For some reason, there seemed to be a stigma that liking school meant you only liked school and nothing else, and that made you uncool to your peers. For this reason, I did my best to hide the part of me that loved school and some of my friends only truly found out once I graduated high school at the top of my class. While being smart and liking school was deemed as uncool, having a sense of fashion was seen as cool and on trend at the time.

If you came to school wearing a new, clean pair of Nike Air Jordans, you were automatically one of the cooler kids in school. But if you were to actually commit time to doing your homework rather than hanging out with friends, you were seen as a nerd with no life outside of school. On multiple occasions I was told by my own friends that I was “too smart” and cared about school too much. From these comments early on in my educational career, I adapted and learned to mask my intelligence and find ways to hide the fact that I was actually completing my homework and putting effort into school.

While in college, I developed a love for streetwear fashion that I hadn’t had in high school while at the same time growing my devotion for knowledge. I found that when I wore clothes that I was confident and comfortable in, I was more confident in myself and didn’t find myself overthinking my decisions with negative self talk. I started to think, what would it be like if you could combine the two; a love for education and the confidence that fashion gave you. Through this new confidence I found from the clothes I wore and growth of knowledge from each year in school I realized how much my younger self would have benefited from a community like what Bigger Brain is today.