Stephanie-Blair
Baddie Blair
“My creative process is, I close my eyes, make sure I'm in my body, I take the pen and let my hand move. My process is a centering process and an indicator of where I really am and how I feel. Then I find the balance and authenticity to make sense out of it all.” - Stephanie-Blair Watts
Stephanie-Blair Watts has worked endlessly for what she wants out of life all of her life. She has accomplished many things from curating and starring in art shows to traveling the country with the best softball players in America to creating her own fashion house with Cho Cho Chen. Growing up Watts didn't know exactly what she wanted out of life but she worked hard until everything she did paid off.
Thanks to her mother’s ambitious dreams for her daughter to be on the best schooling path Detroit had to offer Watts was sent to a Montessori preschool. The following year she tested into Bates Elementary school and passed with flying colors. When the school system found out she was being raised by a single mother on welfare Watts says, “they tried to push us out with different tactics, like I was told that I had to repeat kindergarten again and they would eventually put me in my right grade.” Watts' family obliged and repeated kindergarten.
Going into second grade the students began to pick on her once they found out she was a year older than them. Her mother went back to the office to demand that Watts be put in her right grade. After 3 days in second grade, the school moved her to 3rd grade. But now there was a problem. “I struggled in math with fractions and decimals.” She went on, “that's what they taught in 2nd grade and they assumed I would be able to catch up.” When the year came to an end, Bates once again tried to hold her back again to repeat 3rd grade. That's when Watts' had enough and was sent to the neighborhood school.
Throughout her education career, her mother wanted Watts to attend King, Cass, or Renaissance for High School. However, math woes caused her to not qualify to get into Cass. It was time for plan B, her mother sat in the office for weeks waiting for an opportunity to show that her daughter was just as worthy to be in that high school as anyone else. After briefly meeting the Basketball coach in the office her mother realized Basketball was the way.
Watts attended the summer program everyday from 8am - 12pm to practice basketball to be considered. The whole summer went by and Watts received no answers on if she would be allowed to attend Cass in the fall.
On the first day of school her mother went back to sitting in the office, waiting for another opportunity. She says, “the assistant principal and secretary were like “she's not getting in, we have 4.0 students with great test scores on the waitlist.”
That was until the basketball coach came in and asked, “why don’t you have a schedule?” He looked at the office workers and said, “get this girl a schedule!” After Watt’s spot was secured the secretary reluctantly asked her what she wanted her major to be. Watts expressed her love for entrepreneurship, and marketing became her major. After her first year in basketball, she realized it was an expensive sport and it's very hard to get a scholarship. She heard that the softball coach was getting at least 2 girls a year into D-1 colleges with softball scholarships. “He told me if I worked really hard he would make it happen.” She went on, “I had to take it seriously, I have to be great in a short amount of time, I didn't see my high school friends anymore after that.”
Hard work paid off for Watts because she received a full-ride from Coppin State University in Baltimore, Maryland. The summer after high school she traveled with the softball team ASA Gold, a league that is classified right under the Olympics. Watts was the 3rd black girl to ever play on the team in history. She says, “I did it for history to make way for other black girls to play on that team and to get ready for my first semester of college.”
After college, she stayed in Bmore for 3 more years. In that time she accrued a nice marketing position with Enterprise the car rental company, she had a nice car, townhome and from the outside looking in Watts had it going on. But she was unfulfilled. Her family was encouraging her to stay away from Detroit and explore so she visited her cousin in the Bay of California. “I loved it but I was still sad every day. It was beautiful, the people were nice, I even started making friends but on the inside, I was still not happy. It wasn’t until I said it out loud, “I have to go home.” That I was able to enjoy my time.”
“I came back to Michigan and it was snowing and my mission was to figure out what I want to do with life. I needed to figure out who I was.”
At the same time she was coming back to Detroit she began posting her looks and style on Instagram and Tumblr and it was blowing up. She realized she had a knack for the art of style so she began asking random people on the street if she could style, and take photos of them. She says, “I didn't feel like I had a lot of time and I was tired of seeing Detroit ruins.” At the time, photographers were showcasing models dressed fancy in abandoned buildings. Watts wanted to bring a style and an anesthetic into the city. Rock City Lookbook was born from that idea. Rock City Lookbook was an online publication and a yearly print publication that featured artists in Detroit. It showcased styling and creative direction from Watts while her business partner photographed.
She began to tap back into her love for drawing and began doodling and making designs. After her friends would see her work they would mention, “that would look dope on a jersey or t-shirt or something.” Watts agreed and that's when Cho Cho Chen was born. “I want to be a print designer, I know I can dress, I know color, I can style anybody in anything, and if I have my own clothes I know I style you in it. Home decor was the first line in Cho Cho Chen and lifestyle clothing came soon after. The Cho Cho Chen designs are abstract. She says, “I wanted to have people from any type of background, to have an opinion about my artwork. With abstract art you can see anything you want.”
“My creative process is, I close my eyes, make sure I’m in my body, I take the pen, and let my hand move. My process is a centering process and an indicator of where I really am and how I feel. Then I find the balance and authenticity to make sense out of it all.
Whatever you’re doing should be freeing, your hard work should be gratifying.”
