Tlhogi Letsholonyane was on the cusp of sedation, cocooned in the comfort and security of working life. Then she woke up. Though she was making steady ground within the field of her passion, it seemed her dreams were swiftly slipping away. In the end her fear of losing touch with herself overcame the anxiety of losing her stable income. And she quit her job.
Letsholonyane had followed her heart into fashion. After graduating from LISOF Fashion Design and Retail Institute she picked up a job as an assistant for a retail buyer. She found the work underwhelming, but could only find openings in similar roles, eventually taking another for better pay. But this wasn’t how she’d envisioned her journey panning out. Letsholonyane’s disappointment evolved into a sense of desperation to be heard. To make her mark. So, as is the only option when the world doesn’t offer a space shaped to your liking, she decided to carve out something new, launching a new label on Instagram.
“I make it sexy so that everyone can own it,” she says. The label is founded on the philosophy of owning who you are, the same idea that motivated Letsholonyane’s move into entrepreneurship. She is following her passion, running a label on the cutting edge of modern fashion. Her aim with the business is to encourage women to celebrate their own strength and beauty. And her desire for her country is for South Africans to invest in homegrown products as a way to encourage more entrepreneurship. This is the key to growing our economy, she believes – which is why she has started an academy that helps people create their own clothing brands. She has created her own path to success, and is encouraging others to follow her lead.
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