Class of 2020: Shakimono
After years of financial struggles, artist Shakimono found a spiritual home at Custom Collaborative and an opportunity to bring her skills and career to the next level.
The name Shakimono means “she who dances with the spirit of her ancestors.” Shakimono (or Sha) was given that name by her husband during a Yoruba Initiation ceremony to embody her powerful ancestral spirit and groundedness. “God is a goddess, god is the earth. Had she not been there and given me a vision, there would be no Shakimono,” she explained. “It keeps me from being normal. That name is more important to me than anything.”
“It’s a platform not only for female empowerment, but it’s also deeply spiritual. Behind everyone’s religion, there’s a tribal, matriarchal energy.”
If you know anything about Custom Collaborative, you’d understand immediately why Shakimono resonates so deeply with the CC family. “This has been the most awesome experience,” she said of her time at the Training Institute. “It’s a platform not only for female empowerment, but it’s also deeply spiritual. Behind everyone’s religion, there’s a tribal, matriarchal energy.” She described the high bar of excellence required to be part of the community and the dedication to greatness. “They push you to be great. We have to change the burden society has placed on the heads of women of color - women period. Here, I can actually be my true self and grow.”
Growing up in poverty in Detroit, Sha doesn’t have many positive childhood experiences. Rather than counting on her biological family, she creates her own. “I want to create a community of people who love on eachother with no ill intent,” she envisions. “Where I come from, there are no smiles, so I can’t go there. I have parents who don’t know how to love themselves, so they can’t love me.” Here in NYC, she’s found a family at the Yoruba Culture Center where her husband and his family members are priests and priestesses. At CC, she found like-minded women who rooted for her in a way very few had in the past. “When you provide an income for someone, you’re creating an opportunity for them to access wealth, which has been stigmatized for so long as something that only white people have,” she explained.
Shakimono selling tote bags on the train in one of her hand-painted jackets.
An artist prior to CC, Shakimono supported herself selling tote bags and other hand painted accessories on the subway. She picked up painting as a way to cope with her mental health and discovered her passion. “This art saved my life,” she said proudly. For three years, she and her husband, an artist and musician who goes by Gypsy Sun, lived in homeless shelters in New York. “I’ve tried to commit suicide because I felt helpless. I appreciated the trains but I didn’t want to be a begging person,” she reflected. “Now I realize that every blessing I have, comes from that train. I was building people up by being there.” One of those blessings was CC. After being let down by a seamstress friend who’d promised to collaborate with her on a jacket, she sold one of her last tote bags of 2020 to Ava, a woman on the train who told her about CC’s Training Institute. Now, she’ll never have to rely on others for assistance with her work, as she can make everything she needs herself. “When I met that woman, all signs pointed to me being here. CC is the golden ticket for me,” she said. “Not only teaching me the skill set, but amplifying my power spiritually.” The painting on Ava’s bag included the phrase “2020 Awakening.”
When COVID-19 hit the city, Sha’s first thought was of her and her husband's financial wellbeing. CC was able to provide the support she needed in those difficult times. “It’s not just the sewing or the business class... it’s the continuous blessings. I’ve gotten free fabrics, invitations to panels, fashion show conferences that linked me with other people,” she praised. “People who’ve never ever had to worry about the lack of bare life necessities on the level I have… they don’t get it. I want to show them that people who come from those circumstances are worthy.” Although she’s been through the worst, nothing can break Shakimono’s infectious, positive energy. While recognizing the suffering that COVID has brought, she focuses on the silver linings. Living in Far Rockaway, she was happy to avoid the daily commute to Harlem. She sees the dire state of the world as a well-needed reminder to do better. “Everyone needs to wake up and get it together. We need to sit here and understand why the world is like this. We’re f***ing up the planet for fashion. Everything revolves around fashion, and fashion needs to change first.”
CC’s emphasis on sustainable production and consumption resonated with Shakimono’s spirit. She believes strongly in American production, rather than outsourcing labor abroad where women often work under highly unethical conditions. “Taking care of the environment is the biggest thing for me... What am I doing going to someone's home to help them eat, when someone in my own home is hungry?” she asked. She wants fashion consumers to be invested in the origins of their items and the process of producing them. “Being able to paint beautiful things into garments is a blessing, but now understanding the garment, understanding how to sew them - it’s a whole nother level!” she exclaimed.
Original, hand-painted totes by Shakimono.
One of her favorite memories from the program was a private conversation she had with our director, Ngozi Okaro. “She made me realize the power I had being in the classroom with these other women,” Sha recounted. Ngozi advised that “not everyone is gonna like you - you don’t have to go out and make people love you. You have to love yourself enough to allow opportunities to come to you.” Reflecting on her CC experience, she was filled with gratitude. “They were everything I would have imagined them to be. They covered everything - the transportation card for example… I looked at my husband and said, ‘this is not just a metro card. This is freedom, we can do whatever we want!’ They gave us the ticket to freedom.”
Gratitude is central to everything Shakimono does, says, and creates. She’s even grateful for what she doesn’t have, “because once I do,” she explained, “I’ll know exactly what it took to get it.” Shakimono is a master of finding the light in the darkest of times. “I’ve been through unimaginable stuff,” she said, holding back tears. “But I’m not wearing scars, I’m wearing beauty.”
You can see more of Shakimono’s work and purchase her original pieces through Instagram, @shakimono.
Words by Auden Barbour, Senior Intern