THE UNFILTERED REALITY OF HOW I BALANCE BUILDING A FASHION BRAND ONE DESIGN AT A TIME AND RAISING A TODDLER

Hey lovelies ❤️
It's your favorite girl @debbie-ese 😍
Welcome to my blog 🤗

I have had a rare opportunity to reflect on the year so far as we continue with the second half of 2025 and I must say that it has been eventful, intense, and fulfilling especially when I reflect on two of the major highlights that has to do with motherhood and my business, fashion. It is not an easy task to be a business owner and to be a mother of a toddler at the same time. There is a constant battle of balancing the demands of work pressure and stress with that of ensuring that your home is in order. But, with adequate planning, dedication and love for what I do I'm still standing strong.

Morning are usually the most demanding period for me in the day because I have to wake up as early as possible, sometimes with blurry eyes and hunger to get more sleep. I will get up to prepare my son's breakfast and lunch for school while his father bathes and feed him then drops him off on his way to work. Afterwards, I begin to tidy the house, and do the necessary chores before beginning to prepare for work. One thing I have been grateful for in recent times is the fact that my fashion shop is located beside my house, so I just stroll in after preparations. The proximity of my business to the house doesn't mean the job is any less intense but it makes going to work seamless for me.

The life of a fashion designer is such that you switch to a special mode once you enter your workspace. You have to attend to customer orders, turn to an overnight engineer when your machine develops unexpected faults, and also attend to walk-in customers. There are days that I realize that I have not had anything decent to eat and it is past 2pm or thereabout. When you are busy trying to meet up with deadlines or you have customer's doing fittings and all, you'd not pay attention to food.

Within a twinkle of an eye, it is time to pick my son from school and I have to abandon everything I'm doing in the shop. The short walk to his school is a time to breath a bit and stay away from my sewing machine. The moment we get back home, I will freshen him up, feed him and go through his homework with him (or what kids these days refer to as home fun). Then, sometimes he will take a nap and other times he will follow me to the shop. Most times when we go to the shop together it is the end of the day's work for me, I will just sit in the shop hoping to welcome walk-in customers because he will be all over me and I won't be able to concentrate.

Tailoring or Fashion designing as we love to call it these days is more than cutting and sewing fabrics but it is about the ability to interpret a customer’s style just the way they want it. It is the ability to understand that each customer have different personalities and styles which you must respect. I have had an issue with a customer when I first started this business, she sent me a style to replicate and the cleavage of the dress was very open but when I made the dress I didn't open the cleavage too much with the intention that she may not like to show too much skin - I assumed for her. She was disappointed in me for not replicating the exact design in the reference image. It was a lesson for me not to ever assume for any customer.

There is nothing in this world compared to the joy on a customer’s face when they praise your work and have no complaints about their outfits. Every 'thank you' from a satisfied customer and every referral from a customer that trusts me is one of my biggest motivations. The work can be energy-sapping but I have learnt to always take adequate rest when necessary in order not to breakdown.

Even though at the moment my business space is just a few steps away from my home's front door, my vision is far beyond my street. I'm working hard every day to build my brand with one order at a time to grow my brand into a global one. I want to dress girls and women across the world in my brand showcasing the ever vibrant Naija.

ABOUT ME

Just a quick reminder:

The text and photos on this blog was created by me, unless I state otherwise.

The cover images are designed using Canva with strict adherence to elements that are licenced for use under their terms.

Photographs are taken with my Samsung Galaxy A52 - 64MP Camera and other amazing features that absolutely capture the moment in high quality.

Lastly, do not use any of my content either text or image without asking me for authorisation. In other words, unauthorised used of my content is highly prohibited.