Ooshie is To Celebrate Femininity, Sexuality & Magic – By Melissia Hill

Feminine, flirty, and versatile are just a few words to describe Ooshie, founded in New York City by Melissia Hill. Hill wanted to create an elegant, one-size fit resort line for women of all walks of life to enjoy. Whether on vacation or close to home our designs transports you to a place of comfort and effortless style.

‘’Based in New York city, We strongly believe that the essence of style and beauty starts with your attitude, clothes just enhance what is already there. When you feel good, you look good!” -MH

Melissia Hill developed her love for fashion during her teenage years living in Los Angeles. Janet Jackson and Madonna were bigger than life at that time and everyone was wearing black lace gloves and over sized jackets with huge shoulder pads. But not Melissia Hill. She was the girl creatively cutting up her tops and making barely there designs with jeans, shirts and whatever else her mom gifted her from Marshall’s. Melissia Hill always dressed her friends and collecting fashion magazine was her hobby. 

‘’I remember skipping class but not to go with friends to the beach but to go to the library to look at fashion magazines. Elle was my favorite. My skipping class to go to the library to look at fashion magazine made no sense to my mom once she found out (smile).’’

After high school, Melissia Hill went to college for a year and a half before being scouted by a few big name agencies to become a fashion model. As they say, the rest was history. She spent the next 15 years traveling the world modeling, discovering new cultures, making new friends and learning everything about fashion. She did not realize at the time that these life experience would set her up for the next chapter in her life: Becoming a mom and an entrepreneur. 

Ooshie

Ooshie is a one size fits all resort line for women that specializes in maxi dresses and jumpers.  It creates designs using classic clean lines to give a timeless and chic look that is easy to wear day or night or on vacation or in the big city.  Ooshie is passionate about the welfare of women and work with different organizations to help improve social issues that impact women. Ooshie’s latest collaboration is with The Blue List, an awesome organization that works to provide feminine products to women without a home or shelter.

Being the CEO of Ooshie gives me platform to work with other female leaders to help improve and change our world for the better

What is your favorite aspect of becoming an entrepreneur? 

My favorite part of being entrepreneur is discovering new ways of executing my vision for Ooshie. There’s no manual to entrepreneurship; it is a fearless and creative focus that forces you to tap into your creative side and brings out the hustle inside of you. When you’re a mompreneur… well that brings out the true beast in you!  

How do you want women to feel when wearing your clothes? 

Ooshie is my love letter to women; the core value of my brand is to give women the permission to dream a bigger dream and walk in the world feeling full of magic and possibility. I want women to feel beautiful and unapologetic for their femininity and for wanting to live out their dreams. At Ooshie, we want women to feel empowered: to feel beautiful and good enough and strong and that doesn’t always mean putting on a two-piece suit or a white button up. 

What is your favorite part about being a designer? 

My favorite part about being a designer is taking all of my fantasies and putting them into my designs; which sometimes can also be my least favorite thing too, mostly because fine-tuning the ideas and turning them in a design can be overwhelming. 

I love when I have my girlfriends over to my studio because it often times turns into a dress party and photo shoot (laughs). I get a chance to see how my designs make my friends feel: it changes how they move, laugh and dance. Watching them transform are some of my proudest moments. 

Did you create Ooshie all by yourself? How? 

Yes, I literally just jumped and took a leap of faith. I did not have a business plan or even a clear vision of what Ooshie would be in the fashion world.  I just knew I had a story to tell. It’s a good thing that I just jumped into it because if I sat down to write the perfect business plan, I would still be working on defining my target market. I am still learning and I have learned a lot; but for me, acting on and creating my vision was much better than trying to learn all of the business aspects first.  My vision of the brand and the woman I am designing for became clearer over time and that is why I decided to make Ooshie a resort brand instead of a ready to wear collection.

I drew my first sketch and took it to a pattern maker and said “make this”. I quickly learned that there is a bigger process. I joined design forums and asked a lot of questions. Once I figured out what I needed to know, and that can be different for everyone, I was able to Google my way and learn by trial and error.  

Can you give 5 entrepreneurial tips to women who want to start their own fashion / clothing line.

1. Research the market and find out what’s missing and do that!
2. Doubt gets you nowhere 
3. Social Media is a very powerful tool. As much as I dislike how engulfed we are by it, use it to your advantage! It will answer a lot of questions for you while you are building your brand. Be clear on what questions you’re asking and be intentional or you will get lost in the click trap…
4. Talk about your brand and ideas to whomever will listen. Listen to how other people talk about their brand and ideas because you can gather valuable information from “ear hustling”.
5. Know that anything of value takes time to build. Enjoy the process.  

How do you want to improve yourself in the next year? 

The more I learn about running a successful business, the more I realize that 90 percent of having success is a inside job. Meaning, success is a mind set; when your mind is focused and clear its easier to enjoy the journey and process and to learn from the ups and downs. You start to see that there are no such things as problems and failures only solutions and lessons. For me, my self improvement is based on working even more on my inner world and my mind set. 

What sacrifices have you made make during life as an entrepreneur and leader? 

Whenever you are on a path towards your vision, goals and dreams, focus is key. Working and focusing on that path can often times feel isolating. Having to forgo social events and nights out with friends in order to work on my business has been a sacrifice because I miss spending time being social and having fun with my friends. The biggest sacrifices I’ve had to make are missing out on some of my son sports activities and games, having an active social life and sleep. 

What are your goals currently?

My goal is to make Ooshie more than a women resort line but, a lifestyle brand. My mission for 2019 is to continue to create and produce beautiful pieces, launch our Ooshie Swim line, and expand globally in a curated way. My vision for Ooshie’s future continues to celebrate femininity and effortless style and to inspire women around the world one dress at a time! For all women to discover their magic wearing Ooshie.

What is the best advice that you would like to share with Woman on Topp Readers? 

Be kind to yourself during your journey. We forget to connect and take care of ourselves in our busy lives, especially the momprenuers.  In our society, unfortunately, self-love or self -care is looked at as selfishness, but self -love is a must in order to have success in your business. How you feel about yourself and how you love yourself reflects in how you relate to your staff and the decisions you make in your business.  Our world is in desperate need of kindness and it all starts with the self. 

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