Today we’d like to introduce you to Andrea Carter.
Hi Andrea, so excited to have you on the platform. So before we get into questions about your work-life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today?
I began my fashion career in 1972 in New York City and travelled the world working in product development and sourcing for global mass apparel production companies. Before retiring as a Director of Sourcing and Product Development for Vanity Fair Intimates in 2010, I decided to take the plunge and began to prepare for full time entrepreneurship. The Ngozi Design Group was born in Alpharetta, GA in 2009 and my Ngozi Design work started with big, bold jewelry, hand crafted using natural and cultured beads and precious and semi-precious stones. I wanted to build a business of hand crafted, custom designed and one-of-a-kind jewelry, wearable art and accessories. I was able to sell my jewelry directly in vendor markets, online and on consignment in gift shops and boutiques. Those experiences taught me a lot about consignment work and planted the seeds for a future brick and mortar consignment shop that was completely focused on hand crafted merchandise.
Ngozi is an Igbo word (Nigeria) that means “blessed” and it is with this spirit that I am committed to my entrepreneurial vision to create, collaborate and share my work in the best and most useful way that I could. I added “Group” to my company name even though I started alone because I knew I would ultimately and always be in community with other artists. When my husband and I moved from Georgia to North Carolina, I found several small boutiques and began showcasing and selling jewelry, clothing and accessories on consignment in Durham and Goldsboro.
In 2011 Mariama by Ngozi was launched, expanding my collection of clothing, accessories and more! ADE (for men) and IYA Love (for children) labels were created shortly after. I leaned heavily on my production background and training in the beginning stages of my new venture and continue to manage my work with that foundation to this day. There have been several new beginnings and my path continues to hold lots of twists and turns. Customer service, well fitting garments and quality jewelry and accessories still address growing challenges as women try to express their unique styles while navigating mass produced and disposable big box fashion offerings.
The Ngozi label quickly became a best seller in North Carolina and after a few years, the Ngozi Design Collective boutique opened on Main St. in Durham. It was a brick and mortar home for Ngozi Design custom and stock pieces all made by hand. We were able to welcome local, national and international designers and artists on consignment and we hosted receptions, trunk shows and other special events. We supported non-profit creatives as they carried on their work in our community – Bump the Triangle,Village of Wisdom, The Beautiful Project, Ten Eight Ten Productions, I Am My Sista’s! Foundation, Our Children’s Place and Cinderella’s Closet. We brought in seamstresses to help with stock and custom requests and provided a safe space to a number of interns to give them an opportunity to experience working with customers in a retail space as they developed their ideas and discipline around the business of fashion. The Collective also served as an artist incubator space, community gathering space and hosted programs like film screenings, health and wellness classes, busker performances, Swap to Feed Exchange and disaster relief initiatives. We had less than a dozen vendors when we opened and had hosted more than a hundred within just a few years. We offered free marketing and merchandising assistance, helping hands and important networking to several other small local Black owned apparel businesses when they launched their boutiques.
We closed the Collective in early 2019 and introduced the first Ngozi label collection in one of the last events for the Carrack Gallery and as a new artist at Golden Belt Art studios. The collection, called ONI (Yoruba – rooted in heritage and designed for the present moment), retraces history and honors a long tradition of unique fashion by artisans from West Africa to America. Some of the least likely of materials and supplies have always been used, rejecting notions of lack, while embracing a spirit of sustainability, flare and ownership. I wanted to design clothing made from pieced remnants and bright, bold African print fabrics.
2020 brought the pandemic and like many other small businesses, I made thousands of masks to help. As the COVID crisis waned, I became increasingly curious about quilts and quilt making and had plenty of remnant cloth to easily get going. Quilting is a practice that allows me to more fully understand the traditions of those who created functional or wearable art and textile pieces. I started with YouTube University and then I joined the AAQC (African American Quilt Circle in Durham, NC). This talented group of artists are so creative, encouraging, knowledgeable and generous. I now design one of a kind, contemporary wearable art and quilted wall-hangings with specific African and African-American materials and influences.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
Honestly my entrepreneurial road was pretty smooth even with some twists and turns. I looked at it as the preparation and hard grind I was already used to from my career training. I didn’t really have a mentor in this new space but I did have a fearless (albeit not reckless) determination and was comfortable in starting very small to mitigate risk and allow time to learn some of what I needed to know and experience first hand. I was retiring and felt more secure financially not having to depend solely on business revenue right away. I had heard that if working for yourself was easy, everyone would be doing it but I was ready to give it a try. While working full time, I had been managing, organizing, sewing and making as a side gig for many years. I focused and prepared for a year and once I was retired it was easier to transition to full time entrepreneurship. I was fortunate that sales of my pieces grew steadily and I was very happy. I also loved what I was doing, had lots of energy and was proud of my work. Opening the Ngozi Design Collective was a new challenge and with lots of support my husband and I moved forward with this new and exciting opportunity. After four years and without knowing what was to come we decided to close the boutique in 2019 in response to escalating expenses in Downtown Durham. Although it was a difficult decision to close the boutique, I wouldn’t necessarily call it a struggle. Decisions had to made and we were grateful that we were able to manage the transition on our own terms. We had also built a huge mailing list over the years to keep in contact with our patrons. I continued to work on my brand in my home studio and was accepted at the Golden Belt Art Studio later that year.
COVID hit in 2020 and I believe I can speak for many small businesses in general as I think about many challenges and unlnowns. Being a small creative business, the biggest challenge was to survive in a space that was not critical. Again decisions had to be made and I wanted to figure out how I could be of help. Clearly custom jewelry and clothing was not an option but I could use my sewing skills and production background to make masks on as large a scale as possible. I already had lots of fabric although, full transparency, there was a bit of a learning curve. Once I committed to the idea and made a few good samples I went to work. I was able to connect with a few old colleagues and community members and I received donations of elastic and even more fabric.
Packaging was ordered and a small production line was set up in my home studio. My family pitched in to help with social media and shipping as orders began to flow online. The more masks I made, the better they got and very quickly I also received custom requests and bulk orders including the city of Durham! In the few years of this effort I made and shipped thousands of brightly colored 100% cotton individually packaged masks to over 20 states and that allowed me to donate hundreds more to elders in my community and around the country with free shipping. This project was a major pivot from my normal work but I was able to offer a valuable product and maintain a source of income while remaining safe. It also allowed me to sustain my small business during that time and I learned to trust myself while staying true to my passion and commitment to be of service. Thankfully after the end of the pandemic I was able to resume work at Golden Belt.
Now, after six years I decided to close that studio and turn my focus to quilting as an independent artist. Yet another pivot but I still work with some of my clients and hopefully the road ahead with be smooth…at least for a while.
Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
As a small business owner, I am known for creating custom garments for special clients, and stock clothing, when time permits. As an independent textile artist, much of my time now goes to quilting which I love more and more every day. I have also recently been certified to make menstrual shields for young girls with the Days For Girls organization. I have jewelry and accessories in the NC Museum of Art gift shop and I am building an online consignment page (Culture Rush) on my website. I am proud, as the co-owner of Ngozi Design, to have been recognized as Best of Durham, received several awards and included in The Creative, a connected community story quilt by Marla Hawkins, now showing at the Nasher Museum. I am grateful to be able to enjoy the business through recommendations and with loyal clients.
In a very short time as an independent textile artist, quilting has allowed me to exhibit and sell art pieces all around the Triangle including the galleries of Golden Belt and Kindred Spirits conferences here in Durham. Last year, I exhibited in the Page-Walker Arts and History Center in Cary with AAQC, and one of my quilts “Squares” was featured in Quiltcon Magazine during Quiltcon in Raleigh. I was awarded an ARPA grant stipend for my ongoing “Always On The Way To Now” project. This year, I joined other members of the quilt circle at Hayti Heritage Center for our UBUNTU exhibition and artist talk. I was invited to speak about my “Blackbirds” quilt at the UNCG 2025 CACE Conference as part of a Black History celebration and then invited to have my first solo quilt exhibition “Legacy Of The Cloth” (a celebration of my quilting practice) in the Chapel Hill Town Hall that ran during March and April and that Public Spaces exhibition was featured in a Daily Tar Heel article. My work was also included in the August 2025 issue of Durham Magazine. I just completed the first round of “Meet The Artist” interviews of military veteran quilters for AAQC (@AAQCDurham on YouTube) and have a quilted wallhanging in the Hayti Heritage Center 50th Anniversary celebration AAQC exhibit. I am currently working on several quilted wallhangings for upcoming 2026 exhibitions.
I stay in touch with some of the former members of the Ngozi Design Collective boutique for artistic support and collaboration. I enjoyed being a part of the Golden Belt artist group which is a diverse group of artists not only artistically but ethnically and generationally. I am finding so much joy in learning, exploring and celebrating African-American history and African ancestral legacy and I am most proud of the work that has allowed me to serve over 350 customers and clients over the years. I love that I am able to engage in the creative arts at this time in my life and intend to continue as long as I am able. What sets me apart from others is my lifelong journey in fashion and fabrics and my ability to collaborate with my long time clients and fellow artists who trust, appreciate and encourage my work, experience and vision.
For me, the most rewarding aspect of being a creative is the ability to complete a piece and receive appreciation for the hard work. Artists are an amazing group of people who are open minded and fun to be around while at the same time intense and focused. Being an artist demands a lifetime of curiosity, learning and practicing. I admit that art is something that permeates every part of my life in a variety of ways. The icing on the cake is when clients are happy with what they have commissioned and received; there is not much more an artist can ask for than that!
Do you have recommendations for books, apps, blogs, etc?
Books – (a few of my favorites) Born A Crime – Trevor Noah
And Still We Rise – Carolyn L. Mazloomi
My Grandmothers Hands – Resmaa Menakem
1619 Project- Nicole Hannah Jones
The Deep – Rivers Solomon
Year of Yes – Shonda Rhimes
Braiding Sweetgrass – Robin Kimmerer
Caste – Isabel Wilkerson
Finding Me – Viola Davis
Mrs. Lincoln’s Dressmaker – Jennifer Chiaverini
The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks – Rebecca Skloot
The Warmth of Other Suns – Isabel Wilkerson
Apps
Procreate
Audible
Dropbox
ChatGPT
Netflix
Pinterest
Podcasts
Don Lemon
Native Land
Joy Reid
Contact Info:
- Website: Ngozidesign.com
- Instagram: @Ngozidesign
- Facebook: Ngozi Design
- Linkedin: Ngozi Design Group
