For Women's History Month, start up Sneaker-Lab asked five women, including me, to each design a collection that tells a story about who they are and what inspires them. The collection was produced in collaboration with Nike iD, and was released on International Women's Day, March 8th, for one week only. 

Since this is my first solo footwear collection, I wanted to make sure it looked like me and my brand. I've often had people ask why I don't have merchandise so I wanted to make sure it included elements that I'm known for - my shegotgame tag, the color red and a mix of athletic and fashion fabrics. 

The “shegotgame Phoenix” capsule collection is inspired by the phoenix as it burns brightly before turning to ash and being reborn. As an entrepreneur, I often feel that my career is in a constant state of renewal, from 2017 to 2018. The phoenix represents passion, purpose and progress to me - passion in chasing my dreams, purpose in finding my path and progress in constantly evolving and growing. I’ve been able to turn my dreams into reality in 2018 by obtaining a work visa to work in the US - something that I chose to do, after seven long years. So I’m donating 10% of my sales to the ACLU to help other dreamers rise up and achieve, since many didn't choose to come here, I want to make sure they're able to stay and be successful.

The Air Max 95 “Passion” is inspired by the phoenix at its most powerful stage. Life is nothing without passion, and it's essential to be passionate about your craft and the process when you're chasing your dreams. The gradient, red color scheme represents the constant dedication, love and passion that is necessary when chasing your dream. Red has always signified strength to me and every time I wear red, I feel like the best, most powerful version of myself - like the phoenix. 

For the fabrics, I want to pick a few different ones, as textile mixing is a signature of mine when it comes to design and styling work. The mesh is the performance side, but also a a fabric I wear almost daily. I picked the Air Max 95 as it was the first Air Max that mixed a sportswear upper with a performance midsole, establishing running shoes as stylish.

To celebrate the collection, I shot a lookbook with renowned fashion photographer Darrel Hunter to help tie the three shoes together visually and to express my style, my story and show others how to wear the shoe with different kinds of looks. 

I’m hoping to use this collection as a case study for continued design work in the footwear industry and to empower other young women to use design to tell their stories and claim their stake in the sneaker world.