I’m excited to join Vlisco Fashion Fund panel —Faith Senam
Accra based Fashion PR Specialist and fashion writer Faith Senam says she is excited to have been selected to join the panel of judges for the 2022 edition of the Vlisco Fashion Fund.
Last week, Vlisco named its 2014 Ambassador, Eugenia Tachie-Menson, Co-owner/ creative director of Ghanaian fashion brand Pistis Ghana, and Ms Senam as judges for this year’s competition.
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In an interview with The Mirror, Faith, who is also the founder of e'april Public Relations, said she was excited to be chosen by a globally recognised brand to judge its competition.
“I come from a fashion background where I’ve heard my mother who is a seamstress on countless times tell me how big a deal it is to have Vlisco in your wardrobe as a woman, so to grow up and be associated with it is humbling,” she said.
This is not the first time she’s picking up such a role. In 2016, she was one of the judges at the Ghana Fashion Awards and has also worked in different capacities where she has engaged many fashion designers through mentorship, trainings and speaking engagements.
“I am bringing my almost 10 years of experience working in the fashion industry and managing communications for some of the leading fashion brands in the country. I have interacted, featured and engaged many designers both established and emerging and I know what it means to have talent and be creative and also find the right support and guidance to grow and expand your business. I believe that with a fund like the Vlisco Fashion Fund, designers will get the right financial support to move their business to the next level,” she stated.
Asked what she will be expecting from contestants, she said she expected them to be creative, have a good standing of the business of fashion and be advocates for the brand.
Profile
Ms Senam has a combined experience of 10 years of acquired knowledge and skills from diverse fields of work in the areas of Public Relations and Strategic Communication, Projects and Events Management, Customer Relations, Brands Marketing and Social Media Management.
Her agency, e’april PR, was established in October 2012 with special interest in PR for fashion, beauty and lifestyle brands. Since starting out, she has spearheaded successful PR campaigns for businesses and consulted on strategy, media relations and brand communications all geared towards garnering the right attention, trust and improving relationships with key stakeholders.
Clients she has handled PR for include Adubea Jensen, Selinabeb, Ghana Menswear Week (formerly Accra Men’s Fashion Week), Horseman Shoes, Pure Persona by Nana, So Aesthetics, Nadrey Laurent, Sahmani Jewellery, Evangel Magazine and several other brands which she consulted for on project basis.
Prior to fully running her PR firm in 2018, she worked with Global Media Alliance as an Account Manager for Unilever where she worked on the re-launch of Vaseline beauty product onto the Ghanaian market.
Faith was rewarded 40 under 40 Achiever in the Communications Category in 2020.
She is also the founder of Women in PR Ghana, a not-for-profit organisation which provides opportunities for career advancement, mentorship, networking and leadership for young women studying and practising Public Relations.
2022 Vlisco Fashion Fund
Application for this year’s competition opened from May 1 to 31. The competition is open to budding designers between 18 and 35 years who reside in Ghana.
Fifteen candidates who successfully passed the pre-selection phase will go through an initial sewing test and interviews.
Three finalists will then be selected for the final competition which entails designing five garments which will be showcased at a runway event.
The winner will receive a cash prize of 5,000 Euros and a fully funded Masterclass in the Netherlands in October 2022.
The first-runner up will receive 3,000 Euros, with the second runner-up receiving 2,000 Euros.
All three finalists will become ambassadors of the brand from October 2022 to September 2023.
This year, before the call for entries, Vlisco held an entrepreneurship and business techniques workshop for emerging designers.