It is with immense gratitude and joy that I announce that I am a recipient of the 2026 Vilcek Prize for Creative Promise in Fashion & Design.
The Vilcek Prize for Creative Promise honors immigrant professionals who have demonstrated exceptional early-career achievement, and includes a $50,000 cash prize to support the continued growth of their work. To be recognized in this way, as an immigrant designer, is both humbling and deeply affirming.
This recognition feels profoundly personal. I am here because of an immigrant woman — my mother — who came to the United States in the early 2000s on her own, carrying little more than determination and hope. She worked long days and often slept in hair shops, braiding hair tirelessly to save enough money to bring me and my brothers to America. I watched her hands move with quiet focus and discipline, turning labor into survival, care into possibility. That was my first exposure to craft. That was my first lesson in what it means to create something meaningful with what you have.
Those memories live inside my work. They shape how I think about materials, about touch, about repetition, and about dignity. Fashion, for me, has always been a language, a way to honor where I come from, to carry memory forward, and to make space for stories that are often overlooked.
At a time when many immigrant families are living with fear, uncertainty, and the threat of separation, this honor carries even more weight. It is a reminder that immigrant lives are not temporary, invisible, or disposable. That our labor, creativity, and imagination are deeply woven into the fabric of this country. That the sacrifices made behind closed doors, in kitchens, salons, factories, and homes, matter.
I am deeply grateful to the
@vilcekfoundation for uplifting immigrant voices and recognizing the cultural contributions we continue to make across the arts and sciences.
This prize is not just a celebration of my work, but a reflection of my family, my community, and everyone who has ever carried their home within them while building a life elsewhere.
Photos courtesy of the Vilcek Foundation.
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