Occupation: Manicurist
Style: Fly on-the-fly

Photograph by Devyn Glista

When did you start developing your sense of style?
Since I was a child I’ve always loved fashion. My grandmother actually has a super fantastic hat collection, and she keeps her jewelry everywhere. Slowly but surely I started to wear my own style and just ran with it.

Photograph by Devyn Glista

Are there certain things—an era, a color, a certain cut or item—that you’re most drawn to?
I’m drawn to uniqueness. It just has to catch my eye. If I feel like I’ve never really seen it before, then it draws my interest, because I’m like, Hmm, OK, how can I play with this in my closet? It’s an automatic thing.

Give me an example.
I really like Tracee Ellis Ross’s style on the show Black-ish. I love the patterns—I’m really into patterns. I love to play with wearing two patterns at once, and [dressing] out of the box, but not too much to wear it. I also love Janelle Monáe’s style. They both play outside of the box.

Where do you start when pulling together an outfit?
I’m not one of those people [who picks] my outfit at night. I just wake up, pick it, and go. I don’t really have time to change my mind. It depends on my mood for that day. Whatever I’m feeling, my outfit’s going to reflect it.

That improvisational approach, I imagine, would also result in more creative outfits, because you don’t have time to overthink it or care too much.
People are like, I feel like I’ve never seen you wear the same thing twice. But I wear the same thing twice all the time, I just look completely different than when I wore it the last time, because I don’t know how I wore it the first time; I just made it up.

You’re dressing much more for yourself.
I don’t think about everybody else. Really, it’s I just like this, so I’m going to do it.