“YOU DON’T HAVE TO FIT IN TO LOOK FASHIONABLE”: MEET KARABO MAHULODI SEAKAMELA, FASHION DESIGNER EXTRAORDINAIRE

1. Who are you?

I am Karabo Mahlodi Seakamela. Born in Seshego bred in Bloodriver, a dusty neighborhood notorious for crime yet filled with a lot of talent, creatives and geniuses who are mainly suck due to lack of opportunities and mental exposure to the vast expanse of what greatness life can offer. I’m a 26-year-old owner of a luxury clothing brand called Fashion Misfits. I’m the firstborn daughter to my mom and dad and a sister to 5 beautiful girls. I grew up between 3 houses, my grandmother, my aunt and her husband, and my mothers, so I’ve been exposed to different lives and orders and I believe they all worked together to make me the person I am today. I am born again and I like to think of myself as a game changer, a pioneer, that one child who is called to change the trajectory of the entire family from generations of stagnation and poverty into generations of blessing, harmony, and great wealth. I believe that’s who I am.

2. Which primary and high school did you attend?

I went to Ernest Matlou primary school and Northern Academy high school.

3. Which subjects did you choose and why?

I had mixed subjects in high school, from physics and Information technology to life sciences and Business studies. I had not yet figured out what I wanted to do at that time so I was exploring all my options. Not that it was the best decision though because I would have been better prepared for the business world if I had known or decided in high school that I would be a fashion designer and entrepreneur, luckily it didn’t harm me that much since what I do requires my raw talent and creativity plus knowledge I gathered after high school from religiously reading books on how to build a lucrative business, practical learning from being in spaces with individuals who were already excelling in what I do.

4. How did you decide on your career choice?

Right after high school, I was so convinced that I would do TV because I excelled in school dramas, poems, and storytelling where I was always given the lead roles. However, destiny had other plans, after multiple failed auditions I joined a network marketing company in 2018 and it was then that I was introduced to the full concept of entrepreneurship. Funny enough, I had tried to sell my personal clothes at a second-hand price to try and make up the joining fee that was required to join the company. I went door to door in some areas around Seshego trying to sell but because I knew nothing about sales at that point I had sold nothing by the end of the day.

Disappointing as that was, it was the beginning of my journey as an entrepreneur. It was through network marketing that I was exposed to reading for self-development; I learned how to successfully sell a product or service at hand and even got a chance to share rooms to learn from self-made multimillionaires. When network marketing didn’t work out financially for me as I had hoped, in 2020 I was supposed to start a job as an administrator but unfortunately couldn’t proceed due to various reasons. I was then presented with the opportunity to start a small business and so starting a clothing brand is what made more sense to me considering my love for fashion and gift to design. So I started Fashion Misfits. I found it to be the best option I have at leading a successful, impactful, and purposeful life.

5. Tell us about your business?

Fashion misfits is a 100% black female-owned luxury business. It was founded in September 2020. We started by reselling clothes stocked from Johannesburg dragon city. After a year of reselling on Facebook, WhatsApp, and Instagram we decided to produce our very first design by our founder Karabo Mahlodi in September 2021. From then it was a super long and extremely hard journey of selling our custom-made designs online until we moved to launch our first physical store in Polokwane central end of October 2022. We are now 5 months in our physical store and we aim to grow so much that we may create employment mainly for the talented seamstresses and tailors who have been stuck in the garage business at home for years. South Africa has a lot of great skill, especially in the making of garments and we aim to create employment for those with such.

6. What made you want to own/start your own business?

First, it was my mom. Growing up she had different vocations. From holding a job as a security guard to running her own catering business and then back to holding down a job, but now as an insurance sales agent, I remember the time when we had a good life was when she was running her business. I had a taste of how successful one’s family can be when they are running and investing in their own. I want that for myself. Secondly, after trying a few career paths after school and failing at that, I met someone in network marketing and they introduced me to reading for my personal development purposes, I read so many books by self-made entrepreneurs that somewhere between the pages I got sold to the idea. Now, I’m an entrepreneur in the fashion industry, designing for the brand I’m building with a seamstress and a tailor on the production side. Designing is simply a result of a gift I’ve always had (that of drawing) which I eventually decide to put on the money.

7. What services do you offer?

We design and produce ready-to-wear haute couture clothing for both men and women. Fashion misfits is a luxury brand that aims at giving people a chance to wear clothes that best define them and their characters. Through our designs, we aim to tell the world who we are by what we wear, hence our slogan says wear your narrative. We cater to anyone with a unique story to tell. You don’t have to fit in to look fashionable, we believe.

8. What is it like running your own business?

A first it was really fun, however the higher up the ladder I go it’s becoming rather hectic and demanding for me. It is a beautiful challenge though, as I’m building this brand, and it is growing on me too. “I take care of it so that I can take care of me”. So all in it is a beautiful experience, allowing me to touch and change the lives of people.

9. What advice would you give someone who wants to go into a business like yours?

First, make sure it is attached to purpose, that way you’ll always come up for it even on days you don’t feel like it, you’ll also have the assurance that you are not alone in it. You need god in it with you because business is not just a financial game, it all starts in the spirit and that’s where purpose comes from. It’s about vision because without a clear picture of what you see it becoming you are likely to give up. Does your research, if you go out there and try to sell people something you know nothing about, they will pick to. You need community, people who will support you even though they might not see the full picture of what your business can and will be. It takes sacrifice, everything worthwhile in this world gas a price, and the price of running a business like mine is high, so be willing to sacrifice and also leave behind certain things and people.

10. What advice or words of encouragement would you give to high school learners?

The world is yearning for quality. So you don’t have to fit in with the masses to be great. Stand up and out and change the world. Be a Misfit.