"AUTHENTICALLY HERSELF": MY INTERVIEW WITH DESIGNER, BRAND OWNER, & AMAZON PRIME'S "MAKING THE CUT" COMPETITOR MEGAN SMITH

WRITTEN BY SHARRA GREENE & FEATURING MEGAN SMITH

Megan Smith.

If you’ve been watching the hit Amazon Prime fashion series “Making the Cut”, you should be hip to women’s ready-to-wear designer Megan Smith of the growing brand, Megan Renee. Upon binging the series, I was instantly drawn to her, both as a resilient woman who comes from humble beginnings and as an immaculate designer who’s mastered balance when it comes to sultriness and sophistication. Rooting for her from the couch, I watched her kill challenge after challenge, showcasing innovative silhouettes and impressing the likes of Tim Gunn and the legendary Naomi Campbell. I was so inspired that I HAD to connect with her and learn more.

Looks from Megan’s SS’18 & SS ‘19 collection.

In my latest episode of Style With Sharra: The Podcast Series, Megan and I chop it up about the ways she navigates the ever changing fashion industry. I interview her on various topics ranging from where she started her career in design, her experience as a contestant on “Making the Cut”, the support she’s received from Naomi Campbell, and ways we can elevate each other as black women in fashion.

Megan consulting Tim Gunn on “Making the Cut”.

Hit the button below to listen to our full interview on Style With Sharra, available here, on iTunes, and in your Apple Podcasts app.

Check out Megan’s amazing collections and shop her line at shopmeganrenee.com

Follow her brand here and keep up with her journey on Instagram here!

Make sure y’all let me know your favorite part of the interview in the comments!

Sharra,

“The definition of walking art.”

P.S. New style advice is coming up next on The Walking Art Blog very soon. Make sure you’re subscribed so you don’t miss a post!

DOING MORE AND WORRYING LESS, HOW I'M PLAYING WHILE THE WORLD IS ON PAUSE

WRITTEN BY SHARRA GREENE | PHOTOGRAPHY BY DAMON RICE

Shop My Look: I am wearing a volume sleeve OTS top from Boohoo, the love affair cargo pants from Akira, Public Desire nostalgia newspaper print thigh high boots, PLT brown oversized shades and doorknocker earrings, Aldo ring set, and the runway bag (my fave) from House of Rehab.

With society in disarray due to the unfortunate circumstances surrounding the C Word, it’s been eye opening if nothing else, watching the different ways we as people have had to adapt our day to day lifestyles and activities. I’m watching so many people judge each other, particularly, people who are in a constant state of panic judging others for seeming too “unbothered”. I’ve been hopping on the IG live sessions of some of the entrepreneurs and public figures who I look up to and I’ve been inspired by their ability to adapt their business models as best they can and to maintain a positive attitude as much as possible, only to see others in the comments criticizing them for not being “worried enough” and being “selfish” during this time. Regardless of what you’re choosing to do during this time, the fact remains that worrying solves nothing. We can pray, we can learn more about the situation and its progress, we can stay informed, we can try to point each other in the right direction of resources. But that’s all that most of us can do.

The game of life is certainly unpredictable. I’m sure most of us didn’t expect a lot of things that have been happening lately to happen and all this time alone has caused me to reflect on the intentions I set in the very beginning of the year. I remember bringing in the new year in my room meditating and hearing two specific words over and over in my head: expectation and gratitude. They’ve been two concepts that I’ve been diligently trying to be mindful of since that night and it’s crazy how personally useful those two words have been during this chapter of my life. I had a whole bunch of plans that got halted over the past few weeks. Several of my styling projects were postponed and I had to pass on certain opportunities that require me to travel. This was definitely not in my expectations for me or my brand and I’ve been forced to adapt quickly. However, when I think about the losses that so many others are enduring during this time, mine don’t even begin to compare to theirs and I can’t help but to be grateful for the people and resources that I do have to get me through this time, things that so many people unfortunately do not have.

Gratitude has been the main force keeping me grounded during this time. Waking up every morning and being thankful for all the things that are still going right in life, despite the things that aren’t. It’s been allowing me to do more with the time on my hands instead of staying stagnant in negativity and catastrophic thoughts. On the bright side, I’ve been so inspired to see some of the people in my circle using this time to tend to their craft and/or start the beginning steps for projects that they’ve wanted to pursue for a really long time.

Doing more in this season doesn’t necessarily mean the same thing for everybody. As for me, I know I still got shit to do regardless of what’s going on. However, I also said that I wanted to take the time to tend to my mental health more this year and to grow spiritually. So, my days lately have been a mix between working from home and then making time to read, meditate, pray, etc. However, if you’re someone who is already a workaholic as is and maybe you were feeling personally unfulfilled before all the chaos began, this could be the time for you to actually do more relaxing, more binge watching, more phone calls catching up with friends and family, more time being spent on hobbies, etc.

Whatever you’re doing, please prioritize whatever is truly important to YOU. As long as you’re staying as safe as possible and tending to your health both physically and mentally, don’t let others dictate how you should be spending this time.

I’m continuing to pray that as we pick up the pieces, we’ll collectively come back stronger on the other side of all of this.

Love,

Sharra

“The definition of walking art.”