Egypt “Ify” Ufele is making waves as one of the youngest designers to show at New York Fashion Week, according to Insider.
The 12-year-old started her fashion line, Chubiiline, after she was bullied at school because of her weight. She did her first show at NYFW when she was 10.
“I started Chubiiline because I was bullied for being chubby,” she told Insider. “So I turned a negative into a positive by naming it that.”
The young designer says she gets her inspiration from seeing people’s outfits on the streets and from her father’s African culture.
“I get inspired by the African culture, which is where my dad is from,” said Ufele, who sews her pieces by hand and styles her models. “And I’ll go to Africa and I’ll see all the different outfits that they’ll just be wearing on the regular or to a wedding or something and I’ll just take that as inspiration and put it with an urban twist.”
In addition to being a fashion designer, she is also an anti-bullying activist. She started her own anti-bullying organization, BullyChasers, in 2015. Her work resulted in the United Nations selecting her as junior ambassador.
“BullyChasers is an anti-bullying company that I created because I didn’t want other kids to go through what I went through when I was younger,” said Ufele. “Don’t let anybody tell you that you’re not good enough to keep doing what you’re doing.”
This post was originally published on Blavity.com.