21-year-old C. Grade transforms silence into a fashion line with social upliftment.

At the age of 12, Dina Clotti learned how to craft to teach her mother crafts. While teaching, Clotti’s mother did not attend cracking. Her daughter, however, is a 2022 graduate of the University of Chicago and a U.S. graduate. Winner of the University Leadership Award, she focused her creative career on fashion brand T’Kor Couture, an acronym for her middle name.

With the epidemic locks, the study, and rallies around the 2020 race, Clotti returned to what she knew, picked up her weapon and stepped up her game.

“I had so much in my mind, so much was written in my mind, it was really a project to let go of my creative ideas,” says Clotti, who was born in London. “I was doing something that inspired me from everything at the time.”

People noticed and Clotti came up with what they called a “beautiful little thing” within a year. Ticor has about 11,000 Instagram followers, and Clotti focuses on custom work for Chicago singer-songwriter Jamila Woods. T’Kor Couture has also been selected to participate in the 2021 Polski Entrepreneurship and Innovation Accelerator Program. Her success is not due to her creativity. At 21, Clottey’s resume will include being one of the many college students selected in Iowa for Camilla Harris’ presidential campaign as a coordinator and communications partner and to present a special television special request for former First Lady Michelle Obama for 2021. .

“One thing I have noticed for myself is how many different dreams and aspirations I have – a lot in the creative field,” said Clotti, a student at Dawit de Eisenhower High School on Blue Island. I grew up without having too many obstacles in my mind.

Looking back, Clotti recalls a conversation she had with a high school student who dreamed of going to the film industry. She says she never followed his wishes, and he never chose something more practical. In her mind, she could not understand why he did not go. The young man finally shares his reasons for quitting his dream There is no way to take care of a dying family and go to film school or invest in film equipment.

“Until I came to the University of Chicago and sat down at the time of the outbreak, I didn’t know how much that conversation would affect me,” she said. He graduated from law school and entered sociology. Now, in the fall, she is looking forward to working as a program administrator at the Graham University School of Liberal and Professional Studies at the University of Chicago Graham, which will help develop a new leadership development curriculum.

“One thing I have in common is my desire to promote and highlight unrepresented voices and creators,” she says. “I’m still wondering how I really want to do it.”

As an undergraduate, Clotti combined her advocacy interests as a board member and president of the Black Students Association. Under her leadership, she began organizing the annual Black Convention, a celebration of black students. Policies affecting black and brown communities.

“I was so inspired by black culture,” says Clotti. “That is my model for this business. I looked at the fashion industry and many family names and saw how white it was and thought it was important for black people and unrepresented people to put their names on things and let them know where it came from. . For me, this (focus) was a project of embracing my own heritage and embracing my identity and identity and being black and proud of this.

I have created a complete line based on the work of Ntozake Shanghai, “For Colorful Girls / When the Rainbow is Enuf”. For me, the agency I had to express myself and the interaction with the activities that inspired me and I think it was amazing.

T’Kor Couture’s rich colors require a sense of comfort, playfulness, and pride in images that fit and shape. Clottey’s Enuf collection is about black women for their strengths, and Clottey’s Crown collection features a crown on items. She was inspired by Jane-Michel Basque. Music, literature, art, politics, and classical fashion are deeply ingrained in black culture.

“I admire fashion in all its forms, from the clothes people wear to their hairstyles, what accessories they sway or what tattoos they have. I like to pay attention to everyone. But at the end of the day, I want to raise blacks.

Reflecting on her conversation with the student in high school, Clotti said that this should not always be the experience of people of color. You can go for it. why? By supporting the system, working hard, and remembering why you are working.

Clotti says: “One of my favorite verses says, ‘If you don’t stop, it’s very hard to fall.’ “That’s why I like ‘for girls of color who think suicidal / when the rainbow is Enuf.’ It’s surrounded by people who don’t want anything. ”

drockett@chicagotribune.com