4 young black designers who are slaying at major fashion events and deserve a mention

LaQuan Smith…Long Island Pulse Magazine

LaQuan Smith

RELATED STORIES

At 12, this West African slave became the first African-American female poet of the 1700s

Gwendolyn Brooks, the poet who became the first African American to win the Pulitzer Prize

Africa's tallest statues that are true works of art you should know about

The unending courage of Wole Soyinka whose stint in prison in 1967 made his writing even louder

The 30-year-old Queens, New York native had his first major break when he featured his “Water Goddess” line in February 2010.

Smith didn’t let a dream deferred, railroad his aspirations. In 2005, he applied to the Fashion Institute of Technology and Parsons School of Design and was not accepted to either of the famed institutions.

He took the supposed rejection as a stepping stone and instead, interned at the New York Magazine BlackBook. It was there he received the opportunity to work with fellow designer, Elizabeth Sulcer.

Dreams do come true.