New York-based Farai Simoyi is one of the rising stars of the catwalk with her self-titled clothing line. Born in London, raised in Zimbabwe and educated in the United States, she has caught the attention of fashion enthusiasts around the world.

When she first moved to New York City, she was hired as a Senior Denim Designer for House of Dereon, the clothing line by mega-artist, Beyonce and her mother, Tina Knowles. Simoyi recalls one day, standing on the 17th floor of a building in Times Square, the heart of Manhattan and having an epiphany; “look at how far I have come and how much I have accomplished; I am a Zimbabwean designer on the design team TISI +1.02% for Beyonce’s clothing line and my parents were raised in huts in Zimbabwe, Africa,” she said, awed by the trajectory of her life.

Having worked with pop star Beyonce, she is currently the senior designer for hip-hop artist Nicki Minaj's fashion collection.

Much like her boss Nicki Minaj, the only woman on the FORBES’ Hip Hop Cash Kings list (since 2011) who once told a Forbes contributor, “I am not going to fall back from something because it’s never been done before by a woman,” Simoyi’s foray into fashion took the same tone and tenacity. “Building my own fashion label from scratch has been a major challenge on it’s own, but building a brand in one of the most unstable industries is even tougher,” said the Zimbabwean fashion designer, “but I don’t see myself doing anything else,” she emphasized, resolutely.

Hear her, "Working with #Beyonce and #NickiMinaj has been such an eye-opener and such an amazing experience because I always tell people, you know, you can't get to that level of stardom without being brilliant and without being a genius".


Source: http://www.africafuturestars.com/2016/09/farai-simoyi-young-zimbabwean-designer.html