Welcome to the latest episode of FashionTalks! In this episode host Donna Bishop speaks with designer and founder of Mayana, Nadine Woods. Nadine shares many personal details about her unconventional fashion journey.

• How the birth of her child influenced her business
• The surprising power of lingerie
• How she launched her brand with no formal design education
• The importance of her Caribbean heritage
• How she eschews traditional business practices and business paradigm she is developing and values

Donna Bishop @thisisdonnab

FashionTalks @fashiontalkspod

Mayana @wearmayana

mayanageneviere.com

CAFA @cafawards

cafawards.ca

TRANSCRIPT:

00:01 .14

Donna Bishop

Hello, Nadine. It is so wonderful to have you here on Fashion Talks.

00:04 .49

Nadine

Hi, thank you so much for having me, Donna. I'm really looking forward to our conversation today.

00:08 .69

Donna Bishop

ah Oh my goodness, it's going to be so juicy because you have such, not just an amazing business, but your purposefulness of the business is so important and interesting, and we're going to get to it.

00:20 .37

Donna Bishop

But first I want to start off, I love starting with this question with everyone. Everyone, I believe, who works in fashion, who loves fashion, has that moment where they realize, wow, this thing, clothing, this thing, fashion, it carries more power than just making sure I don't get a sunburn, making sure I don't get wet when it rains.

00:40 .01

Donna Bishop

Do you have a moment where you became aware of the power of fashion?

00:44 .72

Nadine

Yeah, definitely. i think it's definitely when I started my business, I had a baby and I really was not prepared for my recovery process because they scare us to death into the birth and delivery ah really. And truly, they just make it very fear-based in the West.

01:04 .50

Nadine

Um, And we're not really prepared for the recovery process. Like we have no idea what's going to happen. And to be fair, so many things could happen.

01:16 .38

Nadine

But in general, i wasn't prepared for the fact that I wouldn't be able to wear my pre-existing undergarments, like my underwear. And I was used to wearing a certain type of thing, like at that time, like something a little bit, like I would wear thongs. I would wear like all these other things that just,

01:35 .15

Nadine

you know, wire bras as as we all do.

01:36 .94

Donna Bishop

As we do. so

01:39 .86

Nadine

um And i mean, pre COVID, I would say definitely. And I was really used to things that were really pretty underneath. And then when I had my baby, I couldn't fit into anything, but nevermind, I couldn't fit into anything.

01:55 .58

Nadine

It didn't work for what I needed because when you have a baby, you bleed for six weeks straight and i think a lot of people don't realize that um and there's a lot of things happening if you decide to breastfeed now your breasts are working and so they require space and room and they're uncomfortable because you're getting adjusted to this new body that you're in um as your body transitions into another phase which is still within the framework of ah pregnancy, right? Because when we have children, a lot of times what happens is we have this bounce back culture where where we want to fit back into the things that we own previously. And that was one of the things that was for me. So a huge identity shift happens there. And fashion is a huge component of that.

02:42 .14

Nadine

And when you're not used to returning to what you're normally wearing and you're forced to wear whatever's given to you for that time, it really does an effect on your body image.

02:54 .09

Nadine

And so for me, that's how I really start to realize, wow, there is almost an instant pick-me-up when we change our clothes into something that makes us feel better. And undergarments have this really powerful way of setting the foundation for how you're going to feel during the day.

03:11 .36

Nadine

You could wear a big sweatsuit, but if you have something really pretty underneath, it's like your own superpower, right? Right. you feel good, you carry yourself differently. But if you have some like frumpy underwear, that's like bunchy and gaping, and your bra is just loose, you don't feel great about yourself.

03:32 .10

Nadine

um So that's when I realized, oh, this is a super powerful way or tool for an immediate pick me up in addition to all the other things you need to do for healing.

03:43 .30

Donna Bishop

It's such an interesting point because I think undergarments get such a, they're kind of polarized, right? They're either utilitarian and we shouldn't think about them or they're like, I'm going to get something tonight, like super sexy, not something you would wear day to day.

03:59 .85

Donna Bishop

Like that's kind of the two pins of it, right?

04:01 .82

Nadine

Yes. Yes, for sure. And i wanted to combine the two because we, I was at a stage in my life where I needed something that was going to support things that I learned about only after I had my daughter. So my pelvic floor, diastasis recti, for those who don't know, that's the separation of your abdominal muscles.

04:22 .93

Nadine

Um, things like that, that I didn't even know existed before I had my daughter. And now I need to wear pieces

04:29 .72

Donna Bishop

and be

04:31 .68

Nadine

Sorry, go ahead.

04:32 .58

Donna Bishop

No, no, no. I was just going to say, you know, the your entrepreneurial journey is so rich in education. But before we get too much into that, like, can tell us a little bit about you. You know, where are you from?

04:47 .20

Donna Bishop

where were you born? What kind of kid were you? Tell us a little bit about Nadine before we get into Mayana.

04:53 .61

Nadine

Yeah, so I was born in Toronto. I do not have a background in fashion at all. I didn't study fashion. i was not I was interested in fashion, but I wasn't interested in the sense that um I would idolize like large designers or you know big fashion houses. like it was not...

05:13 .42

Nadine

For me, I used fashion as a way to express myself in my culture. So I'm from the Caribbean. And for us, we are used to wearing beautiful, colorful, powerful prints, natural fibers, very flowy, beautiful things, which now has become popularized as resort wear.

05:36 .31

Nadine

um But that literally is how we live. And

05:41 .89

Nadine

That is a big part of how I view fashion. Another part of my upbringing too was I'm very entrenched in my culture. My family's from Trinidad and I was raised as a Trinidadian girl.

05:54 .94

Nadine

I was not, you know, it to my culture. Like, yes, I'm born in Canada, but my culture is Caribbean. And part of my culture is carnival and carnival is a huge expression of self. It is emancipation from enslavement is its resistance. It is rebellion.

06:14 .92

Nadine

And it's not just people jumping up and dancing in the street. There's a reason why we do it. It is a release it is of trauma. It is healing. And a lot of people don't understand meaning of Carnival, but that also informed how I design my pieces today because we are used to all bodies on the road. That is not new for us.

06:38 .12

Nadine

In our culture, it's important to celebrate all different types of bodies and sizes. So I come from a background where we really appreciate people and who they are and not just their bodies, I would say.

06:57 .44

Donna Bishop

It sounds like you grew up with a real comfort and love for all bodies. And we know we live in a culture that that is not always the case.

07:11 .51

Donna Bishop

When did you become aware that there was a like that people felt differently, that there was a a philosophy of, you know, love your body only if your body looks a certain way?

07:26 .90

Nadine

I definitely would say i was ignorant to it in my teens. So I just, you know, you know, your teens, I have a teen right now and the goal right now is just to fit in, not to stand out. Right. That's the teenage goal.

07:40 .10

Nadine

And then as you get older, you start to form your own identity and also life circumstances, right? Like right now I'm in the perimenopause phase and I'm which starts at 35, everyone. I mean, like people don't realize it's just right.

07:56 .93

Donna Bishop

Yeah.

07:5