Dionne Green, creator of Susej Designs, was born in San Antonio, Texas. As the daughter of military parents, she spent most of her childhood traveling the world. During her teens, Green moved to El Paso, Texas and enrolled at the University of Texas at El Paso, initially taking up courses in accounting.
Growing up, Green always knew she wanted to work in fashion, and later transferred to Howard University in Washington, D.C. to study fashion merchandising. It was during her time at Howard that Green discovered her passion for illustration. She later redirected her studies abroad to concentrate on fashion design at the renowned Istituto Marangoni in Milan, Italy, one of Europe's leading Fashion and Design schools. Here, her enthusiasm and natural ability was fully developed as she learned the art of illustration and the skills required to build a collection.
Upon completion of her studies, she returned to Washington, D.C. with a remarkable portfolio and a wealth of knowledge. Green wanted to combine her designs with something that women could take pride in and appreciate; from that Susej Designs was born.
Dionne Green is the sole creator and developer for Susej Designs. In the future, Green plans to offer women's clothing and other accessories.
Dionne how did you get started ?
The bags pretty much were a spin off of T-Shirts. In experimenting with different styles of T-shirts. A friend said these are sooooo beautiful you should put these on bags for women.
Susej Design. How did you come up with that name and what does it mean?
Susej is Jesus spelled backwards. It is my thank you to Jesus Christ for blessing me with Susej Design and allowing me to do what I love.
Where you working for anyone when you started your business?
I was working for an optometrist for about a year by day and working on sample bags at night. It eventually got to a point where I knew I had to leave in order to let my business grow.
Do you remember your first client?
Yes I do. Her name was Sandy. It was my first day at Eastern Market in DC(high end flee market) . Just seeing the looks on peoples faces as they saw my bags for the first time was good for my heart, it let me know I was moving in the right direction. The first customer that saw my bag was Sandy, she looked at the bag and loved it however she said she wanted to think about it. Sandy went away for about an hour. When she came back I was sooooooooooooo excited. While she was away she said something told her to come back and get that bag before she went out of town. While packaging the bag I pulled a string of beads off the bag. Sandy was great about the whole thing, she said I could just repair it when she got back in town. She was a great first customer.
How do you come up with the names for the bags?
Sometimes the names will inspire the design. Tangled Tool came from a quote "Leave life's Tangles to God". It's symbolic, she is sitting on life's twist and turns. The skirt of her dress represents lifes twist and turns.
Some of the other names are Solid Gold, Sweet Summer and Blond Ambition, to name a few...
What is your Biggest challenge?
Looking for the right people to work with me. This is my baby. You pray that leaving things in the next persons hands are the right hands
The best discovery that you made in the course of business, that you wish you would have done in the beginning?
Is knowing that the strength that I thought I had , I really have it. I can think a thing is possible and it come to life.
The thing that you would never advise a person to do in their business:
Don't limit your business. My business is based in the DC area. But I get orders from around the world. You want a business without walls , no limitations.
How do you define success
Just doing what makes you happy
Dionne has also been featured in Upscale Magazine ,Feb 2006, The Examiner, and other fashion publications. She is most recently featured in the Baltimore Sun this month.
Thank you Dionne for talking to us and many blessing to you and your business
Growing up, Green always knew she wanted to work in fashion, and later transferred to Howard University in Washington, D.C. to study fashion merchandising. It was during her time at Howard that Green discovered her passion for illustration. She later redirected her studies abroad to concentrate on fashion design at the renowned Istituto Marangoni in Milan, Italy, one of Europe's leading Fashion and Design schools. Here, her enthusiasm and natural ability was fully developed as she learned the art of illustration and the skills required to build a collection.
Upon completion of her studies, she returned to Washington, D.C. with a remarkable portfolio and a wealth of knowledge. Green wanted to combine her designs with something that women could take pride in and appreciate; from that Susej Designs was born.
Dionne Green is the sole creator and developer for Susej Designs. In the future, Green plans to offer women's clothing and other accessories.
Dionne how did you get started ?
The bags pretty much were a spin off of T-Shirts. In experimenting with different styles of T-shirts. A friend said these are sooooo beautiful you should put these on bags for women.
Susej Design. How did you come up with that name and what does it mean?
Susej is Jesus spelled backwards. It is my thank you to Jesus Christ for blessing me with Susej Design and allowing me to do what I love.
Where you working for anyone when you started your business?
I was working for an optometrist for about a year by day and working on sample bags at night. It eventually got to a point where I knew I had to leave in order to let my business grow.
Do you remember your first client?
Yes I do. Her name was Sandy. It was my first day at Eastern Market in DC(high end flee market) . Just seeing the looks on peoples faces as they saw my bags for the first time was good for my heart, it let me know I was moving in the right direction. The first customer that saw my bag was Sandy, she looked at the bag and loved it however she said she wanted to think about it. Sandy went away for about an hour. When she came back I was sooooooooooooo excited. While she was away she said something told her to come back and get that bag before she went out of town. While packaging the bag I pulled a string of beads off the bag. Sandy was great about the whole thing, she said I could just repair it when she got back in town. She was a great first customer.
How do you come up with the names for the bags?
Sometimes the names will inspire the design. Tangled Tool came from a quote "Leave life's Tangles to God". It's symbolic, she is sitting on life's twist and turns. The skirt of her dress represents lifes twist and turns.
Some of the other names are Solid Gold, Sweet Summer and Blond Ambition, to name a few...
What is your Biggest challenge?
Looking for the right people to work with me. This is my baby. You pray that leaving things in the next persons hands are the right hands
The best discovery that you made in the course of business, that you wish you would have done in the beginning?
Is knowing that the strength that I thought I had , I really have it. I can think a thing is possible and it come to life.
The thing that you would never advise a person to do in their business:
Don't limit your business. My business is based in the DC area. But I get orders from around the world. You want a business without walls , no limitations.
How do you define success
Just doing what makes you happy
Dionne has also been featured in Upscale Magazine ,Feb 2006, The Examiner, and other fashion publications. She is most recently featured in the Baltimore Sun this month.
Thank you Dionne for talking to us and many blessing to you and your business
