The Garnette Report Presents: Black Excellence
Video & Photos By : Rick Hill
The Garnette Report’s mission centers around, “Bridging the gap between the up-and-coming and the established.” The Garnette Report sat down with seven men within the fashion industry who are truly bridging the gap within the fashion industry. In this Garnette Report exclusive project, Black Excellence, you can see what fashion means to these seven men and how they are helping the next generation.
Nehemia Wallace
A CEO and founder, Nehemia Wallace chelped created Branded Bespoke. Wallace, a native to Baltimore, Maryland, worked within the men’s wear and fashion industry since 2012. Eight years later, he reflects on some of the biggest challenges being a lack of connections. One of the greatest lessons he learned being “no one can put you in a box.” He says his experience in this industry made him more resilient and taught him to put his best foot forward. His advice for other men, “It can happen to you if you really put your mind to it, utilize your network and also utilize your resources.”
Carl Ayers
With more than 15 years of experience as a creative director, stylist, editor and brand strategist, Ayers says, “he has seen it all.” With experience both in front and behind the camera, he says the most important thing he does is “give opportunities to those who come after me.” Ayers says he always tries to leave something on the plate for those who come after him. “It’s my job; it’s my duty; it’s my pleasure to make sure I open doors for others.”
Chris Collie
After working in the fashion industry for 20 years, Chris Collie knows a thing or two about the industry. With knowledge in public relations, marketing, event production, brand development, and being the Editor-in-Chief to one of the largest fashion news sites in the world, Collie says he tries to open as many doors as he can. Collie says he feels society tends to confine Black men to a box, his advice; however, “we have to get over this ceiling they put over us to make sure that African Americans have true opportunities in fashion.”
Lewis Johnson, Jr.
Lewish Johnson Jr has more than 18 years of experience within the fashion industry as a stylist. His company, Harlem Haberdashery helps him accomplish his mission, “to get every man to be fly,” whether that is with jeans or sneakers. Johnson wants every may to look his best.
Carlton Spence
A professor at LIM College, and a celebrity fashion stylist and founder of Style Evolution LLC, Carlton Spence knows fashion. He believes it is important to highlight black excellence within the fashion industry because “it is so important as African American men to wear a suit because when you wear a suit, you are taken seriously.”
Jay Alexander Martin
As the co-founder to FUBU, For Us By Us, Martin has been part of the fashion world since 1992. Martin founded FUBU because he noticed a void in the fashion world for men like himself. Martin and three other men worked together to create something, “When you don’t have something for you, you take it upon yourself to make it.”
Gyasi Headen
Gyasi Headen is a non-profit director who works with individuals who’ve been previously incarcerated. Headen grew up in a single-family household with a mom who instilled the value of education. However, Headen found himself arrested and a veteran during his adult life. Now, he uses his experience and hardship to impact the lives around him. His organization employs more than 2500 people a year, teaching them how to succeed and achieve their dreams. He shows the people he works with that even with a record, you can find a job and achieve your goals.