Ebony Yarbrough
I've been a designer my whole life. As a little girl, my mom told me I would always experiment with my clothes, cut them, tie them, and do various things with them, so that's always been a passion of mine. What made me bite the bullet was when I was working for Centennial Hills Hospital in Vegas. Me along with some of the nurses were talking about how we wished we had some different designs of scrubs. One day I sat down and started drawing something to see what it would look like, because there are some limitations when it comes to scrubs. I brought it to work and my coworkers were like, oh my god, this is amazing. I wanted it to be sweat-resistant and breathable, but also a little stylish. A friend of mine said they knew somebody that could make this design come to life for me. I came up with all the specs, sizing, stretch, material, GSM for it, and sent it over. I paid like $250 for them to do a sample. The sample was amazing! I started selling it to the whole Centennial Hills and ended up getting a contract with them, which was my first introduction to entrepreneurship. I never had anybody notice my design before, so that was pretty amazing. I kept going from there to where I was like, you know what, I want to help other people, because there's so many people in the world that do not get noticed and they have some amazing designs and ideas that they don't know how to bring to life. They don't have the resources, they don't know how to go about doing it. I created a Facebook profile and got tons of inboxes about how do I do this, how do I do that. Now I bring unique pieces from all over the world to my shop in Minnesota and work with up-and-coming designers to help get their designs out there.
• Entrepreneurship education for high school student
What do you attribute your success to?
I attribute my success to caring about other people. I think I wouldn't have truly made it in either field had I not genuinely cared about people. Working in the health field, I care about whoever I'm servicing that day. But then when it comes to my retail, I care about them too, because I want them to be seen. I want them to be seen for whatever greatness that they're bringing to the table. I genuinely want people to win and know that you can be successful. So I think the caring nature that I have really has played a very big part in just caring about others.
What’s the best career advice you’ve ever received?
The best career advice I’ve ever received is to bet on yourself. No one will ever believe in your vision as much as you do. When you truly believe in what you’re building, that confidence pushes you to work harder, take risks, and keep going even when things get difficult.
What advice would you give to young women entering your industry?
The best advice that I can give you is to start, to do it. A lot of times, especially as a mom, I'm a mom of [AGE], and I wasn't that person that kind of took the time out to do something that I really enjoy doing, because I want to be there for my kids, make it to all their games, and I indulge myself in my kids because I want to be this great mom, but not taking that time out for myself and to do something that I really enjoy doing. So what I would say to women is, start is the key. Do it, just start. If you don't know where to start from, there's so many resources out here. Pick a day out the week and just say, you know what, Tuesday, I've got nothing going on, kids are in school, whatever the case may be, I'm gonna sit down and I'm going to research this, whatever it is that you want to do. Online is such a great platform for figuring out how-to's and who to contact. Just start. That one simple thing is starting, which was really hard for me. I would always talk about it, okay, I'm gonna do it, I'm gonna do it, I'm gonna do it. Just do it. Make mistakes! There are gonna be mistakes along in your journey, just learning from those mistakes and not repeating them is key to building that success. No one's perfect, and we're all human, we're gonna make mistakes, but what matters is that you learn from them and you don't give up. Don't give up. Pick yourself back up, you say, okay, made this mistake, not gonna do that again, but I'm also not gonna give up. Persevere.
What are the biggest challenges or opportunities in your field right now?
One of the biggest challenges in fashion right now is managing rising production costs while still delivering quality products customers can afford. At the same time, there’s a huge opportunity for independent brands to connect directly with their audience through social media and storytelling. Brands that focus on authenticity and strong identity have a powerful chance to stand out.
What values are most important to you in your work and personal life?
The values that are most important to me in both my work and personal life are integrity, perseverance, and authenticity. I believe in being honest about who I am and what I stand for, while also staying committed to my goals even when things become challenging. Building something meaningful requires consistency and dedication, and those values guide how I approach both my business and my life.
