Meet REGINA OSWALD | Designer / Founder & CEO of Regina Oswald

We had the good fortune of connecting with REGINA OSWALD and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi REGINA, what do you attribute your success to?
What is the most important factor behind your success, the success of your brand?

I have always been fascinated by the process of creation; connecting your ideas with techniques, putting your heart, mind, and soul into a beautiful piece of work. Each creative piece is filled with love. It lives, it vibrates, and it carries the energy of its creator.

In that way, it is important for me to enjoy the process because I believe that my customers feel it when I do. That’s one of the many reasons I keep production of my pieces here in the United States. My customers feel the energy that was exerted from the moment the idea was born, then sent to the patternmaker, and into production. It’s important for me to know where my garments are created, who worked on them.

I want my customers to feel an energy of enjoyment when they wear our clothes so the most important factor behind the success of my brand is that I enjoy what I’m doing. If I’m not enjoying the process, or if I wouldn’t enjoy wearing a piece, then I will not create it.

Andre Agassi, in his autobiography Open, said, “I’m calm, grounded, inspired by watching craftsmen. It reminds me of the singular importance in this world of a job done well.”

When a woman puts on my clothes, I want her to feel loved. Every time someone buys something from me, I include a handwritten note, because it is important to me that she feels the quality, the intention, and the thought put into each garment.

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What’s one piece of conventional advice that you disagree with?

A highly-regarded fashion designer once said that if you want to succeed in the industry, you have to go to college, work as an assistant or intern for a fashion designer and earn your stripes by fetching coffee and trying to learn as much as possible. For someone like me, who started my business late and didn’t have training or connections, that kind of advice can be daunting. The desire to create can come at any age. I started my business at 40 years old. I’m not saying it’s impossible to go back to college at that age but I also had a family—my son, husband and dog. I had to find a way to enter the second act of my life without disrupting our dynamic. Going back to college at that age only to start over as an assistant or intern wasn’t feasible.

I much prefer the advice of a well-known designer who said, if you have a desire to create, just go and create; don’t compare yourself to others, just take your pencil and start creating. This designer took the conventional route to success in the fashion industry by graduating from FIT. His advice was to just go and create, because fashion schools can teach you how to draw, how to sew, how to make patterns, but they cannot teach you how to create. For me, that was an eye opener, because for a long time I felt that I didn’t have enough knowledge, because I was self taught.

Would I have made less mistakes taking the conventional path? Maybe. However, I learned it my way, and I got my lessons along the journey.

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What role has taking risk played in your life and career?

We’re all given talents, and we are responsible for using them. One of my favorite Bible stories is the Parable of the Talents. Just like in that story, I feel that we will be asked what we did with our gifts at the end of our days. That’s my biggest motivation to go where my passion is, because it’s better to try than to have regrets. And taking risks is a huge part of this equation.

Was it frightening to start my business at 40 years old without any kind of experience in fashion except for my personal passion? Yes, but I took a risk because at the end of my days when I’m asked “have you tried?” I will be able to say “yes, I did.”

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What habits help you to succeed?

When I feel stuck, or I feel a lack of motivation, or a lack of inspiration, I tell myself that, it’s okay and the answer will come. Then I switch my focus to things that bring me joy. All of a sudden, I’m recharged, and the answer comes. When I create that happy space and happy energy that allows me to find solutions.

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What’s the most important lesson your business or career has taught you?

The most important thing I’ve learned is to listen to my intuition. That’s something that comes with living life. In the past there were times when I did not listen to my intuition, and I continued to do things that didn’t bring me any satisfaction. Now, I look at what my gut tells me about that idea or about that thought. I ask myself do I want to proceed with it or not? And that helps keep my enjoyment level high.

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How has your work-life balance changed over time?

Work-life balance is something that I’m still learning because I have so much on my plate. I’m the wife of a successful, busy CEO, I’m a mother of a teenager, I’m a fur mother of a dog. On top of all of these things, I am launching a business!

My work-life balance is not where I want it to be. There are days when I feel I overschedule, when I am overwhelmed, when I feel torn into different pieces. I’m learning how to do a better job, and how to balance all of those areas. It’s a work in progress. I’m sure I will find the balance. Right now, it is what it is.

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Why did you decide to pursue an artistic or creative career?

At my core, I am a creator. When I create things, that’s what brings me joy. My creative passion is not only for creating clothes, it’s creating experiences. That’s my idea of heaven. And now that I’m at a place in my life where I can finally pursue my dreams, it would be painful for me to do anything else.

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What are you inspired by?

I’m inspired by beauty.

Dostoevsky once said, “Beauty will save the world.”

Out of context, it’s easy to dismiss this quotation as hopelessly naive or optimistic. For Dostoevsky, “beauty” transcends aesthetics, and is what inspires the best in us, our aspirations for what is good and true, and what connects us to each other.

The beauty that inspires me is not only physical. There’s beauty in thoughts, deeds, lives, relationships, the way we treat each other. Physical beauty is very important to me but it vanishes quickly if it doesn’t go deeper than that. Kindness, compassion, and empathy are all forms of beauty that inspire me.

Can you give our readers an introduction to your business? Maybe you can share a bit about what you do and what sets you apart from others?
What was your thought process behind starting your own business?

I spent my childhood in the Soviet Union, known for its deficit and lack of any important goods. I made clothing and jewelry by recycling old clothes. The concept of repurposing is known to me very well. There was joy in wearing my pieces, but there was an even bigger joy in seeing that other people loved my creations enough to pay money for them. That feeling was in my heart from a very young age. I remember very clearly making a pair of leather earrings. When I wore them, a lot of people complimented me, a little girl of less than 10 years old, wearing her homemade earrings. I went home and made another pair. At the time, my mom ran a cafe, and I wanted her to put the second pair of earrings on display for sale.

From a young age, I wanted people to love my creations enough to buy them and wear them. Seeing them wearing my pieces was the utmost joy for me as a little girl, and nothing has changed.

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How did you come up with the idea for your business?

As a little girl, I didn’t truly understand what exactly a fashion designer was. I simply wanted to create clothes and show them to the world. As a little girl the world was my grandma and her friends. I would make clothes with my grandma, who was a seamstress. I loved to visit her friends and hear them say things like, “Oh my god, she looks so pretty.”

I had a lot of detours in my life. But I’m very happy that at the age of 40, I reconnected with the things that bring me joy and finally fulfilled a lifelong dream of creating my own fashion line.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
I love getting a blowout at Ty Alexander Salon then going right next door to shop for some great clothes, home decor, and gifts at Ty Alexander Collective!

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
Megan Klink, the Regional Vice President of Susan G.Komen and all of their supporters have been amazing to the Regina Oswald collection and I am so grateful to them.

Website: www.reginaoswald.com

Instagram: @reginaoswald_collection

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