25 MADELINE MARIE & ME A K I’ll never forget opening the door to the Amazon studio, looking at the blank stage on which I would set my day, and asking myself, How did you get here? It’s not a hard question to answer. It stems from the biggest lesson I learned in college: the easiest thing you can do is ask. When I first met Madeline Manning, I had no idea how inspirational she would become to me. What started as a name I heard in passing, a whisper of an incredible alumni from Oklahoma State University’s design and merchandising program, soon became an unexpected intersection of two creative journeys. My first encounter with Manning occurred when I sought her in February 2022 for an interview for my feature writing class. I remembered her name and thought her life as an entrepreneur in New York City growing her custom dress business would be an exciting topic for my assignment. We connected on Instagram and set up a meeting. “Emily interviewed me over the phone and wrote a beautifully written paper about my life and career. I felt like she really heard me and told my story so well,” said Manning. This wasn’t a hard task. Within the first few minutes of speaking with Manning, I could tell that her success had been hard-won. However, when I started writing my story and reflecting on what she said during our interview, I really began to understand her. Manning moved to New York City in 2019 with no concrete plans, just a dream in her back pocket. She built Madeline Marie, a custom design label, right out of a small corner of her East Village apartment. What started as a quarantine activity turned into a profitable business, which led to networking opportunities within the industry, her designs being featured and worn in New York Fashion Week, and the launching of her brand at an event in October 2023. The Aorft theS
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