ALL ABOUT NOVA LORRAINE
“Be brave enough to live creatively. The creative is the place where no one else has ever been. You have to leave the city of your comfort and go into the wilderness of your intuition. You cannot get there by bus, only by hard work, risking and by not quite knowing what you are doing. What you will discover will be wonderful: Yourself.”
Nova Lorraine is an Award-winning Fashion Designer, Podcast Host, Author, and a great mentor of mine. She’s originally from Jamaica and studied Psychology and Biology at the University of Connecticut for her Undergrad and later studied Fashion Design at the Fashion Institute of Technology! Nova’s debut fashion collection earned her Haute Couture Designer of the Year Award which to date, is still one of her favorite accomplishments (Alongside getting into Italian Vogue). Nova’s fashion successes led her to launch Raine Magazine which showcases fashion, culture, technology, and travel. Not only is Nova a Fashion Designer and Magazine Publisher, but she also has her own podcast called Unleash Your Supernova where she interviews creatives from all over and dives into the different perspectives everyone encompasses. These conversations share an array of people’s secrets to success and I personally learn a lot from every one of her podcast episodes.
One piece of advice Nova has for us is to surround yourself with individuals that are further along than you on their path and wanting to carry you with them! Otherwise, it’s just the blind leading the blind.
I had asked Nova why so many people want to join the fashion industry, but only a small percentage make it and achieve their dreams? This led us down the rabbit hole discussion of faith, and what it means to keep a dream alive. “Living diminishes the childlike mentality that anything can happen, sometimes we just stop imagining because it’s easier to not imagine than imagine and it not happen- the dissapointment.” I thought this was a very powerful statement and it’s true that so many of us lose our inner spark because there’s no desire to imagine and end up disappointed. It’s extremely important to keep imagining and keep dreaming, because this is the only way to keep pushing ourselves and reach for bigger and better things. You must also find those like minded individuals to surround yourself with so that the dream can flourish and so that you can continue feeling inspired.
Some favorite quotes from our call include:
“See whatever you choose to do as a game, we set off on this journey and we think we have it all figured out but in reality, there is actually so little we’re in control of. You have to see this dream, this goal as a game and you need to be able to problem-solve and not just give up when the first thing doesn’t go your way.”
“Be open to the evolution of YOU that’s going to happen.”
“If you do the best at whatever you’re doing at the time, everything will work out. Even on the hard days be kind to others, be the best you can be and one thing will continue to lead to another. [And] Enjoy the ride, the goals and dreams will always change and the more flexible/open you can be to the timing of when your dream will come true will also lead you to have more fun.”
One key takeaway from our conversation was that it took Nova many years to let go of perfection. This is an important lesson for all of us to remember no matter what our dreams are. One quote I like to keep in mind is “Strive for continuous improvement, instead of Perfection” -Kim Collins.
Nova’s day to day now includes managing several brands, interviewing other creative entrepreneurs for her podcast, and being interviewed herself on her brand or book, Unleash Your Supernova. She’s excited about continuing to develop stories in the fashion space while bringing those stories to film/TV. In addition she’s working on her second book and a short fashion film!
Can’t you guys see why I’m so inspired by this individual now??
Lastly, manifestation and visualization have both been huge parts of Nova’s life throughout college and beyond. If you can think it, you can do it. If you haven’t read my blog post Amplify Your Life With This Movie, I highly suggest you go check it out because I dive into this concept and recommend a movie that I think would help anyone with manifestation.
Thank you Nova for taking the time out of your extremely busy schedule to sit down with me for a call. Nova is one of my favorite people in the world to speak to and I always learn so much from every single one of our conversations and I can't wait to continue working with her and seeing what the future brings. You guys should all go check out her book Unleash Your Supernova all about happily, successfully surviving the Journey of creative entrepreneurship.
