My journey with business and fashion started quite a while back, and I’m glad that it’s set the foundation for who I am and what I do now.

See, I grew up an old soul. Before I hit my teens, I was watching movies that pre-dated my parents.

Let’s see if you know some of them; Robin and the 7 Hoods (1964)? The Thomas Crown Affair (1968, 1999)? How about Breakfast at Tiffany’s (1961)? Or maybe Casablanca (1941)? If you’re a big fan of Eddie Murphy, Richard Pryor, and Redd Foxx, I bet you’ve seen Harlem Nights (1989).

These movies all had one thing in common that really captivated me – the wardrobe. It was when I was when I first saw Robin and the 7 Hoods that I knew I wanted something to do with fashion.

At a young age, I was dressing myself for church and special events and, when I become of age and started working, I was curating my own wardrobe. I had a fascination with almost everything – ascots, pattern matching, French-cuffed shirts, double breasted suits. If you can name it, it’s quite likely that I loved it.

One summer, while in high school, I decided to work doing fashion retail at a Canadian-founded outlet store a few cities over from where I live. I loved my time there and ended up implementing some practices and methods that ended up helping me make a 4-figure sale on my second day. I loved my time there, and my coworkers made the journey amazing.

But I realized that although I was there enjoying my tenure, I would have to go back to school and find something more so along the lines of the business and formalwear I so loved. I applied to a position at a well-known menswear store in my city. What was so great about this particular store is that years earlier, I went and was blown away by the customer service and knowledge of the personnel.

Being at that particular store caused me to think of ways to go about creating my own looks and potentially creating that positive experience for others. It took me quite a while to do my research and come up with an action plan to recreate and exceed the customer experience that I was able to give my customers at the time.

Fast-forward to now! I’ve been blessed to host a fashion show just a couple of months after forming The Dapper Gentleman, I’ve had the opportunity to dress clients locally, nationally, and internationally, and we are now half a decade strong in our sector. Cheers to the years to come.