I was born and grew up in Bedford-Stuyvesant in Brooklyn, New York. I loved every second of my childhood. It was nice to be a latchkey kid; I was on my own a lot. I lived with my mother and grandmother until I was 12, and then I went to live with my father. He was such a true intellectual and Islamic imam.
I was a successful child tap dancer and ran track for the Police Athletic League, but before my last year of junior high school, I decided to walk away from the High School of Performing Arts and go to George W. Wingate High School, which was predominantly white. It was only three years old and designed in such a unique way that I thought it was a calling. I started making friends very quickly; I had a sense of security and self-confidence.
Every year, each grade had to compete against the others and put on a musical, and every year I was nominated by my class to produce it. I also joined the chorus and became the school’s first Black cheerleader. Some of the best basketball players came from our high school, like Roger Brown, so we got to cheer at Madison Square Garden. For a kid to be there—it was huge.
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After high school, I moved to Manhattan. It was during the civil-rights movement, and everything was happening: the Black Is Beautiful movement, the Black Panthers, all of that.
I had a job at AT&T but wanted to work in the garment district, so I found one at a custom button factory. I dressed too well to be in the factory all day, so my boss had me make the deliveries to all the design houses. It was a big coat-and-suit business at that time.
Later, I worked at a low-end dress company called Marty Gutmacher, and then at a junior dress company owned by Ruth Manchester and her sister, Sylvia Courtney. They really educated me about the garment business, sales, and retail. While I was there, the designer Willi Smith discovered me on the street and wanted me to model for him. I…
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