IAM977- CEO Retains and Supports New and Established Designers

Christine Brooks-Cropper is President and CEO of the DC Fashion Foundation (DCFF). She holds a Master’s in Public Administration from the University of Delaware and received a Bachelor of Arts-Sociology degree from Delaware State University. She is a proud mother to her son, Christian.
As President and CEO of the DC Fashion Foundation, she identifies ways to retain and support new and established designers, fashion retailers, professionals and assist design students transitioning from school to career. Christine spearheaded the formation of the Commission on Fashion Arts and Events in DC Government with the message that fashion is an asset to economic development, served as Chairman for Mayor Gray and Mayor Bowser from 2013 to 2017.
Ms. Brooks-Cropper is a change agent and innovative strategist for the Creative Economy for over 26 years. In 2007, she launched The Greater Washington Fashion Chamber of Commerce (GWFCC) and in 2009 the DC Fashion Foundation (DCFF) to promote the business interests of those in the Fashion and Style Industries. Through her work at DC Government under Mayor Anthony Williams, GWFCC, DCFF and the creative economy business consultant for Washington, DC; she has influenced DC legislation and has established youth and adult arts education programs for over 16 years. She has served on the Creative Economy Transition Team for Mayor Gray which resulted in the launch of the Deputy Mayor Planning and Economic Development’s Creative Economy Strategy 2013, to serve and support other creative businesses. In 2010, she formed the first Congressional Apparel Manufacturing and Fashion Business Caucus on Capitol Hill and a member of International Conference of Shopping Centers (ICSC).
Christine worked with the U.S. Small Business Administration and Macy’s Holdings Inc. to create the first DC Fashion Incubator program at Macy’s Metro Center to include registering for business license, professional license, regulatory issues and training and professional development for fashion and creative businesses to learn how to monetarize, create a profit and sustain their businesses. This program assists emerging designers and fashion small business owners, international designers in Ghana, Peru, London, Estonia, Pakistan and growing through the DC Fashion Virtual Incubator; as well as industry influencers with special events to build awareness around fashion as an industry in Washington, DC. Her accomplishments have landed her in numerous press outlets including the Wall Street Journal, Business Journal, Voices of America, Uptown Magazine, Washingtonian and Women’s Wear Daily, which designated her as the next fashion advocate leading the fashion industry by creating jobs, in the Washington, DC- Baltimore metro area and the United States, as well as globally.

In 2017, she created La Societe Secrete LLC (The Secret Society) a lifestyle business and brand with a focus on sexual wellness, exploration and education. A member of AASECT- The American Association of Sexuality Educators Counselors and Therapists, the business focuses on Edutainment, Intimate Media-Driven Conversations, “For Play” Podcast and Social Event to provide the most innovative, informative, and exploratory experiences that connect culturally diverse communities. In 2018, “The Collective”, a creative business consultant firm, was created by Christine Brooks-Cropper and LeGreg Harrison to bring trailblazers and pioneers in their own craft/trade of fashion, music, entertainment, sports entertainment, multi-media, culinary and retail together to start to connect the dots and market the services of the Creative Economy in Washington, DC. The services consist of brand identity, production design, content creation and content development, brand strategy, trend reporting, digital services, commercials, graphic design, music videos, audio podcast, business development, event activation and retail advisor to tapped into land and emerging development. The Collective aims to promote Washington, DC as a thriving center of creativity and facilitating production throughout the entire city. Clients to date are LEGACY, Under Armour, DC Fashion Incubator at Macy’s, VIBE, AARP, GameMasters, PUMA, Centric, The Museum, Epic, Generation Now, DC Gov, BET, Beats, MLK Deli, Organic Goodz, NETFLIX, Radio One, McEnearney Associates Realtors, MissBish.

• CEO Hack: Step back and observe
• CEO Nugget: i) You can learn a lot by being quiet ii) You don't have to be friends with everybody
• CEO Defined: Making people believe in your vision, walking in your truth and leaving an impact

Website: http://www.dcfashionfoundation.org/

Instagram: dcfashionfdn
dcfashionincubator
forplaymatters

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Transcription

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[00:00:12.50] – Intro

Are you ready to hear business stories and learn effective ways to build relationships, generate sales, and level up your business from awesome CEOs, entrepreneurs, and founders without listening to a long, long, long interview? Gresh values your time and is ready to share with you the valuable info you're in search of. This is the I Am CEO podcast.

[00:00:40.00] – Gresham Harkless

Hello. Hello. Hello. This is Gresh from the I Am CEO podcast, and I have a very special guest on the show today. I have Christine Brooks Cropper of DC Fashion Foundation and many other, entrepreneurial ventures. She's an entrepreneur, as I say, at least. So, Christine, it's great to have you on the show.

[00:00:54.50] – Christine Brooks-Croppe

Thanks for having me.

[00:00:56.20] – Gresham Harkless

Absolutely. It's great to have you on. And before we jump in, I want to read a little bit more about Christine so you hear about all the awesome things that she's doing. Christine is president and CEO of the DC Fashion Foundation and co-founder of The Collective, a creative business consultant firm. She's a proud mother to her son, Christian. And as president and CEO of the DC Fashion Foundation, she identifies ways to retain and support new and established designers, fashion retailers, and professionals, and assist design students transitioning from school to career.

Christine spearheaded the formation of the Commission on Fashion Arts and Events in the DC government with a message that fashion is an asset to economic development. Her accomplishments have landed her in numerous press outlets, including the Wall Street Journal, Business Journal, Voices of America, Uptown Magazine, Washingtonian, and Women's Wear Daily, which does which designated her the next fashion advocate leading the fashion industry by creating jobs in the Washington DC, Baltimore metro area, the United States, as well as the entire globe. Christine, are you ready to speak to the I AM CEO community?

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[00:01:51.40] – Christine Brooks-Croppe

I guess so. You said it was a mouthful, wasn't it?

[00:01:53.70] – Gresham Harkless

Yeah. Absolutely. I'm gonna take some water after this. And while I do that, I wanna hear a little bit more about how you got started. Could you take us through your CEO story?

[00:02:00.00] – Christine Brooks-Croppe

Oh, my goodness. Well, let's see. I always tell people that CEO, you're kinda born with an entrepreneurship mindset. So I would say I was born into it. You know, my grandfather owned his own construction business, well, self-employed. My dad followed in the footsteps. And then I went to college and, you know, started modeling at fourteen, had my own designer management company by nineteen while I was in college, and I had my style, fashion production company by twenty-four or twenty-five. Then I started the commission on fashion arts and events at thirty, thirty-two, and then I created the Greater Washington Fashion Chamber, commerce of six. And then that led to the three, which is the DC Pathway Foundation.

So I would say I was born into, I think when I was a child, I was definitely on the honor roll. I was an American athlete, firstborn, I don't know if these are first-born traits that you're an overachiever, but I will say I was born a CEO because I wasn't that young girl who said, oh, I'm gonna get married and have kids. I was that young girl that said, no. I'm gonna be president and CEO of a company one day. Nice. So that was me. And I think that came from, you know, this entrepreneurship that was in my family. And then also, just every time I was interested in something, my family embraced that and pushed me towards it.

And they knew that I just was that kid who just knew how to figure it out, and they've always told me that I've always known how to find money. So, my first word wasn't dada, which most babies say my first word was money. So that has been my journey ever since. So, when it comes to fashion, it's just very interesting because I was at I was a tomboy. I was an athlete. I was a jack. I mean, I was all American. I was breaking records and I ran pen relays. I went to college on an athletic scholarship. And school came easy.

So I was always on the honor roll. So it was like I never even really thought about that. But when it came to, like, my dress and my mindset of friends or style or pop culture or whatever it was, I was into prints. I mean, as a kid, I was into prints. I was into Sade. I was in the Madonna, of course. And then I loved the Versace, the designer. And, and most kids didn't like that when I did. And that kinda shaped my whole fashion sense. I was that kid that didn't, like, look like anybody else. I didn't I was never clinky. So my whole thing is I was popular based on what I was doing. You know, I created the first fashion, fashion club at my high school, and did the first fashion show there as a fundraiser.

And to this day, I wanna say that they're still doing the fashion show, but I was the one that created that. So, I used to design and, you know, and if I saw somebody with something on that I had on, I mean, my mom tells this story all the time. She's like, I wanted this coat that was patchwork. It was multiple colors. And then I thought I was the only one that had it. And then I saw somebody with it, and I took it and the coat was quite expensive. And I took the coat off and gave it to my mom and said, here you go. You can have the coat. So I was that kid. So everyone knew that I would end up in fashion.

But, I started modeling at fourteen. I was discovered because I look like you could be me up to space because I always like to look unique and like I don't look like anybody else. So, yeah, that's where I started. I think I was just born with it. Yeah. It's a mindset. It's it's it's in you. It's a passion. I don't think any CEO or entrepreneur if they don't have that self-motivation or that determination or that perseverance or focus on something to make it happen. They're not gonna be able to make it happen because at the end of the day, if you don't believe and you don't have the dream, you can't sell it to anybody else.

[00:05:50.19] – Gresham Harkless

Yeah. That makes so much sense. And I appreciate you for sharing that with us. You know, having the entrepreneurial blood, the DNA, inside of you and just how that manifests itself. I think once you figure out that, I call it figure out ability. I don't even know if that's a word, but I feel like I made it a word just so that you find a way to kinda create those opportunities.

You find a way to find the money, find those ways to create those solutions in the world. And I know you have different brands and different ways by which you do that. Could you take us through a little bit more of those? And I wanted to ask you a little bit more about what you feel sets you apart and makes you unique, what I call your secret sauce.

[00:06:22.30] – Christine Brooks-Croppe

Well, I mean, my secret sauce, I think it's the drive. I mean, I think it's just the perseverance. And I think also too I smile. It's just like I'm easily approachable. People are like, I just talk to people well and, I explain things. I'm very detail-oriented. And for me, it's like when I talk to somebody, it's like I'm taking them through the story or on the journey to the point that when I'm finished saying what I need to say to get them to do what I want them to do it's like they feel like they're there. They feel like they're a part of it. And I think that's my secret sauce because everything that I've done with all my businesses or any ideas or any endeavors that I've pursued any initiatives, I've always made people feel like it's theirs as well.

So I think that that's my secret sauce. I try to be inclusive as much as possible, have diversity, and so forth. But my whole thing is everybody that gets involved with any of my endeavors, even my accountant, my accountant was my CPA for a long time with the nonprofit. And it gets to the point that he retired in his forties, his mid-forties, and started his catering business. But he was my accountant. He always did audit audits and, you know, accounting and bookkeeping and everything. And he was very great. He did my nine ninety. He kept me financially sold. So the IRS wouldn't audit me and so forth. You know?

But he also had a passion for cooking. So by him being around me and working with me, and then I give everybody that kind of like oozes that passion and say, look, life is too short. What do you want to do with your life? So he retired, resigned, and started his catering company, and he's going strong. I mean, even during the COVID, he's doing a lot of meal preps and, catering and so forth, and it's happening. I mean, of course, at some point, he wants to own a restaurant, but it's just the simple fact of being around when you kind of, like, rub off on other people to say there's more to life. What do you want to do?

Like, what do you want? I always say when you die, what do you want people to say about you? You know, did you make an impact? Did you leave a legacy? You know, I have one child. I have a son. He's sixteen. And it's like, do I have something to pass on to him? Do I have something where he'll have stories to say, you know, I'm proud of my mother, or I'm doing this because of the drive and what I've seen from my mother because he has majored in international business? So so hopefully, he kinda goes down that path too of entrepreneurship and self-employment. But, yeah, that's my secret sauce. I think it's just I make everybody feel like they belong.

[00:08:51.89] – Gresham Harkless
Well, I appreciate that. And what I wanted to do was switch gears a little bit. I wanted to ask you, about what I call a CEO hack, hack, which is kinda like an Apple book or a habit that you have. What's something that makes you more effective and efficient?

[00:09:01.89] – Christine Brooks-Croppe

A CEO hack. I mean, it makes me more successful. I think sometimes just maybe you step back and observe and not act like you know it all. So, I had to learn that. You know, because I growing up was like a little know-it-all all,  just like I was always reading. I was always in something and I was always in grown folks conversation. So that's why I always act like I'd rather be around an OG. And I will also say when I say to be around an OG because I'm still old school even though you have all the social media. It's like my thing is I get the most from that on one, that one-on-one conversation, that one-on-one connection, and also having mentors throughout my life and my career. I feel like mentorship is very important.

So I had a mentor through everything when I was in high school, in my athletic days, to start businesses. I had a mentor when I got married. I had a mentor for me having a child. At the end of the day, you have to talk to somebody. Mentorship is like a support group. It's pretty much like you come together and you have someone that can bounce ideas off of. And then, I mean, of course, you know, with that comes wisdom as you age. So, yeah, starting as a freelance model at fourteen and having my own designer management company, and I had an interior designer and a fashion and costume designer who was on the hit HBO show The Wire out of Baltimore because I'm originally from Baltimore and that at nineteen I had a designer management company. I mean I just kept moving and then by twenty-four a fashion production company started this whole fashion initiative full-time for the past thirteen years. It's been, like, where I don't work for anybody else.

So but my whole thing is I had to learn along the way. Get raised, slow it down a little bit, you know, because I was always, like, quickly, I was, like, get it done. Get it done. And people love that because they knew, oh, if we hand it off to her whether they like me or not. And that's another thing with my I would say this, the hacker, the success, or the it's another nugget is everybody's not gonna like you. It's okay. It's okay. You know, when you're a CEO or an entrepreneur, you don't have to be friends with everybody. And and the thing is, you just need to do what you do and be great at it. Because at the end of the day, people will give you respect for that, and people will get behind you.

But they don't have to like you, and you don't have to like them. You know? But see, when you start as a young entrepreneur, you want everybody to like you. And it's like, and then you start to hear stories come to you gotta have tough skin too. You know, you have to be ready for that lack of sleep you have to be ready for you know someone saying no to you you're gonna have more no's more doors closed in your face than yeses. So I always tell people that's not failure. That's just a little more fuel or a little more energy to put behind your passion and your, your perseverance and your determination to make something happen and what you need to make happen.

But, I mean, as many times that things have come back and people have what they have, they just make things up this whole reality of who I am in their head. And it's like, it's not even me. And that's because you don't know me. You may have seen me in a cover or something. You may have seen me in a fashion show or given an interview on the press, you know, carpet or whatever. And then when I get in there, I'm one of those people that like to chill, have my whiskey, have my cigar in the corner observing, chilling, and paying attention, and just watching everything and taking it all in because sometimes you can learn a lot by just being quiet.

[00:12:29.00] – Gresham Harkless

Yeah. That makes a lot of sense. And I want to ask you now my absolute favorite question, which is the definition of what it means to be a CEO. We're open to different quote-unquote CEOs on the show. So Christine, what does being a CEO mean to you?

[00:12:39.39] – Christine Brooks-Croppe

It means being a badass. No. I get it. You know, a CEO I will say this. To me, I see I mean, of course, it's the chief chief executive officer, but I mean, that's what the acronym CEO is for. But I will say you're just a visionary. The CEO is a visionary, and you're the change agent. So, you know, you're the person that has to make everybody believe. You have to make everybody believe in your vision. You have to make people follow you. You know, so are you a leader or a file follower? As a CEO, you're a leader.

You're a natural born leader because CEOs, whether they get appointed as a CEO or hired as a CEO or guess what, like what I did, I made myself a CEO. And that is a true CEO  because you don't stop. You're determined to make something happen. And the main thing is to make a huge change, you know, depending on what your company is, what your industry is, and everything. But at the end of the day, I, after thirty-one years of being in fashion, actually can stop and say, I made an impact.

[00:13:41.60] – Gresham Harkless

Awesome. Yeah. I love that definition and that perspective about being a change agent and walking in your truth. So, Christine, truly appreciate that definition, and I appreciate your time even more. What I wanted to do is just pass you the mic, so to speak, just to see if there's anything additional you can let our readers and listeners know, and of course, how best they can get a hold of you and find out about all the awesome things you're working on.

[00:13:58.50] – Christine Brooks-Croppe

Yeah. Thank you so much for that. Yeah. So I'm president DC Fashion Foundation. So the website is  DCFashion Foundation.org. We're on all social media platforms as DC Fashion FBN for the foundation, as well as DC Fashion Incubator, because that was the site where I had the designers coming in and teaching them all the classes and everything. So we're still kind of keeping that going. And then I also have other businesses. I have, JCR, Consulting LLC is my management consulting company now.

And that is you can reach me at info at jcrconsultingllc dot com. If you want a business development or strategist to come on from a consulting standpoint, that goes all under that arm. And then I also have a sex wellness business that focuses more on sexuality and spirituality. It's, you know, not anything ratchet. It's pretty much about chakras and energy and practicing Reiki and practicing Tantra and starting to get into foreplay. It's called foreplay matters, but it's f o r p l a y matters dot com is the website because the e are red lips. So anytime you see the red lips, that foreplay matters.

So, that's all my business, and I'm on Instagram with foreplay matters IG and Secret Society Life IG. And that website is foreplay matters dot com. And we're getting ready to put out some products in twenty twenty-one twenty-one to start creating something, like, called date night in a box because everyone's, like, still quarantined and a little afraid to go out and get social and restaurants and so forth.

So I'm trying to get a recreated product called, date night in a box. So those are my three current, business endeavors. All the other ones have kinda, you know, dissolve created them, dissolve them. They didn't work. But I always tell people that's an entrepreneur, a serial entrepreneur. You know, you're gonna have probably more businesses and more failures or more no's than anything, but guess what? They're all successes because they lead up to exactly what you're supposed to do.

[00:15:52.89] – Gresham Harkless

Yeah. Absolutely. I appreciate that, Christine. We will have the links and information in the show notes so that everybody can follow up with you. You're right. I appreciate that reminder. There's a quote that says, I found out that nine out of ten businesses fail, so I decided to start ten businesses. It's because you learn from them and that leads you to success just as you said.

[00:16:10.00] – Christine Brooks-Croppe

Exactly.

[00:16:10.50] – Gresham Harkless

Truly appreciate that. I appreciate your time as well, and I hope you have a great rest of the day.

[00:16:14.29] – Outro

Thank you for listening to the I AM CEO Podcast powered by Blue 16 Media. Tune in next time and visit us at iamceo.co I AM CEO is not just a phrase, it's a community. Be sure to follow us on social media and subscribe to our podcast on iTunes Google Play and everywhere you listen to podcasts, SUBSCRIBE, and leave us a five-star rating grab CEO gear at www.ceogear.co. This has been the I AM CEO Podcast with Gresham Harkless. Thank you for listening.

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