“I want to grow and be famous for my craft. Soon, I will be recognized for my talent and ability to sew well. I know I will certainly get where I want to be someday.”
The following are the words of Ayibaditonmini Edwin Karibi—a Yenagoa-based budding fashion designer and 300level student of the Department of Entrepreneurship at the Federal University Utuoke, Bayelsa State.
Karibi’s aspiration of becoming a renowned fashion designer in the future is on course given that she is an enterprising young lady whose determination to succeed is uncommon among females her age.
In an exclusive chat with Mangrovepen.ng, Karibi said her love for Fashion design is inborn, stating that she started sketching clothes at the tender age of 9.
She registered for an apprenticeship programme in 2016 and started learning how to sew via YouTube videos.
“I’ve always liked the idea of it. I just needed a push and I got the opportunity to learn tailoring in 2016. I think it is inborn. I like clothes, fashion and sometimes I would just make crochet and stuffs like that.
“I started sketching when I was in primary school. Then, six years ago (2016) was when I started learning how to sew especially on YouTube. YouTube was very helpful in my quest to learn how to sew,” she told mangrovepen.ng.
In addition to being a student and a fashion designer, the 26-year-old is also a model who has represented Bayelsa state at the 2020 National Festival of Arts and Culture (NFAC) held in Plateau state.
According to her, she got into modelling during the heydays of the COVID pandemic at the behest of her aunt and now occasionally models for the Bayelsa State Ministry of Arts and Culture.
She said, “My modelling career started in 2020, during the COVID-19 period when I was encouraged by my aunty then to participate in a modelling audition organized by the Bayelsa State government.
“Luckily, I got picked and afterward represented Bayelsa in plateau state at the National Festival of Arts and Culture (NFAC).”
When asked how she feels about the lingering ASUU strike and its effect on her academics being a student, Karibi said, “obviously no student is happy about the lingering ASUU strike.
“It keeps people idle at home doing nothing and as well delays people in school especially those of us who are almost due for graduation.
She, however, noted that “it is not all doom and gloom because, to be honest, the strike period has afforded me time for my fashion designing career.”
Advising young people, the resourceful young lady from Southern Ijaw Local Government Area of Bayelsa State encouraged youths to identify what they are passionate about and make a career out of it.
“Young people should find out what they enjoy doing the most, and develop a career out of it. It may be nail polishing, hairdressing anything at all that you enjoy doing. Nurture and develop yourself and make a career from it.
“As youths, we need to be committed to self-development because it will be handy someday,” she said.
Karibi said that although she is yet to own a shop for her business and that her biggest customers in the main are still family and close friends, she is believing all that will change for the better soonest.