By Gorkem Sifael
Emilia Ohrtmann is a German designer and entrepreneur. Her passion for fashion and styling started at an early age, but she was discouraged from studying fashion design because she did not have a natural talent for drawing.
ADVERTISEMENT“I was told that I could never make money from fashion design, so I should study something that will keep the doors open,” she told Euronews.
As a result, Emilia did Business Studies instead but her passion for designing clothes was reignited when she started working as a buyer for a large sportswear company.
“I was taking evening and weekend classes and learnt to draw, finally,” she said. Afterwards, she met another designer and started sewing and selling children’s clothes.
Emilia later moved to Dubai where she was approached and offered a number of different business opportunities, but initially found it difficult to take these on as she wanted to spend more time with her three young children.
“I had to find a way to do both, be a mum and work,” she said. Fortunately, she met many other women in Dubai who wanted to start their own businesses, so she spent the next six years helping them design their websites, as well as coaching them during the start-up phase of their businesses.
ADVERTISEMENT“Then COVID came and I started writing a book for my children. I wanted to give them something they can read, just in case I am not there anymore at some point.”
In her book It's Your Life: How to Choose Confidence, Emilia writes and tells her children to follow their dreams and follow their passion instead of listening to outside voices.
“That’s when I realised that I have always known what I wanted to do, but I didn't do it,” she said, and decided to start her own fashion line.
“I want to give confidence to women,” Emilia told Euronews.
From the sustainable fabrics that she uses to the minimalistic designs she creates, her goal is to help women feel more confident.
“When you feel more confident, you can follow your own passions and go for the big dreams and goals that you might have been putting off,” she said.
Emilia says she is now looking forward to taking more steps towards growing her dreams by expanding her business to the wider region from her new home in Dubai.
