My name Henry Lee Spencer and I recently graduated from the International Academy of Design and Technology with BFA in Fashion Design and Marketing. This is quite an accomplishment for the skinny little kid from the small military town of Jacksonville, NC. I was the only child in a struggling single parent household, so life was not always easy. Despite it all, my mother was a strong woman and we always found a way to get through times. My mother is my biggest inspiration and the reason why I have stayed so committed to my goals in life. She has always supported me in everything I did and embraced the fact I wanted to be an artist.

I always had an appreciation for art. It was my 5th grade art teacher, Mrs. Reiner, who told me to “never say I can’t”, and ever since I have abandoned the word from my vocabulary. I would be involved in art classes in grade school until my junior year of high school. Similar to most students, at the end of my high school career, I did not know what I was going to college for. Once I stepped onto the campus of Winston Salem State University it became clearer, I would relinquish my love for art and further develop my skills as a visual artist. I was then persuaded by a friend of mine to take my artistry into a different direction and pursue fashion design. He was right, I knew that fashion was not only a way to use clothing as a canvas to express my ideas by helping others look good, but a great way to make a living.

So why exactly did I choose fashion as a field of choice? I always had a passion for fashion and loved to look good. I remember when I use to design outfits on smiley face characters during science class to pass the time. I always embraced fashion on a conceptual level, but it was when I decided to attend International Academy of Design and Technology, I maintained a true purpose for fashion, and my motto stands as is, “Be yourself because individuality is everything”. Meaning that my mission is to design clothing for the individual, whether he/she is off to work in the corporate office or out for a nice evening with friends. Fashion should represent the way someone feels at the moment of time, because what you wear should reflect your personality.

Eventually I hope to gain a lot from my experience as both a student and a contestant in the Envy competition. I want to start my career off in a small business setting and later branch out and finance my own clothing line. What this competition means to me is definitely exposure and having the opportunity to network with all sorts of individuals, from graphic designers to photographers. As I have always said, as artists, we can all learn from each other and assist each other in the goals for which we set for ourselves.