Nwando with Attention to Detail
Founder's Intro
Ifechukwude Nwando Arah is a semi-senior at the University of Maryland, College Park,
but most importantly a creative problem solver.
Arah created N.W.A.D. in hopes of enumerating her experience, as a young Black woman with Nigerian heritage, as well as the experiences of citizens of the world from other marginalized groups.
Now that I've gotten the formalities out of the way...
Writing about yourself in third person is mad cringy (to/for me).
So, here's an essay I wrote, in November 2020, about finding myself in my work that should serve as an acceptable "bio":
In her “We Deal with the Freak’n” Interlude, Solange Knowles affirms herself with the knowledge that “the god that created you is a divine architect… we are the walking embodiment of god consciousness”. In my humble opinion, Solange should have won a Grammy for her creative direction and performance of her notable and experimental R&B album, “When I Get Home” as well as for its predecessor, “A Seat at the Table”. Artists like Solange however, understand and work under the belief that what they create is not work, and that their creative endeavors do not need to be enamored with awards and accolades to be validated, valued, and of great value. They create with the spirit of accepting that one’s intrinsic value should not and is not tied to labor or productivity, and more so the stories that one decides to tell and share with their audience by asserting their individual agency and life experiences.
For the past few years of my life, particularly as I have blossomed into young, Black womanhood, I have begun to perceive Solange as more of a muse and blueprint for me in the means of creating than ever before. The same way that she highlights the places, experiences, and influences that have made her who she is and allowed her to shine in her own light. rather than be cast in the shadow of her sister, Beyonce; is the same way that I aspire to share those parts of myself through my art and craft. Whereas Solange explores her New Orleans roots, relationship with racial representation dynamics, and the love triangle between the genres of R&B. hip-hop and soul, I have been blessed enough to have the opportunities to be shaped by a study abroad experience in South Africa, a summertime visit to the West African up-and-coming fashion district in Brooklyn, New York, and a lifetime of navigating growth in the DMV Metropolitan Area through the lens of a first-generation Nigerian-American. Finding my voice in the midst of the madness of what is now 2020 has had everything to do with finding the beat and following the rhythm of my life. I’ve had to come to the understanding that my footsteps are ordered and all of my interests can entangle and result in something extraordinarily beautiful.
As a former student athlete, student organization(s) leader, and current young professional who has fulfilled several roles, I am well versed in the ability to work within a team as a whole and excel in my individual performance in order to aid my team in accomplishing our tasks and goals as efficiently and effectively as possible. In addition, I also had the honor of being selected out of an extremely competitive pool of applicants to participate in Under Armour’s Winter 2019 Career Combine at their international headquarters in Baltimore, MD. While there, we heard from numerous brand executives and associates about the supply chain, e-commerce, legal, research and design, production and distribution, and marketing branches of the company and put our heads together to complete a thorough presentation on our own product idea and its theoretical corporate rollout in a 7 v 7 pitch competition.
Fast forward to now, I’m a paused and pending African-American Studies major with a Minor in Law and Society, who has always been passionate about the lack of proper representation, or reversely, the influx of imbalanced representation for the Black Diaspora and other marginalized communities throughout the globe. I am confident that I am the perfect person to solve this problem because I have always been credited with being a creative problem solver, and that is very evident in the work that I produce and the content that I create through and for my own fashion brand and educational platform, N.W.A.D.
Mission
N.W.A.D. is a visual and wearable art brand that seeks to tell the stories of children of the Black Diaspora by acknowledging the achievements and overall experiences of both recognized and unrecognized aspects, motifs, and heroes within Black culture. Essentially, the goal of N.W.A.D. is to give the odd ones out a medium to reach out and honor their loved ones through the virtual world and ensure that they are able to learn how to love themselves, build each other up, and keep one another safe in the process - both offline and online. Each N.W.A.D. piece tells a unique and innately diverse story of resistance and innovation, as those are two main modes of strength within the Black Diaspora, and I solve the problem of misrepresentation by telling these stories vividly and thoroughly with each design I put out.
Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, my business has displayed an exemplary level of leadership and community engagement by promoting the launches and successes of peer-owned, Black-owned, and student-run businesses. Also, I have spent the past few months leading N.W.A.D. as it shifts into another gear that emphasizes the need for reliable and efficient business and safety protocols to be put in place within the global fashion and apparel merchandising industry. In the interim and going forward, I have placed a large emphasis on fundraising and social work/patronage opportunities and partnerships with organizations that I feel do the work that N.W.A.D. seeks to tell stories and encourage others to join, like Assata's Daughters of Chicago and Mentally Aware Nigeria Initiative (MANI).
In the future, I am interested in becoming a Marketing Executive/Creative Director and or UX/UI designer because I believe that I am the perfect person to creatively solve problems regarding representation of children of the Black Diaspora in the digital realm. I have always been credited with being a creative problem solver, and that is very evident in the work that I produce and content that I create through and for my own fashion brand and educational platform, N.W.A.D.. I have already begun to teach myself how to code HTML and CSS in an effort to expand on my knowledge and skills in the technical portion of digital marketing, UI/UX, communications and tech. My goal is to promote images, visions, and stories that Black people organically engage in a fresh, non-exploitative way and also eliminate the racism that exists and dominates search engines, social media platforms, system algorithms, and so much more.
I look at the legacies that brands like Converse, Nike, FENTY and Pyer Moss have established with collections that actively called out the status quo in and gone against the grain of the ‘norms’ and expectations for apparel design and manufacturing and am inspired to continue the process of building my brand and expanding upon my skill set, with hopes of being a part of a community that drives change and impact in such a personal capacity. The idea of operating within a team like that of any of the brands aforementioned motivates me because it would be an opportunity of a lifetime to connect with a community of like-minded creatives that are open to generating physical manifestations of ideas and curating concepts that aesthetically and thematically move our audience. It would be a dream to construct my own table and seat in a room full of collaboratives and peers -- let alone to learn and study alongside them in a pinnacle of the fashion (apparel), sportswear, and sneakers industries -- respectively.
Thank you for taking the time to read about me & support my brand!
With love,
-NWA (Ifechukwude Nwando Arah)
