SUMMARY KEYWORDS

fashion industry, conversations, people, designers, work, navigate, privilege, career, business, feel, philanthropy, scaling, style, provide, fashion, hbcus, raise, kennedy, equity, decisions

SPEAKERS

Felita Harris, Amber Cabral

Amber Cabral 00:00

Three. Privilege is all around you. It shows up in your clothes, where you live, the places you frequent, your network capital, and even how you spend your money. It’s useless until you recognize it. So it’s time to stop feeling guilty and figure out how to use your privilege to make an impact. Welcome to guilty privilege, and today I have the privilege of talking to felita Harris, Chief Revenue and strategy executive and co founder of raise fashion. You are going to love this conversation. You’re going to hear about how to have a depth and breadth of a career, as well as a few tips about how to ask for money and navigate growing your network. Jump in. Hey felita, hey Amber. I’m so happy you’re here.

Felita Harris 00:47

Thank you for inviting me.

Amber Cabral 00:48

Of course, don’t act like you’re nervous. You’re not.

Felita Harris 00:52

I’m happy. I’m happy to be here.

Amber Cabral 00:54

Good. I’m glad you’re here, and I feel like you have some really powerful pieces to add to this conversation about equity. So let’s go ahead and jump in. So one of the things I love about you is that you are I think of you as one of the most well networked people I know. You are very connected. You make really strong relationships. You carry them for a long time. Can you give us one of the tips that you use to help you to build a strong network?

Felita Harris 01:19

Sure, sure. And thank you. You know, for me, I truly believe that the center of relationships is truth. I build relationships based on trust and what I can add to the person’s life and network. And for me, that’s the beginning. What comes out of that is very organic, yeah, and so if there’s a partnership or relationship, that’s great, but that’s a bonus. Yes, if it’s if it’s mutual, great, but for me, it has to be built on trust and truth. And I think what I’ve learned over the years is that foster is a great community where there’s aligned goals, and that that’s really what’s worked for me. Yeah, whether it’s in the fashion industry, the community that surrounds Kennedy, my daughter, personal relationships, like the one that I have with you, yes, it’s really based on that. Yeah,

Amber Cabral 02:30

yeah. So I love that you brought up Kennedy, and we’re going to talk about your role as a mom. I know it’s one of the most important it is. So we’re going to wait to get to that, because I know how you light up when that happens, but I do want to talk about some of the work that you’ve been leaning into more recently, like in this portion of your career, you’ve been more invested in thinking about how you can create more equity in the fashion industry. Can you talk about why that’s important to you and what brought you to the space of deciding you wanted to make that a focal point in your career,

Felita Harris 03:00

I think, like many individuals that were in corporate America, like myself, that hadn’t yet experienced what it was like to be a designer of color or an independent entrepreneur when George Floyd was murdered, that was an opportunity to do more, yeah, and when I became a co founder of raised fashion, I started to experience what it was like to feel that marginalized pressure of scaling a business. And so with my co founders and board members at raised fashion, we wanted to create a community that addressed the issues that designers of color and interns were facing with not having access to education, A well networked community and access to capital, right? I honestly find it offensive that we sit right now in the fashion industry, one of the largest industries in the world, and still face these challenges. And I share this feeling with my co founders and so we all worked very hard to leverage our access, our privilege, our resources, to build this network of 300 advisors. And I’m super grateful to all of them for raising their hands and saying we can do more. Right? So we have 300 advisors that provide pro bono strategy and resources to bipoc brands. We also have an internship program with HBCUs 13 HBCUs, and we provide living stipends for HBCU. Interns to have access to the fashion industry, that is how they will start their career.

Amber Cabral 05:05

I hope you’re enjoying today’s episode, and if you happen to also be looking for tools to help you navigate tough conversations, to be able to show up as a more impactful ally, or just to have resources about how to navigate equity in your world. I’ve written two books. My first book is called allies and advocates, and this book is really focused on helping you show up as a more impactful ally. It has actual tactics and tips and things that you can practice to help you get there, both for yourself and for others. My second book is called say more about that now. Say more about that. Is more about helping you to speak up, to push back, to challenge, to be able to have those conversations that sometimes get a little bit difficult. And in fact, I’ve given you actual scripts to help you to be able to do that. So if you’re interested in just having a few extra resources in your pocket to be able to help you to navigate any of those things, you can go pick up those books anywhere where you buy books, or you can pop down into the show notes and click the links and buy them there. Back to the episode, talk to us about raise. So, I mean, you’ve given us some of the fantastic work that raise has done. And I, as you well, know I love raise, so I have no question. Thank you. Yes, you are always yes. I’m excited to help raise anytime I can tell us about raise so that folks understand how you know what, what did you co found? What has that looked like?

Felita Harris 06:21

Yeah, in july 2020, myself and seven board members started a nonprofit providing pro bono access to resources for bipoc designers and internship program for 13 HBCU. We actually started with four HBCUs, and now we work with 13. Essentially, designers can fill out an application and receive one on one advisory from one of our experts. These are experienced, career driven advisors that have already scaled a career in the fashion industry, and they are again raising their hands and spending time with designers to triage business issues that they face in scaling their own brands. To date, we’ve launched nearly 50 designers in wholesale but we also work with designers on their DTC businesses. This year, we launched a brand fellowship program. It’s an eight week masterclass designed to really focus on a few today, a few designers in scaling those businesses. So that includes brand, Mission strategy, vision, supply chain, legal strategy, and that’s really necessary if we are going to really see these brands in the next 10 years. Yeah. And so those are just a few of the programs that we provide. When people think of fashion, I think sometimes one of the last things they think about is equity. So why is it so important that we focus on equity in fashion, I think it’s important, because we all deserve a chance, but we all don’t get the opportunity. Yeah, and so we can talk about equality, and that’s well, I answer the phone, I can come to your showroom, but equity is taking that next step to ensure right, that I do more to help you get the order, yeah, that I do more to write favor favorable terms, that I do more to ensure that your margins are actually keeping you in Business, that I do more to ensure that you understand the business that you’re getting into, and that’s what I believe that we’re doing at raised fashion. You have

Amber Cabral 08:49

worked in large scale fashion. You have also designed an award winning app. You’ve worked in philanthropy. You now help people find money to start their businesses. You’ve done a number of things, very wide in terms of career path, but also very deep in the fashion industry. How have you made such brave decisions to hop from thing to thing?

Felita Harris 09:08

Well, first, I consider myself very fortunate to have found an industry that I absolutely love, yes, but you know, Amber, sometimes you’re faced with decisions and you have to make courageous decisions to move forward. So all of my pivots haven’t been because I wanted to make change. Sometimes you just have to make a decision. I’m a single mom. I have a daughter to take care of, and so and also have interest. And so making a decision to go into tech is because I actually wanted to build an app to provide a solution for frontline sales teams, and so I did that, deciding to go into philanthropy to provide a solution for designers of color to be able to scale their business is because. Because we needed to provide an answer and a solution for designers of color. So I very much lead with courage, and I very much lead with conviction. And so that’s really how I’ve approached my career.

Amber Cabral 10:13

Hey there. I hope you’re enjoying the episode, and in fact, if you are, you can bring me to your organization or event to help you bring conversations like this to life in your workspaces. This is something I do for a living. I do coaching, I do training, I do executive consulting, whatever it is that you might need as it relates to trying to figure out how to activate allyship or equity in your space. It’s probably something I can support. So if you’re interested in how we can work together, you can reach out to me@cabraraco.com or pop down into the show notes and click the link book a discovery call, and we will chat with you soon. Back to the show. I know that one of your most important titles is mom. You mentioned being a single mom. Very proud. Yeah. And Kennedy is one of my favorite humans, so you are one of hers, and you’ve done a fantastic job with her. And that’s not just because she I’m one of her favorites, but I would love to know, you know, while fashion attracts a lot of female consumers, it doesn’t always make space for motherhood. How have you navigated being a mom and still having such a decorated career? It’s

Felita Harris 11:15

not easy. Yeah, and I think that Kennedy has definitely suffered in some ways by not having enough of me, even in the work that I do in philanthropy. I was just having this conversation yesterday with someone. They were complimenting me about the philanthropy work, and I said, Thank you. However, my daughter still isn’t seeing enough of me, yeah, because I’m in service now of something else. And so as much as I love what I do, and always have I do, struggle with spending enough time with my daughter, because I have a household, right? I have a family, right? So I don’t know that we ever find the balance when you love something as passionately as I do, and I don’t do things that I don’t love. Yeah,

Amber Cabral 12:07

you do not and you do really well, so you give a lot of time. So

Felita Harris 12:10

I thank you. So I do think about Kennedy a lot in the space of how do I balance the career goals and desires that I’m very passionate about with my love and how much I adore her and want her to do well, yeah, so that’s how I navigate it.

Amber Cabral 12:30

So I would be inclined to say that being a mom probably makes you better at some things as well. Do you think that’s true? I

Felita Harris 12:36

do. Yeah, I do.

Amber Cabral 12:37

I would describe you as easily, one of the most stylish people. I know, in fact, I had to think very critically about what I was gonna put on today. Well, you look great. I appreciate that, as do you. I expected nothing less. So how do you define style? What is style for you?

Felita Harris 12:53

It’s so personal. And if I’m honest, I am always shocked when people compliment my style. Yes, I never get used to it. I’m very surprised by that. Yeah, and because I never choose what I wear to suit a room or people’s response. I choose what I wear based on how I want to feel. So if I’m in a very feminine mood that will come through, if I’m in a mood where I want to feel empowered or sensual, that will come through. You’ll know when I walk in the room, oh, she’s feeling that today, right? But it’s very much informed by my feelings I define style by very much how people want to identify and show up in the world. And I don’t judge it. Yeah, I really don’t put a lot of weight on it. I very much grew up in an environment where my mother didn’t place a lot of emphasis on style. She placed a lot of emphasis on being clean and tidy, yeah, and well, Press Right,

Amber Cabral 14:10

right. So

Felita Harris 14:11

you’re like, I don’t even know what you mean when you say, yeah. When people are like, you look great. I’m like, Okay, do

Amber Cabral 14:17

you think style is important? I think that

Felita Harris 14:19

being in tune with who you are is important. That is priority, right? I find the focus on style to be very trivial, but it gives you a chance to express. It’s so individual. Yeah, to be in the fashion industry and not have a point of view about it is it’s unique. It’s very unique. I enjoy the business aspect of fashion much more than the style. Okay, so

Amber Cabral 14:49

I want to ask you probably two more questions. One, because you mentioned the business aspect of fashion, and I know you like the business aspect of fashion, and so with that, that means you’ve gotten really good at being able to have come. Conversations with people about big dollars and how to spend their dollars and how to lean in and be supportive. Can you give us one tip, if you could just wave a magic wand across everyone about what they need to be thinking about when they’re going to ask someone for some money? What would that be when

Felita Harris 15:17

you ask someone for money? Think about how it’s mutually beneficial. It’s a give, get. Mm, hmm. I think the worst thing you can do is be selfish in your ask. Yeah,

Amber Cabral 15:29

yeah, yeah. I think being really clear about why you’re asking is super helpful, and people don’t always realize that I can’t show up like I’m asking just for me. I have to be asking for us. It’s us. Yeah, it’s

Felita Harris 15:43

a partnership, right? Very it’s a partnered approach. Always my view, yeah, I love

Amber Cabral 15:49

that. All right, so this podcast is called guilty privilege. All right? The reason I called it guilty privilege is because I think that privilege is one of those things that people tend to feel guilty about, or sometimes don’t even have awareness that they have it. And so I wanted to have conversations that highlighted people like ourselves who have privilege and are using it to move things and change lives and all of that, so that people understand that privilege does have a purpose and is really useful. So with that, my last question is, what is one privilege that you refuse to feel guilty about?

Felita Harris 16:20

I refuse to feel guilty about my privilege to help bipoc people advance their goals in this space. I

Amber Cabral 16:30

love that. Thank you for joining me. Thank you for having me. Of course,

16:34

you