Like too many other young students, 10-year-old Egypt "Ify" Ufele was bullied at school. Her classmates teased her for her size. It went so far as that one student even stabbed her with a pencil.
Ufele decided to fight back by designing her own plus-size collection — and debuting it at Fashion Week.
Ufele launched Chubiiline to bring African culture to the forefront of the American fashion industry, and to do so in a size-inclusive way. Her work captures her strong spirit, featuring bright colors and bold patterns.
"My designs are inspired by the tribes in Nigeria," Ufele told Mashable. "They have an urban twist to them, because my Father is from Nigeria and I ... was born in New York."
And frankly, any level of sewing craftsmanship at the age of 10 is impressive.
Ufele has made it her mission to empower other students, which she does both through her designs and regular posts on her Instagram account @bullychasers.
"My mission is to empower girls and boys to build their confidence for themselves," Ufele told Mashable. "I am ... making clothing for all sizes and talking to kids around my age and telling them my bullying experience and telling them how I overcame it."
Though she’s far younger than many designers populating the fashion industry, Ufele is already making a name for herself. This week, she became the first child designer to dress plus-size models at NYFW.
Like any designer, she had to dedicate her free time to picking out fabrics, designing, sewing and fitting.
But her hard work paid off when her NYFW show debuted. Not a bad place to start a career in the fashion industry. At all.
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