Today we’d like to introduce you to Ciara Henry.
Hi Ciara, please kick things off for us with an introduction to yourself and your story.
As a masculine-presenting woman, I always took pride in my appearance and how I styled my clothing. After numerous conversations with people outside of the community about fashion and how I’d get compliments about how different my style was compared to others, I decided to start an LGBTQ magazine/blog in Miami in 2012 called “Touch Miami”.
The mission was to create thought-provoking content that would shine a light on the community in a positive way. When I moved to Atlanta, I started my fashion company “GWQ, LLC. (Grateful Wear Quarterly) which is a capsule-style clothing line that will drop 4 times a year every season. Traveling the world and meeting different people has led me to make the move to Los Angeles four years ago where I’m currently relaunching my business.
During the pandemic, we were able to sell out of our product but trying to get our hands on merchandise became difficult so we paused just like the world did and focused on what matters. Now we have revamped our mission and we’re looking forward to relaunching this year. GWQ Fashion is a lifestyle clothing brand that shares a message of Living in Gratitude.
I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
Absolutely not! This journey has been filled with ups and downs but I can honestly say I’ve learned the most during my failures. Finding the right business partners that share the same vision and have the same drive as you was a huge lesson to learn.
When I launched the company, I was leading out everything by myself and I knew that if I wanted to grow I needed to build a team. Fast forward to now I’m now relaunching the company and contracting out the tasks that I need help with. Another obstacle was finding the right manufacturing company.
In Los Angeles, my goal is to create great quality clothing so everything is cut to sew or top-of-the-line blanks with our manufacturing company.
What matters most to you?
Living in peace and gratitude. This matters most to me because it keeps me grounded and it gives me space to constantly reflect on how grateful I am to wake up every day and do what brings me joy.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.GWQfashion.com
- Instagram: https://instagram.com/gwqfashion?igshid=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==
