Member Article

Young North East fashion entrepreneur encourages others to ditch their doubts

A young North East fashion entrepreneur has encouraged others not to let doubts get in the way of their business ambitions.

23 year-old Sunderland graduate Rita Roushdy, who recently featured on Bdaily, has been growing her Elévon brand - a vehicle designed to showcase new home-grown fashion designers.

A recent sell-out event at Newcastle Civic Centre exposed designers to industry professionals, journalists, bloggers, radio and TV press.

Now, the young entrepreneur is encouraging others to put aside their doubts and follow their passions to pursue a business idea.

Rita, who juggles her own women’s brand with the Elévon brand, told Bdaily: “I’ve absolutely loved the process so far, and it’s exactly what I want to do.

“Newcastle isn’t a fashion centre - but why not? We’re building it because there’s a lot of people here with a lot of talent.

“Nothing is off limits. If you’ve got an idea, figure out how you can do it and not how you can’t do it. I’ve learnt that you can’t adapt your idea too much to please other people. You need to be faithful to your ambitions and not water them down.

“A lot of would-be entrepreneurs tend to think about why it wouldn’t work - but putting the obstacles front and centre is the wrong way to go.”

Rita, who runs Elévon with help from a dedicated team of volunteers, says she has been tenacious in following her passions.

She added: “From a young age, my mum taught me how to knit, I always had the intention of owning my own clothing label.

“During my course at University of Sunderland, I learned about every aspect of fashion, from trend researching, to manufacture, branding and promotion, which I feel thoroughly prepared me for what the industry had to throw at me.

“My ultimate aim would be to have bases in Newcastle, Manchester, London and Milan - and showcase designers in other countries.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Tom Keighley .