Meet the founders

By Taya Coates

November 2, 2020

BLK In Fashion co-founders Nana Opoku-Manu and Taniya Evans joined me to discuss post-grad life, their experiences at Virginia Commonwealth University, and the organization’s foundation.

Nana Opoku-Manu, a vibrant Fashion Merchandising senior from Woodbridge, VA, was drawn to a fashion career due to her love of self-expression through style. The department’s merchandising track was a perfect fit to fuse her passion for fashion with her natural branding and marketing gift. A daring innovator, Opoku-Manu leaped to decide to create BLK In Fashion.

Taniya Evans is also a senior in the Fashion merchandising program from Upper Marlboro, Maryland. Her experience with the Nordstrom Fashion Ambassador program during her sophomore year of high school launched her into VCUfashion armed with expert knowledge of the industry. She loves fashion for the narrative story that every single garment tells, from retail to runway. Evans grew up homeschooled in a predominantly white community and thoroughly understood the impact that an inviting Black community can have on an individual. 

Their two paths barely crossed during their three years in the same department, only knowing each other as one of the few Black faces they saw in classes. This venture has led them to learn from each other’s experiences and gain a listening ear to discuss shared experiences like never before. Subsequently, since the beginning of this journey, their paths intertwined with a new purpose. The two are not only making an impact on the fashion department at VCU, but setting the foundation to impact the future of thousands of Black fashion professionals through the foundation provided for them in college.

Taya Coates: What are your plans after graduation in the spring? 

Nana Opoku-Manu: Honestly, I kind of want to continue what we're doing here, but work with other companies to make that their priority. Not on the diversity side but creating spaces for Black women and Black people in general, in an industry that doesn't really highlight us as much as they should.

Taniya Evans: Right now, the plan after graduation is to get a Master's because I am an African American woman who will have a fashion degree. A lot of people look at a fashion degree and still don't think it's valid. To have a Master’s to back that up, I feel like it would help me in the industry. My short term goal is to look at public relations or branding programs.

TC: I noticed that many of the seniors I knew last year seemed to be struggling a bit with finding a job. Do you feel that VCU Fashion or VCU, in general, has supported you in that space? Or do you feel like you’re kind of on your own?

NO: To have VCU fashion help you get a job, you would really, really, really have to put in a lot of work and a lot of time outside of your homework,  job, and extracurriculars. I think that's kind of unfair when we all came to this department and the school for that opportunity. But that wasn't the case. It's kind of unfortunate, but that's the reality. Not everyone gets offered the same opportunities, in my opinion.

TE: I agree with Nana in that sense, because going into this program, you kind of come in with this expectation that you're going to come out of it not fully prepared, because no one's fully prepared, but at least prepared enough to where you have this confidence to apply to any job. I feel like the department doesn't really do that. There are some gaps that are there between freshmen and senior year. Once it comes to the job search, you have the skills, but then they don't say how to apply these skills. 

TC: I wonder if it's a general VCUarts issue? Seeing seniors of all majors with no job prospects was so scary for me as a freshman. I realized they had to have been missing some support.

TE: One thing that we're trying to do with BLK In Fashion is getting a lot of alumni who can really say, “This is how I got here.” One thing that really inspired me with this whole process is when I won the scholarship to go with the VCU chapter to the National Retail Federation conference. There they had the co-founders of Mented Cosmetics, a Black-owned cosmetics company. Out of the entire list of speakers, besides one person from Nike, they were the only people of color to speak. What they did differently from all the other people who were speaking was they sat down, and they went through the process. I'm at the beginning of my sophomore year at this time, and I was like, “Whoa!” They were on stage for close to an hour and 15 minutes and went through each step. I feel like no one really does that anymore. Everyone is just like, “Oh yeah, I got a job.” But it's like, okay, but how did you get that job? What was that process? 

TC: So speaking of Black In Fashion, can walk me through what led you to the foundation? 

NO: Maybe a year or two ago, I remember I tweeted, “Why don't I see any black fashion students?” I thought I was crazy because, at that time, it was just a few of us. I'm like, “That's not right. Where is everyone?” Then a friend, Ayana, suggested we make a club, and I was like, “Oh, that's cute. You can make a club, go ahead, you can do that.” Fast forward, I started thinking about it. Last semester, after we went home, I thought, “Okay, so now I'm really not going to meet anyone. It's my senior year. That sucks.” I really missed physical interaction. But that's what social media is for. I thought, “Why don't I just start the club now, it is actually easier to get everyone together digitally rather than in person.” So I was like, “Yeah, let me do it.” But I knew I didn’t want to do this all by myself, so I asked Taniya to join me. We went from there. Honestly, it's been the smoothest process, and she's the best partner I could ever have. Honestly, kudos to you, girl, because I could not do without you.

TE: I always knew that there needed to be a space for Black fashion students. I was just I was never in the mindset of “Oh, let me start something with someone,” so when Nana reached out, I thought, “You know what, it's the time because if not now, when?” I'm so happy that we've been doing this together ever since. It has been the best process because we vibe off of each other really, really well. So it's been great.

TC: I love that. As seniors, what has been your favorite part about being a fashion student so far?  

NO: I will say learning about the history of fashion. When I first got into fashion, I would always think about trendy things. You know, the cute stuff we would wear, but it's much deeper than that. There's a root to that. It’s cool learning about the old silhouettes and how that was in style at one point, but if someone were to wear that right now, we would think they're out of their mind. I love seeing how things evolve in a sense. As they evolve, they change, and they become something else that we couldn't possibly connect. But once you see the connection, it's like, “Oh, wow!” 

TE: In general, I've been able to learn about myself a little more. As a fashion student, there are so many things thrown at you at once. You have to be creative, but you also have to be analytical with numbers. And you have to be able to balance all of this at once. Throughout this process as a fashion student, I've been able to figure out okay, well, what is my purpose with all of this? With BLK In Fashion, I feel like this last year, as a senior, I've been able to figure that out. I always had this question my freshman year, “What do I want to do within the fashion industry that's going to make a mark?”  I'm not the type of person where I want any type of recognition, but I want to be the type of person that brings change. As a fashion student, I learned how to make that change and how to make sure that change sticks in there for the long run. I think that's my favorite memory, especially starting up this club with Nana because it's really given me a purpose of what I want to do within this industry, how I want to go about it, and how I want to be an inspiration to other Black women and Black men.

TC: Speaking of making an impact, where do you see BLK In Fashion five years from now?

NO: Personally, I hope it is still a VCU org. I want people to be able at least to look at our department and think, “Yeah, there's space for me there.” Even if things get rough, or if they are confused and don't know where else to go. I hope they know there's a space for them no matter what to mingle, to find opportunities, to have an ear to talk to, or whatever they need; I want that space to still be there. I want it to be strong, and I want it to go on for five years more as a staple in our department.

TE: In some way, I will have some type of involvement because I would love to see this spread. Many may not realize this, but BLK In Fashion is absolutely original. No other school has it, only VCU, which makes it so unique. At the college level, I would love to see other chapters at other schools, HBCUs, and other PWI’s. To grow this community where we can not only connect with each other, but we're also pulling in people from the industry. I know we have the Black and Fashion Council, which is for the industry professionals. But on the college level, I think we need that space too. It's truly something special that Nana and I really have control of how we want to go about this. Five years from now, we can totally see it even bigger than what it is now. 

TC: I agree with that completely! Even the Black and Fashion Council was created very recently when they knew people would listen. The fashion industry never really paid attention until the June resurgence of the Black Lives Matter movement. I feel they truly don’t even have Black women and men’s concerns on the radar yet. 

NO: We were all triggered by the Black Lives Matter movement. We felt we needed to do something. 

TE: I feel like this is a need. We need to be able as Black people to get together and say, “This is how you prepare for the industry, this is how you go about interviews, this is what you do when something happens,” and just to be able to talk.

TC: You two know I love what you're doing. I wonder if students before you have had this idea, and we're just too scared to go for it.

TE: From other alumni, we just keep hearing, “Oh, we wish this was here when we were in school,” even from someone who graduated almost ten years ago. The fact that there's been a need over a span of 10 years shows that there's not only a problem but that we need people who will speak up and address it. That's exactly what Nana and I have done.