We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Abby Adekugbe a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Alright, so we’re so thrilled to have Abby with us today – welcome and maybe we can jump right into it with a question about one of your qualities that we most admire. How did you develop your work ethic? Where do you think you get it from?
My work ethic comes from passion, I find when you are really passionate about something it makes you want to work hard to achieve your goal. For me I know that each day all I have to is show up and even if I only get one task done that day at least I showed up to do the work. For me, once I realized that the thing that separates the successful people from others is that they have chosen not to give up. Once you make that choice to not give up and continue to show up each day, you become successful in your own right. Keeping those things in mind really help to drive my work ethic.
Let’s take a small detour – maybe you can share a bit about yourself before we dive back into some of the other questions we had for you?
I am a fashion stylist and I work in both the commercial/ editorial side as well as the personal side. Growing up I struggled with my confidence in school because often times I was the only black girl. I love my blackness now and I am unapologetic about it but growing up being different felt like a negative thing. When I got to high school I started to gain such a love and passion for fashion. I realized that when I put an outfit on that I liked, that the confidence starting to come and I started feeling so much better about myself. Soon fashion became a major part of my life, all I could think about is putting outfits together and how to dress for certain occasions. It wasn’t until I started styling other people that I saw the true impact f my styling. I realized that beyond the material aspect of fashion, clothing and the outfits you wear can really change how a person starts to perceive themselves. It was then that feeling of confidence and happiness that I could provide to others through styling, is what pushed me to start my business. I want to help people who know that they deserve to feel and look good, because I know that everyone has the ability to feel and look like their favourite “it girl” they just need some help pulling it out. I work with women who know that they are worthy of the effort and love they can give to themselves with the help and guidance from my styling. All of my services are available both virtually and in-person so that I can help women all over the world. The biggest part of my job is connecting with these women and getting to know who they really are, so that I can provide a service tailored their needs. Everyday that I get to wake up and do my job provides me with a sense of happiness that I had never felt before until I became a stylist. I am currently working on expanding my business and growing my clientele in both the personal and commercial aspect of styling. I love to be creative and think of new ways to put outfits together. One of the most important things about my brand is that I do not wish to make carbon copies of myself, my goal is to help create a signature style for my clients that is unique to them.
Looking back, what do you think were the three qualities, skills, or areas of knowledge that were most impactful in your journey? What advice do you have for folks who are early in their journey in terms of how they can best develop or improve on these?
The three skills for me would be drive, customer service and organization. I think drive is one of the most important things you need to have when running a business especially when it’s fuelled by creativity. It’s not everyday that you’ll wake up determined and ready to work but if you have drive, even on those bad days you’ll still get things done. Customer service and good communication is very important because at the end of the day your clients are also just people at the end of the day. When you are able to keep that in mind you are able to connect with them and provide them a service that is beneficial to them and they’ll keep coming back. The last thing is organization, organization is different for everyone but having your systems in place is very important because there are a lot of moving parts when running a business so it’s important to stay on top of them. Organization is also important for efficiency and making the most out of your time.
Alright so to wrap up, who deserves credit for helping you overcome challenges or build some of the essential skills you’ve needed?
There has been so many people that have helped me in my journey, so I can just name one but what has helped me is always asking questions and seeking knowledge from other entrepreneurs regardless if their business we successfully or not. The one piece of advice that really sticks with me is making sure you have a target audience because when you’re talking to everyone you are talking to no one.
Contact Info:
- Website: [email protected]
- Instagram: @abbysdresscode.com
- Linkedin: Abby Adekugbe
Image Credits
Meaghan Wozniak
