We were lucky to catch up with Tsion Mitchell recently and have shared our conversation below.
Tsion, thank you so much for joining us. You are such a positive person and it’s something we really admire and so we wanted to start by asking you where you think your optimism comes from?
My optimism comes from my childhood years of growing up from very humble beginnings as well as coming from toxic environments which kind of forced me to be optimistic about the environment getting better and being extremely hopeful for better days to come.
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 designer/seamstress as well as a promoter of mental health through my Food 4 Thought content, last but not least and all around creative.
When it comes to Fashion design, I have been drawing clothing since the age of 3 and making clothes for my Barbies at a very young age. It is something I feel I was born for and it started from not being able to get the clothes I wanted I always had a vision of how I felt clothing should look from my perspective. As an adult right out of high school, I decided to learn how to bring my sketches of designs to life by learning how to sew. I am self-taught and took a couple of foundation classes along the way. Most of my designs are one-of-a-kind pieces that people can order from me via social media (Instagram @iamtsionmitchell or @tsiontyeese and my website www.tsiont.com. I am excited to be working on new collections from the perspective of my current reality of living in Thailand. Stay tuned for that via social media and my website!
As far as being a promoter of mental health, I have experienced a lot of hardships in my life from growing up in a very toxic environment as a child to having to deal with a lot of grief from losing my Dad, Grandparents, my best friend at only 19 years old, along with a plethora of others. Having gone through these different life shifts, forced me to work on healing and getting therapy to truly cope with my new reality while still keeping my sanity. So the Food 4 Thought content is my way of sharing my experiences in the form of bite-sized lessons that hopefully help people deal with certain mental health challenges from a different perspective
Being an all-around -creative encompasses each form of creativity that I allow space to explore and express. My definition of creativity is a passion that comes from deep within and forms into self-expression once acted upon. For example, when I create clothing, I see my fabric or pieces I plan to redesign similar to how an artist sees their canvas. The possibilities are endless once you allow your creativity to break free without any barriers or restrictions. I also write/act/direct shorts with my partner in crime that all have some sort of message in them for people to think about. As long as I am creating in some capacity, I feel like I am on the right track in life.
There is so much advice out there about all the different skills and qualities folks need to develop in order to succeed in today’s highly competitive environment and often it can feel overwhelming. So, if we had to break it down to just the three that matter most, which three skills or qualities would you focus on?
The three qualities, skills, and areas of knowledge I feel were most impactful on my journey; number one is being optimistic. Throughout my life, I’ve learned to look at life from a glass-half-full perspective because I feel it can shape the way opportunities flow into your life by having that mindset
Secondly, I’d have to say learning and developing the skill of learning how to sew clothing. Being able to sketch clothing is amazing, it’s a skill that I’ve had since I was a little girl. However, once I learned how to sew, it allowed me to truly be able to bring my designs to life. They say it takes at least 10,000 hours and work toward a skill to become a master at it. At this point, if you do the math of about 13 years of sewing and designing, that’s a lot of hours! So learn that skill and put the time and dedication into it so you can thrive in whatever field you’re in!
Lastly, committing to a goal and following through with it. Meaning, if you start on a project or design, whatever it means for you, see it through and complete it. Sometimes youmay not like how the result turned out, but someone else truly might! What we see as mistakes or not what we wanted exactly could be exactly what someone else was looking for. So see it all the way through!
How can folks who want to work with you connect?
I am always looking to collaborate with different creatives from models to photographers, cinematographers, or creative directors who would love to create magic together through visual artistry via fashion design, wearable art, film, etc.
This year I would love to work with more male models of all different ages, ethnicities, and backgrounds for a menswear project I am working on. Anyone who is interested in collaborating to create epic work can reach out to me via instagram @iamtsionmitchell DM or they can email me at Designsbytsion@gmail.com with their portfolios or media kits.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.tsiont.com
- Instagram: @iamtsionmitchell, @tsiontyeese
- Facebook: Tsionmitchell
- Youtube: @tsiontyeese
- Other: Tiktok @iamtsionmitchell
Image Credits
Credits : The Kliq : Kalvin Reeves Shellz Photography: Ian Shelby BJ The PHotographer: BJ Scott Zachariah Shoots: Zachariah Schmitt
