okay I have one memory as a kid my mom
and I were walking around the grocery
store and every once in a while she
would stop and she would explain to me
which fruits were ripe and which ones
weren’t then she grabbed one of those
little clear plastic bags ripped it off
set the fruit inside and tied a knot now
at the time I was young I was like 4 but
I wanted to learn everything I would
always follow in her footsteps
so I asked her to teach me how to tie
the knot
I was basically sitting on the floor in
the middle of this grocery store and I
didn’t care how long it took me to
finish the tie this bag I didn’t care
how difficult it was all I wanted to
learn was how to complete it and my mom
sat on the floor with me and I asked her
recently why she sat on the floor and
she said I was so determined she knew I
wasn’t gonna get up until I finished and
I think back and I was like she’s right
I always had the same qualities as a kid
but I so fast forward a little bit and
it was about 2009 and I began blogging
and I picked it up as just a way to
express myself I didn’t do it for any
other reason just to keep myself busy
and out of trouble because I was a
little you know crazy when I was a kid
but the biggest thing was I was working
my thing was is that I was just a
regular girl who liked fashion and I
didn’t really know what I was doing
other than just taking pictures of
myself posting them on the internet and
watching people respond back to it and
social media was entirely different than
it was back then
Instagram wasn’t even around there was
maybe only two or three platforms back
then and I just kept posting a posting
and all of a sudden I had 12 new
followers now most people would be like
only 12 new followers but for me I was
so excited that 12 people I didn’t know
wanted to follow me and out of those 12
comments there’s one that really stood
out I had one girl she wrote me saying
that her whole family had a history of
Lexia and that after seeing my photos
she felt like she could finally live and
that’s seeing how confident I was in my
body made her feel like she also could
be too so at that time I didn’t really
think I was being an inspiration like I
said I was just blogging to keep myself
busy and it sort of just happened with
time and then around that time I was
going to college full-time I was super
busy and I was working at a small Middle
Eastern restaurant and the food court
and I just love fashion I would go I
didn’t have a lot of money so I went to
you know the thrift shops and I would
shop because the clothes were less
expensive and retail stores
didn’t really have my size so I would
remix the outfits and you know just put
them together in my head and I decided
that I was I wanted to apply for a
school in New York City a really
reputable College there and I submitted
my portfolio and I waited for them to
get back to me but in the mean time I
had gotten an email from Seventeen
magazine and they reached out to me
asked me if I could model for them and
at the time I was living in Florida I
wasn’t in New York but I lied and I said
I was in New York and just bought a $400
ticket to go there and I shot with them
as the curvy girl for their magazine and
then I flew back to Florida and then
after that I submitted myself into a
modeling contest and then I won it and
then I flew to Los Angeles to shoot with
them and then after that I got my
paycheck from the modeling gig and
that I want a contest from it was $1,000
and I remember thinking to myself I
can’t believe I have thousand-dollar
check just from taking pictures of
myself I was used to making a
minimum-wage job which was like a 50 at
the time and I was just shocked that I
could make this much money from
basically doing nothing but so I went
back to Florida
and around that time my resident my
approval for my letter came in
and I remember getting it my sister
handed it to me and shut the door I
locked it I sat down on the bed and I
opened up the letter and all my eyes
drifted toward was the word
unfortunately and unfortunately is one
of those words you never really want to
hear on this instance reading and I just
remember going blank in the face I
didn’t have any motions I didn’t cry I
didn’t do anything at first but just
literally stare at the wall just think
to myself I can’t believe all my plants
that I planned were ruined and I didn’t
have a motion I let myself just live in
that moment and then like ten minutes go
by and then I just started crying crying
turned into anger and literally a week
later the magazine came in from 17 where
my feature was in and I saw it and it
put a new thought in my brain and I
thought I need to adapt to my new
situation I’ve never seen myself in a
magazine before and now that I did I
thought maybe I could make this work
some other way maybe I don’t need to go
to school be in debt and not be able to
you know succeed in that way so maybe I
could find out another way
then I literally went to my parents I’m
like listen picture this
me moving to New York within two weeks
and they’re like I think you could do it
so I packed my bag which is mostly shoes
at that time I packed my bag I packed my
car and I drove up to New York City by
myself and south to my brother’s house
on the way I got to New York and I
rented a small studio apartment in
Harlem 152nd Street and I landed a small
job also
it was blogging for another company and
I didn’t really want to blog for anyone
else but me but I knew I needed to work
a nine-to-five to be able to pay my
bills so I did that and I kept working
and working for them and then at
nighttime I would work on my own blog
pitch myself to brands I’d go to I go to
events just trying to get my name out
there and try to make
named for myself and then all of a
sudden this amazing brand that I wanted
to build a relationship with invited me
to London and I’d never been out the
country so I’m like saying yes before I
even ask my job so I said yes and then I
tell my job like hey I need a week off
of work because I’m going to London and
they were kind of like no that’s not
gonna be a thing so they fired me which
is totally understandable but I wanted
to follow my passion into what I really
loved doing and I didn’t want to have a
boss I wanted to work for myself so I
went to one in anyway because I got
fired so why not and then when I got
there I built such a strong relationship
with them flew back and then maybe a
year or so later it paid off because
myself and that Brandon London launched
our first capsule collection it was my
first design project I hadn’t done
anything like this before it was the it
was the brand’s first design project as
well and we launched it and following
right after that I did my second design
project with another company and we
launched at New York Fashion Week my
clothing went down the runway I was
mentioned as a designer which was
something that I never happened before
and on top of that it got featured and
you know they had all the clothing in
stores from Lord & Taylor and Nordstrom
which were two of the huge biggest
department stores back then and I just
kept thinking this is crazy because five
six years ago I was in those same
department stores and I couldn’t find
anything that was plus-size or that fit
me and now here I was designed pieces
that were actually being shown in the
store so I’m glad that I did those
capsule collections because I learned
whatever I could at the moment to set me
up for what was next and I was on a
mission to design my own line because I
wanted to do it myself like I told
myself I would six years ago so I saved
up all my money I did sponsorships I
faked like I was my own manager for like
three four years because no agency would
sign me because I was too short I’m only
five foot three but my heels are faking
it but you know I just saved up my
money and I took what I learned from
these companies and in January 2017 I
ended up launching my own clothing line
that was size inclusive it’s called by
Nadia habla Hassan and that’s my story
and I basically think back to when I was
a kid like that four-year-old girl in
the grocery store where you know I had
everything inside of me to be Who I am
today
I had everything inside of me to reach
my full potential and I had
determination when I was sitting on the
floor and I had stubbornness and I
didn’t want to give up and I had a great
support system my mom was there my whole
family is super supportive and my story
evolved as I got older but my foundation
always stayed the same the same aspects
that helped me get to where I needed to
be and I strongly believe that everyone
has instilled in them what it takes to
get to that point thank you guys so much [Applause]
and I were walking around the grocery
store and every once in a while she
would stop and she would explain to me
which fruits were ripe and which ones
weren’t then she grabbed one of those
little clear plastic bags ripped it off
set the fruit inside and tied a knot now
at the time I was young I was like 4 but
I wanted to learn everything I would
always follow in her footsteps
so I asked her to teach me how to tie
the knot
I was basically sitting on the floor in
the middle of this grocery store and I
didn’t care how long it took me to
finish the tie this bag I didn’t care
how difficult it was all I wanted to
learn was how to complete it and my mom
sat on the floor with me and I asked her
recently why she sat on the floor and
she said I was so determined she knew I
wasn’t gonna get up until I finished and
I think back and I was like she’s right
I always had the same qualities as a kid
but I so fast forward a little bit and
it was about 2009 and I began blogging
and I picked it up as just a way to
express myself I didn’t do it for any
other reason just to keep myself busy
and out of trouble because I was a
little you know crazy when I was a kid
but the biggest thing was I was working
my thing was is that I was just a
regular girl who liked fashion and I
didn’t really know what I was doing
other than just taking pictures of
myself posting them on the internet and
watching people respond back to it and
social media was entirely different than
it was back then
Instagram wasn’t even around there was
maybe only two or three platforms back
then and I just kept posting a posting
and all of a sudden I had 12 new
followers now most people would be like
only 12 new followers but for me I was
so excited that 12 people I didn’t know
wanted to follow me and out of those 12
comments there’s one that really stood
out I had one girl she wrote me saying
that her whole family had a history of
Lexia and that after seeing my photos
she felt like she could finally live and
that’s seeing how confident I was in my
body made her feel like she also could
be too so at that time I didn’t really
think I was being an inspiration like I
said I was just blogging to keep myself
busy and it sort of just happened with
time and then around that time I was
going to college full-time I was super
busy and I was working at a small Middle
Eastern restaurant and the food court
and I just love fashion I would go I
didn’t have a lot of money so I went to
you know the thrift shops and I would
shop because the clothes were less
expensive and retail stores
didn’t really have my size so I would
remix the outfits and you know just put
them together in my head and I decided
that I was I wanted to apply for a
school in New York City a really
reputable College there and I submitted
my portfolio and I waited for them to
get back to me but in the mean time I
had gotten an email from Seventeen
magazine and they reached out to me
asked me if I could model for them and
at the time I was living in Florida I
wasn’t in New York but I lied and I said
I was in New York and just bought a $400
ticket to go there and I shot with them
as the curvy girl for their magazine and
then I flew back to Florida and then
after that I submitted myself into a
modeling contest and then I won it and
then I flew to Los Angeles to shoot with
them and then after that I got my
paycheck from the modeling gig and
that I want a contest from it was $1,000
and I remember thinking to myself I
can’t believe I have thousand-dollar
check just from taking pictures of
myself I was used to making a
minimum-wage job which was like a 50 at
the time and I was just shocked that I
could make this much money from
basically doing nothing but so I went
back to Florida
and around that time my resident my
approval for my letter came in
and I remember getting it my sister
handed it to me and shut the door I
locked it I sat down on the bed and I
opened up the letter and all my eyes
drifted toward was the word
unfortunately and unfortunately is one
of those words you never really want to
hear on this instance reading and I just
remember going blank in the face I
didn’t have any motions I didn’t cry I
didn’t do anything at first but just
literally stare at the wall just think
to myself I can’t believe all my plants
that I planned were ruined and I didn’t
have a motion I let myself just live in
that moment and then like ten minutes go
by and then I just started crying crying
turned into anger and literally a week
later the magazine came in from 17 where
my feature was in and I saw it and it
put a new thought in my brain and I
thought I need to adapt to my new
situation I’ve never seen myself in a
magazine before and now that I did I
thought maybe I could make this work
some other way maybe I don’t need to go
to school be in debt and not be able to
you know succeed in that way so maybe I
could find out another way
then I literally went to my parents I’m
like listen picture this
me moving to New York within two weeks
and they’re like I think you could do it
so I packed my bag which is mostly shoes
at that time I packed my bag I packed my
car and I drove up to New York City by
myself and south to my brother’s house
on the way I got to New York and I
rented a small studio apartment in
Harlem 152nd Street and I landed a small
job also
it was blogging for another company and
I didn’t really want to blog for anyone
else but me but I knew I needed to work
a nine-to-five to be able to pay my
bills so I did that and I kept working
and working for them and then at
nighttime I would work on my own blog
pitch myself to brands I’d go to I go to
events just trying to get my name out
there and try to make
named for myself and then all of a
sudden this amazing brand that I wanted
to build a relationship with invited me
to London and I’d never been out the
country so I’m like saying yes before I
even ask my job so I said yes and then I
tell my job like hey I need a week off
of work because I’m going to London and
they were kind of like no that’s not
gonna be a thing so they fired me which
is totally understandable but I wanted
to follow my passion into what I really
loved doing and I didn’t want to have a
boss I wanted to work for myself so I
went to one in anyway because I got
fired so why not and then when I got
there I built such a strong relationship
with them flew back and then maybe a
year or so later it paid off because
myself and that Brandon London launched
our first capsule collection it was my
first design project I hadn’t done
anything like this before it was the it
was the brand’s first design project as
well and we launched it and following
right after that I did my second design
project with another company and we
launched at New York Fashion Week my
clothing went down the runway I was
mentioned as a designer which was
something that I never happened before
and on top of that it got featured and
you know they had all the clothing in
stores from Lord & Taylor and Nordstrom
which were two of the huge biggest
department stores back then and I just
kept thinking this is crazy because five
six years ago I was in those same
department stores and I couldn’t find
anything that was plus-size or that fit
me and now here I was designed pieces
that were actually being shown in the
store so I’m glad that I did those
capsule collections because I learned
whatever I could at the moment to set me
up for what was next and I was on a
mission to design my own line because I
wanted to do it myself like I told
myself I would six years ago so I saved
up all my money I did sponsorships I
faked like I was my own manager for like
three four years because no agency would
sign me because I was too short I’m only
five foot three but my heels are faking
it but you know I just saved up my
money and I took what I learned from
these companies and in January 2017 I
ended up launching my own clothing line
that was size inclusive it’s called by
Nadia habla Hassan and that’s my story
and I basically think back to when I was
a kid like that four-year-old girl in
the grocery store where you know I had
everything inside of me to be Who I am
today
I had everything inside of me to reach
my full potential and I had
determination when I was sitting on the
floor and I had stubbornness and I
didn’t want to give up and I had a great
support system my mom was there my whole
family is super supportive and my story
evolved as I got older but my foundation
always stayed the same the same aspects
that helped me get to where I needed to
be and I strongly believe that everyone
has instilled in them what it takes to
get to that point thank you guys so much [Applause]
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