Meet the Women of the Serena Williams Design Crew
Image: Nike x Serena Williams Design Crew
Last week Nike and Serena Williams unveiled the first Serena Williams Design Crew, a selective six-month fashion apprenticeship program aimed to jumpstart the careers of 10 promising designers. We were gifted an exclusive sneak peek at what the team has been working on: a performance and leisure collection fit for Serena herself.
The SWDC goal is to change the fashion industry from the inside out by uplifting underrepresented design talents of diverse racial and ethnic backgrounds. In the SWDC launch video, Serena makes herself very clear about the lack of diversity in the fashion industry: “we can do better.”
According to a Council of Fashion Designers of America report titled “State of Diversity, Equity & Inclusion in Fashion”, only 57% of black fashion industry employees interviewed felt that their company was doing what it takes to improve racial + ethnic diversity, equity and inclusion. Two in three black employees reported being the only black person in the room.
Serena Williams and Nike took diversifying the fashion world into their own hands.
Today, we’re highlighting the talented women of the SWDC1 team: who they are and how they caught the eye of the program recruiters.
Without further ado, meet the badass women of the first Serena Williams Design Crew.
Image: Nike x SWDC
EMIKO MCCOY:
APPAREL DESIGNER
“The Serena Design Crew at Nike... they spoke to diversity and inclusion for me.”
Ralph Lauren, Kenneth Cole, Vera Wang, Reebok, Champion, and Perry Ellis, oh my; Emiko McCoy has built up an impressive design portfolio that far precedes her apprenticeship at SWDC. Born in the small town of Dunn, North Carolina, McCoy pursued higher education in sociology before digging into fashion design. She later attended the esteemed and competitive Pratt Institute and graduated with a master’s degree in Design Management.
Following the completion of the SWDC apprenticeship program, McCoy was offered a position at Nike as a women’s apparel designer. McCoy attributes her successes to family and ancestors that came before her, paving a path of opportunity from rural North Carolina to metropolitan NYC.
“I am the fruition of my parents’ hopes, dreams, and sacrifices,” writes McCoy on her professional website. “Gratitude to my Ancestors on whose shoulders I am forever standing on.”
Check out Emiko’s professional page here.
Image: Nike x SWDC
SANDRA CRUZ:
APPAREL COLOR DESIGNER
“I didn’t really see a lot of people that looked like me in the industry.”
New York native Sandra Cruz knows how to create an exciting color palette. While most of us were binge-watching Tiger King and avoiding work-from-home assignments during 2020, Cruz was sketching 50 footwear color concepts for her portfolio (Nike- can you make those Travis Scott roller skates a thing, please?). Her keen eye for shades that work together made her a perfect fit for the SWDC team.
Cruz graduated from Fordham University with a BA in New Media and Digital Design. Her passion for art stems from her colorful childhood in Brooklyn. Growing up, she watched her cousins spray paint their bedroom walls and helped her aunts sculpt Jack-’o-Lanterns on Halloween. Cruz’s work reminds us to soak up the colors around us and be playful.
Check out more of Sandra Cruz’s work here.
SIMONE SULLIVAN:
APPAREL DESIGNER
“That’s what I tend to think of when I’m designing: what can I do to empower black women and make them confident in their clothing?”
Growing up, Miami-born Simone Sullivan would watch her grandmother work magic on her school uniforms as a seamstress. Spending time with her as she sewed and hemmed her school clothes planted a seed of interest in design. In the 7th grade, Sullivan wrote a report on Gianni Versace. “I loved the way he combined fine art and fashion,” Sullivan said in this Obvious Magazine interview. "At that moment, I knew I wanted to be a designer.”
A designer she did become.
Sullivan earned her BA in fashion design at the Parsons School of Design. For her 2016 senior thesis, Sullivan paired flowy silhouettes with bright, emotive oranges and reds to create a collection that moves us in more ways than one.
Check out more of Simone Sullivan’s work on her professional site here.
Image: Nike x SWDC
SHEENA WONG SHUE:
GRAPHIC DESIGNER
“To me that matters a lot, to foster the future with another young designer. ”
Jamaican-Chinese contemporary artist and graphic designer Sheena Wong Shue has creativity pulsing through her veins. Shue’s grandfather was once a professional photographer in Jamaica, and her uncle, Adrian Wong Shue, is an LA-based fine artist. At age 11 she scored her first creative gig: painting an ambitious 10-foot storefront mural.
A former US Military cadet, Wong Shue further pursued her artistic endeavors after completing her civil engineering degree at Howard University. Inspired by the kitsch and grandiosity of pop culture, Wong Shue’s art features cartoon elements, vibrant colors, and comic superheroes.
She’s made her mark on the New York design landscape figuratively and literally. Next time you’re at Coney Island, be sure to stop by the New York Aquarium where you can see a mural she painted that raises awareness about the impact of pollution on our oceans.
Check out more of Sheena Wong Shue’s work here.
Image: @briamakesit
BRIA THOMAS:
Footwear COLOR DESIGNER
“You’re starting to see us more in history.”
Born in Mississippi, raised in New Jersey, schooled in Georgia, and thriving in Oregon; Bria Thomas and her art have been making their way across the 50 states.
Thomas attended the Savannah College of Art and Design and earned her BA in Visual Communication. Thomas uses a wide array of mediums for her art but stands out in her digital pieces. In her digital artwork you’ll see tech glitch effects, wavy collages, and repeating patterns, all of which reflect her own eclectic and cosmic personal style. Thomas has also been dipping her feet in Crypto art, digital artwork tracked in a blockchain. One of her recent digital pieces, “Flowers From The King’s Meadow,” was featured in a virtual gallery of fellow black digital artists.
After the SWDC apprenticeship finished, Thomas accepted a coveted position at lululemon as Color and Materials Designer and we cannot wait to see what she’ll create next.
Check out her art and current endeavors on her instagram page, @briamakesit.
Image: Nike x SWDC
MIKA OSORO:
FOOTWEAR MATERIALS DESIGNER
“Taking this opportunity and knowing that there’s a purpose behind it- I was just like ‘yes’, let’s do this, period.”
Designer. Stylist. Academic.
Mika Osoro lives what it means to takes to be an overachiever: dedicated, driven, and hardworking. Osoro began designing clothing in high school. When she wasn’t in class or studying for exams, Osoro was spending her free time designing prom dresses for her friends.
Her interest in art led her to pursue a BFA in Graphic Design and Advertising at Howard University in Washington, DC. Osoro returned to her fashion roots at Drexel University, earning a master’s in Fashion Design. It was there that Osoro’s fashion career took off. She landed an opportunity to study and work in Paris for a year and began showcasing her designs at fashion shows across greater New York.
At the SWDC apprenticeship, Osoro worked with the team to create pieces that reflect themselves as well as Serena. Osoro’s Kenyan heritage can be seen in the West African kente cloth pattern used throughout the collection.
Osoro’s family and culture has been a primary influence in her work for quite some time. Check out this sweet throwback 2011 interview we found of a younger Osoro at a New York fashion show:
Be sure to check out the “Meet the Serena Williams Design Crew” video below to see the designers in action: