**From now until Sunday, October 14, save 15% off your purchase with the code LoveMynaturalreality **
Owner and designer Chelsie “Chloe” Hart, established Umba in the summer of 2012. Umba is a manifestation of visions, dreams, and inspirations. Early on, Chelsie took a deep interest in African culture and fashion. Attending college sparked her interest by being emerged in an extreme multicultural environment.
On Chelsie’s 25th birthday, she recalls a vivid vision of an accessory line featuring a core of African fabric in every original piece. And from this vision, Umba slowly began to take form and is now blooming into a full jewelry/accessory line. The basis of Umba is modernized African culture, tradition, and fashion.
What made you want to start your own business?
I had a desire and passion to share my visions with the world. Days before I decided to launch Umba, I had a series of dreams and random thoughts that pointed me in this direction.
When creating items, what are your thoughts/what inspires you?
When creating, I often draw from visions or dreams. Umba is the manifestation of dreams, images, and visions in my mind. I study and explore African culture, tradition, and fashion quite often. (I love My people!) I can’t help it. I have always wanted to grasp a better knowledge of self. I try to incorporate a lot of the style and cultures I see into Umba, while ensuring pieces are modern and ageless. I never fight the urge to make a statement piece.
You’re a natural sistah too! Please share some of your journey with my readers.
I am happily Natural or Naptural as some call it. I have been natural since High school. I often remember going natural and sitting in the chair with a huge fro and my mother and I arguing about me getting a relaxer (luckily my stylist at the time was well trained with natural hair). My mother ended up leaving me at the hair salon because I refused a relaxer, and I had to call my boyfriend at the time to pick me up. Funny story: now years later my mom is natural and loves it. I wore a fro until college and then transitioned to twists to save time and hair (I was not able to properly care for my fro with my busy schedule). Now, I rock a head full of locs that I love; they are very versatile. I encourage women to go natural not because it’s a trend or style but, because they want to embrace who they truly are. A lot of “knowledge of self” is gained when one goes natural. You would be surprised what you learn to love about yourself.
Is there anything else that you’d like my readers to know?
We want our Umba Family (customers) to feel good about African heritage and culture. We wanted to a find a way to diminish stereotypes about African fashion and couture. However, we wanted to remain true to modern styles and daily wear. We really listen to our customers and what they want. We most importantly want to assist in bringing our customers visions to life. This is why Umba also specializes in custom orders and sets. Umba only does one of kind pieces. When you purchase from Umba, we want you to feel good knowing the piece that you selected can’t be duplicated anywhere and is exclusively yours.
About the brand
Umba ~ Origin Swahili (V) to create, make, or mold.
Umba is an African textile jewelry line that only uses high quality African Ankara wax fabric. Ankara African fabrics are expressed culturally through rich vibrant patterns and colorful designs. In the creator’s own words, “the world we live in often dictates what we should wear. We respond by crafting timeless pieces that evolve every generation. Umba ensures that each piece created is created using time, patience, and positive energy. Every piece of jewelry from Umba is handcrafted and custom made; NO two pieces are ever identical. Life is full of duplications. Why not complement yourself with something unique and original? At Umba we embrace, individuality, comfort, and fun.
Become your own trendsetter…..Dream. Embrace. Explore. Dare. “
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