BALTIMORE — For fashion designer Jody Davis, the path to getting her name out would be a pattern with twists and turns.
"I had to figure out how I was going to start manufacturing," said Davis. "Where am I going to acquire my clients from? How was I going to sustain to be in business? When I moved into this boutique now 14 years ago, I had one rack of clothing."
Way before that, Davis had to take a leap of faith, from the time she quit her government job to work at Neiman Marcus, to working in the mortgage industry, to commuting to classes at the Fashion Institute and Technology in New York for her degree, it's been a journey.
Now she has clients all over the world, some of them famous.
"One red carpet celebrity was Iyanla Vanzant. One of her team stylists reached out to me one day. I kid you not, it was probably 24 to 48 hours when I was able to find the fabric and create the dress and she wore it and it looked simply amazing," Davis said.
At the inauguration of Maryland Governor Wes Moore, there was a lot of attention on First Lady Dawn Moore, she was wearing a dress Davis designed.
"When she came and we talked about what she wanted, how she wanted to look those types of types of things, so then I was given the charge of creating the pattern," Davis said.
Just as beautiful as the other dress she made for the occasion, a design for the first daughter, Mia. Making it required Davis to step out of her comfort zone.
"My initial response was I don't do children's wear," said Davis. "The last time I did some poor child the child couldn't get his head in because it was you know, it was too small, but God said you do want to do this one and so I responded yes.
Mia loved the blue dress and the hat Davis found in New York.
"When she put the hat on, she started spinning around. And that was an indication, that oh my gosh she loves it," Davis said.
In her numerous collections, she's hand-picked the fabrics and created the designs.
She loves dresses, and fashions full of color and style.
"I would describe my style as feminine, but powerful, classy with an edge," said Davis. "I find that oftentimes I can see a woman that may be on a platform. She's speaking somewhere or she's got some special event, and they are in a Jody piece. So it just makes me feel good that on their special occasion, they choose a dress from my collection to wear."
Intern Niara Downing is taking it all in - hoping to one day have models wearing her fashions.
Davis is thrilled to be inspiring the next generation of designers.
"You have to stay focused like you focus on what it is you want to do, you work diligently to find your niche, figure out what your passion is, if you do what you love, you'll never work a day in your life," Davis said.
