Sara Duke: Today’s Notable Young Entrepreneur

Today’s Notable Young Entrepreneur is fashion designer Sara Duke, who took her first steps in the industry at a very young age when she began sewing with her grandmother. We caught up with her to find out what it takes to carve out your dream and what advice she would share with other young professionals…

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WORK

Describe what you do in less than 140 characters. Go.
Small batch, thoughtfully designed and individually hand cut clothing that is made in Canada.

What was the inspiration for your career route?
My Baba, my grandmother.

I started sewing at a very young age, like preschool. I was left in the care of Baba who, fortunately, saw no reason that I couldn’t handle a sewing machine.

I remember my mother getting really upset about it all, saying that I was going to sew my fingers together, but I’m pretty sure we ignored her and, to date, I have never sewn over my own fingers.

Baba worked in a factory sewing blankets in the east end of Toronto when she first came to Canada from Macedonia and left her job to help care for me. She wanted me to have a nice office job and I wanted to be just like her.

I think I might have made the decision to pursue fashion back then, or I guess I don’t remember.

What is the most memorable milestone in your career so far?
I am not sure it’s happened yet.

Where do you see yourself in 5 years, 10 years, 20 years?
Same place.

My husband and I worked 100-hour work weeks and lived in a tiny apartment for the first few years we were married; the same apartment I lived in by myself as a student. It had a living room and a bedroom and the living room was my studio, so basically it was just a bedroom. All of this in order to put away enough to buy a house and, a couple of years ago, we did. In Parkdale, my favourite place in the city.

I do my best to remember how fortunate we are to love the life that we have and to not get greedy.

Do you have any advice for other young professionals?
Focus. Figure out what you want to be when you grow up and put all of your energy into becoming that thing.

Do you support any charities? If so, which one(s) and why is it (or they) important to you?
I am a cat baby foster mom; it’s how I met Bear (my pet monster). I’ve taken on neonatal kittens that have been abandoned/orphaned or I take a mum cat and her kittens in and give them a warm place to be adorable for a couple of months.

What is one major challenge that you’ve had to overcome in your career? How did you overcome it?
I hate to say it, but it’s not easy being a girl trying to run a business. (I have not yet successfully overcome being a girl).

What does the word notable mean to you?
Notable valadates the hours I have put in to this whole thing; it recognizes all of the effort that has gone into building a solid body of work.

PLAY

Where is your favourite place to wine/ dine in your city and why?
I think my favourite place to drink and eat is Electric Mud. The food is amazing and on Mondays they have cheap beer – it’s a thing that a bunch of locals do on Monday evenings every once and a while. Also, I love it because it is very close to our house and it makes my husband the happiest (he loves it harder than I do.)

What’s the most visited website on your Internet browser? The most played song on your phone?
I am a luddite and have yet to put music on my phone. It’s been three years, so I am pretty sure it’s not going to happen. But when I am in the mood for music, I play The Score from beginning to end (including bonus tracks) on YouTube. And I use my computer to indulge in terrible reality television, which is always on in the background when I’m at work. Think Hell’s Kitchen, The Bachelor, anything that will make your brain mushy.

Who’s one person you think everyone should be following on social media?
I like news and stuff.

What’s your favourite country to visit and why? And what’s the next one you plan on travelling to?
I love Cuba, Havana in Particular. It’s warm and strange and the food is great. It’s a place I’ve been back to five times, and every time I learn something new that is interesting and that I can’t make sense of.

We are planning a quick little trip back to Havana in May.

What gives you the greatest FOMO?
Nothing. I like working. Maybe not working.

What’s your guiltiest pleasure?
Carbs.

What’s something you wish you didn’t spend so much money on? What’s something you wish you spent more on?
Cigarettes. Any money is too much money.

And I wish I could spend more money on shoes. I don’t because I am a shoe-wrecker and am constantly destroying nice shoes.

And finally, what does success look like to you? Work, play, or otherwise…
Success is getting to keep going and not to ever having to get a real job.

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