Source: iOne Digital/Creative Class
Name: Dionna Dorsey
Occupation: Entrepreneur
Location: Washington, D.C.
How We Know Her: A seasoned entrepreneur and marketing creative, Dorsey’s recent venture, District of Clothing, an apparel line that highlights thought-provoking commentary, is creating a lot of buzz.
Why We Chose Her: Dorsey’s popularity and reach are on the rise thanks to major success in marketing and branding.
What’s Next: The businesswoman has her eyes on growing her brands.
IG: @dionnadorsey
Dionna Dorsey was a natural selection for this year’s Creative Class because the full-time entrepreneur who is also a designer who works in branding and marketing is the model of someone who carved out her own niche career to achieve success. It makes sense that her line, District of Clothing, is all about empowerment. The 39-year-old told NewsOne about how unsure she once was about her career trajectory after being compelled to go to law school against her better wishes. Trusting her gut and deciding on a career that she, not others, wanted was the best decision of her life, she said.
Using the 50th anniversary of Bloody Sunday in 2015 as an example, the woman behind the “Stand With Black Women” campaign who also has a separate apparel company explained how gratifying her career choice is. Dorsey said she spoke to her grandmother about working on the campaign to mark the Alabama march from Selma to Montgomery and they both got emotional.
“To know that some 50 years later that her granddaughter would be working to help commemorate that with a Black president with his Black wife sitting next to him … I may never have words to describe that moment,” she said.
It’s that type of gratification for Dorsey, who also went to design school in Italy, that she said makes her journey completely worth it. She said she didn’t want to live with any regrets, something that has motivated her to take calculated risks in her life that have paid off. “I didn’t want to be one of those older women on ‘Oprah’ saying ‘I wish I would have when I could have,’” she said.
And while entrepreneurship is not for everyone, Dorsey said she wouldn’t change a thing about the route she took to get to where she is. “When your passion meets purpose, you’re pretty much unstoppable,” she said.
Check out the other honorees on iOne Digital’s The Creative Class.
