Inspire ME To Follow My Dream #2: Sofia Afrenie

Here we are again, with our new candidate for the Inspire Me project. This column Inspire Me was created to promote talented people from all over the world and to inspire other people who have talent TO DO what they LOVE and stop wasting any other minute on doing what others want from them. It is a big project, but i am sure that together we can create a community where people are not afraid to be amazing and show what awesome things they can do.

After this interview, Sofia Afrenie in collaboration with Estilo-Tendances will launch a Giveaway, so stay tuned, because you are about to win a really unique piece of clothing.

Before going forward with the interview, I must say a few things about Sofia and how I met her. We met through a best friend of mine and I was really amazed by how fast she responded to my project and in just a few days I went to see her atelier and to meet her in person. She is such a nice person, her work place is spacious and full of fashion pieces and I just felt drawn into a beautiful artistic life. We talked for like 2 hours and could have talked more if I did not have plans later that evening. She is outgoing, extremely friendly, opened to new ideas, new people, and new things. I loved the fact that although she is a known fashion designer in Timisoara, she acted as normal as ever, like she was just a girl with a passion and not someone really snobbish. I went home really content that I was given the opportunity to meet someone like her and not just because of her amazing work, but also because of her personality.

Now, it is your chance to meet her:

A few words about yourself

Hi there! My name is Sofia Afrenie and I live in Timisoara, Romania. It is really hard for me to describe myself, but I guess I could say I am like the girl next door.

What is your dream and when did it started?

I think it all started in high school, when I would help my mother from time to time with her clothing business. I learned then how to sew, how to design and I was drawn to this incredible world of fashion. Also, my father was a painter, so I was brought up in a family full of artists and of course when I decided to take the path of designing, my family supported me. My dream is to create amazing unique designs that girls like me would wear. I do not have a specific style, I like to try and experiment more styles and that is how I design.

Tell us more about what you do to

My business began when I was still in collage, I still remember sewing dresses for friends of mine in my rental apartment with my first sewing machine, then was when I made my first money from my passion. It was not easy, I switched a few apartments in the meantime, I took every opportunity that life offered me and I last year I had to decline lots of clients because I just did not have time to finish all the orders in time, because I was doing it all by myself. I am really content with how my business is growing, one step in front of another.

Why did you choose to follow your passion?

I must thank my family for it, because they always told me that in life you should follow your dreams and I had examples in my life that did it, so it made it so much easier. I will not say it was easy, or that it is easy, especially in our country, where people do not value fashion at a high scale. But I do not regret a thing; I go to work every day with a big smile on my face because I love what I do!

Is it important that people do only what they love?

I think it’s important to find the thing you are good at it and love doing it, even after 16 hours of working, even if everyone else is out partying and you still have hours of work to do. If you are not motivated by your passion, soon money will not be enough as a reason. So, yes, you should do what you love most.

What qualities a person must have in order to succeed with their own dream?

Ambition, determination, and hard work because in order to succeed you need to work work work…

What are your goals for the nearest future?

I want to get an assistant because I want to be able to accept all the orders that my clients want and for that I will need someone to help me. Also, 2014 might be the year with my online shop, who knows?!

When things so south, where do you find strength to move forward?

My boyfriend and my friends are very important to me, so they always have my back even if things do not work out.

Where do you get inspired from?

There are a lot of things that inspire me like the weather, a movie, a vacation, fabrics, artists. And I am very drawn to African and Asian culture and everything that is colorful and has nice prints and structures.