Creating Clothes for a Cause

Emma Bush was always running around in clothes her mom and grandma would make for her. So it wasn’t a big surprise to anyone when Emma learned how to make her own clothes and accessories from the early age of six.

“I’ve been doing that for a long time, sewing, making jewelry, and art and different things,” Emma said. “All of my interests kind of collide as far as handiwork.”

Emma Bush, shopping for supplies.

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It didn’t occur to her until she was around fifteen that she could do something with these amazing skills. After realizing she didn’t want to be a dentist due to her disdain for spit, she started looking for other avenues that would eventually lead her to where she is now. The owner, sole creator, and designer of the clothing brand ‘Soapbox Clothing for a Cause.’

“I was doing alterations for people in high school so I had the art and everything,” she said. “I was just like, ‘okay, let’s see about making clothes’. By the time I graduated, and I went to community college, I was like we’re gonna do fashion design. That’s gonna be my major.”

During a spring fashion show in college, Emma used the name ‘Soapbox Clothing’ for the first time when she signed up to show a collection of items. She was so proud of her collection and has people remember items from it to this day.

From a shoot for Soapbox Clothing. Two looks Emma made. (Photo by: Raina Bowers)

“It was a really good collection, it was all like these satin slip dresses and they were really pretty,” she said. “People still, every once in awhile, will be like ‘oh you made that like silver dress’. Cause I had this like six-foot tiny like supermodel girl wear it, and that was cool.”

Her clothing is now in full swing and she can hardly find time to do much of anything else. Yet while she is making clothes and building her own company, she is also using the proceeds to donate to charities and initiatives that she believes it.

“I don’t have free time because I’m doing this all the time, and I love it, which is great,” Emma said. “It’s not something that I’m just pushing to the side. It’s something I genuinely want to build.”

She donates to causes such as the Honeybee Conservancy, Fund for the Children of Flint, Michigan, PLanned Parenthood and many others. As an outspoken feminist and activist, she knows that talking about problems and having open discussions is only half the battle. To help, she makes sure she is helping causes she knows helps others.

“If you like my stuff you’re gonna be benefiting these various things I believe in,” she said. “So like, women’s rights, Black Lives Matter, the environment, all these different things that I’m gonna try and fuel, that I believe in.”

Oftentimes, Emma collaborates with other local artists for photoshoots, pop-ups and other opportunities. Even though she has had a few people try and take advantage of her along the way, it hasn’t stopped her from working with others and joining in the creative Phoenix scene.

“It’s kind of a wild thing to sit down and go, ‘oh wow, I’m so much more capable of making things and ideas and everything,’” she said. “Now I’m bringing other artists into it and it’s great and it’s all so good. Very fulfilling.”

Starting her business has not been easy. In the past, she has had people use her to get free products in exchange for little-to-nothing in return. Like many people starting a business, though, she has learned the value of her time and her products and is now able to navigate through those who really want to help out and work together from those who just want a free shirt.

“I’m placing more value on myself, which is healthy and great,” Emma said. “I’m not sending out free things because you know, I worked really hard to make this. It’s not super difficult to be nice and open to other people. So, if people want to make an effort, they will, and if they don’t, forget em.”

Photo of Emma.

Emma works hard to follow what she believes in and is able to do it all by following her passion. As her company grows, we are sure many people will be wearing and supporting her!

“Stand, not by your own, but by yourself on what you want to do,” says Emma.

You can follow Emma and see all of her fabulous merchandise on Twitter and Instagram.

ALSO, you can check out her website here!

Still want to know more about Emma and starting a business? Click here to listen to the full episode!

Thank you so much, once again, to our follower and supporters! It means a lot to us!

Publishing Without Anyone's Permission

Raise your hand if you have ever felt silenced before. If you’re anything like us, you probably have. Maybe it was in a classroom, in a relationship, in your family, or even just in general when you are trying to join a conversation. Well, you’re not alone.

“I first started making zines in my last semester of college, because I was studying journalism and I felt like I had no place to publish what I was really passionate about,” said Charissa Lucille, a self-published zinster, owner of the Wasted Ink Zine Distro and organizer for the Phoenix Zine Fest.

(Check out/listen to the full podcast here! Or just keep reading as well, reading is cool.)

After pursuing a degree in journalism Charissa felt her writing was stifled, like she couldn’t take a chance writing anything that could be considered an opinion. You aren’t supposed to have an opinion when you are a journalist and and four years of being told to keep it to herself, she had had enough.

“I didn’t feel like there was any place in the local news outlets that would be a good fit for what I wanted to write about, you know that was very activism focused, that was very intersectional,” she said. “There was not a lot of opportunities to have that work published.”

So she decided to take her voice back into her own hands. She started working on her first zine her last semester of college.

For those who may not be familiar, a “zine” is a self-published magazine that can contain any topic, style, color or design it wants. It is usually created by an individual or a small team of people.

“It is introspective. It is diving deep and kind of uncovering all the parts of me that I might not think are all that important or story worthy, but there’s always another person that connects to those stories,” she said.

Most of Charissa’s zines follow the topic of feminism and, in recent years, have a focus with photography and prose in the publications. Her zines are personal and reflective of her own life.

“My next zine that I’m working on is actually a zine about endometriosis and the surgery that I had earlier this year about that,” she said. “So, again, they’re more educational, they’re more personal. They’re not fiction in any way.”

Her zines have blossomed from something she was just doing in her freetime to a passion project she just couldn’t keep quiet about. She has now made about 15 zines (some collaborative projects, some individual) since beginning four years ago.

“I think it’s good to just try and make those connections by just telling your story,” Charissa said. “And I think so far just working on this project [the Distro], it’s really made a lot of people reach out to me and tell me their own story, which is really beautiful.”

Three years ago, Charissa opened up the Wasted Ink Zine Distro in Phoenix where she started building a library and collection of zines from around the world. Walking into the distro is like stepping into a time capsule (a capsule with an adorable octopus painted on the wall). It now houses over 250 artists with some zines going all the way back to the 80’s.

“I think holding that space a very interesting challenge and learning process, and I’m definitely not done learning,” she said.

On top of running the distro, Charissa also hosts various workshops for the community and helps to organize the Phoenix Zine Fest. Like any good leader, Charissa has made it a priority to make the space a welcoming one.

“We have so many people making their first zines ever, which is wildly exciting,” she said. “And I’m always inspired by the new stuff that comes in. It’s still such a newish community that we’re really shaping and kind of nudging what it looks like, and again, how we conduct ourselves and how we set our goals and invite more and more people.”

With so many young, vulnerable and interested individuals who attend these things, she knows just how important it is to make them feel they can speak up.

“Every person who walks through the door matters,” she said. “Every single person. Because it is, it’s an act of bravery to go into a space you’ve never been to before, and to participate, especially if it involves creativity… everyone that walks through the doors I applaud, because it’s so brave to enter a new space.”

Charissa says she knows how important it is to carry a diverse voice within the distro, because it should be a space for everyone. She continues to grow and develop the zine community in Phoenix despite any challenges that are thrown her way.

“Sometimes I’ve encountered hate because of the content that is published in my feminist zines,” she said. “And that’s fine. Like, you can tweet at me all you want. I don’t care. I will be focusing on programming here and to try and continue to bring people together and inspire storytelling through zines. I think those are my goals.”

You can follow Charissa and all of the amazing stuff she is doing on Twitter and Instagram.

ALSO, you can attend the Phoenix Zine Fest and meet her and a bunch of other really cool people (like us here at the podcast, we’ll be there) on October 28th!

Still want to know more about Charissa and self-publishing? Click here to listen to the full episode!

Thank you so much, once again, to our follower and supporters! It means a lot to us!