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe and share it with a friend. Head to the powerful ladies.com. Where you can find all the links to connect with Sophia. See everything to buy Fon, as well as learn more about powerful ladies. Come hang out with us on Instagram at Powerful Ladies, and you can find me and all my socials@karaduffy.com. I'll be back next week with the brand new episode. Until then, I hope you're taking on being powerful in your life. Go be awesome and up to something you love.
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Created and hosted by Kara Duffy
Audio Engineering & Editing by Jordan Duffy
Production by Amanda Kass
Graphic design by Anna Olinova
Music by Joakim Karud
