Loving Fashion and Living with a Chronic Illness

What does a love of fashion and a desire to empower people with chronic illnesses have in common? In the case of Keisha Greaves, this week’s guest all of the above are what inspired her to create her fashion line, Girls Chronically Rock.
 
On this week’s episode Keisha and I covered the day to-day realities of running an online product business, while living with a chronic illness, and juggling a part-time day job.
 
What this episode covers:

• What is Girls Chronically Rock?
• How Keisha came up with the name, Girls Chronically Rock and what motivated her to start it in the first place
• Who Girls Chronically Rock is for…not just people with chronic illnesses!
• Why Keisha wishes she started sooner on her business and how she feels like developing her confidence would have really helped
• However, coming to terms with her diagnosis of muscle dystrophy was a necessary first step for her before she started, and here’s why…
• The story behind how Keisha’s partnership with the Muscle Dystrophy Association came to be
• Why Keisha’s most valuable word of advice for organizations thinking of partnering with related charities is to take the initiative to reach out, share your story, and figure out what the organization is all about…
• How telling your own personal story can make a huge difference when reaching out to a charity you want to partner with
• How Keisha first got involved in the MDA Muscle Walk
• How Keisha uses the MDA Muscle Walk to get the word out there about her business and how launching her website made spreading the word a lot easier
• Why motivation/ encouragement from other people is what Keisha believes is the most important for those who run businesses with chronic illnesses… especially on days when you feel the most tired.
• Why she believes that people with chronic illnesses shouldn’t let feeling tired stop them. Even just posting a meme can go a long way!
• How strong the disability community is on social media and how just a hashtag can go a long way
• The support groups Keisha is part of both muscle dystrophy focused and not
• The Boston Business Women’s Network group that Keisha is part of, and how it has benefited her
• The Boston fashion community: what her impressions are of it…
• Keisha’s goal to get her products into local boutique stores, how she’s currently working towards that…
• The design process for Keisha’s T-Shirts and graphics…
• What making the switch from Etsy seller to self-hosted website has been like…
• Why Keisha loves Shopify especially as someone who isn’t tech-savvy
• Keisha’s collaboration with a PR person, and how they have helped her pitch her clothing line to local stores…
• The flexibility of Keisha’s part-time day job, and how she juggles both aspects of her professional life.
• Some of the people in the chronic illness community who are also juggling stuff like speaking engagements: why they motivate Keisha to keep pushing forward and balance all aspects of her professional life
• Why fun, inspiring, and rocking best describe Keisha’s business
• Keisha’s interest in making a line of Girls Chronically Rock clothing for the gym, while doing partnerships with other fashion designers who want to create an adaptive clothing line. 

​Just a little background on Keisha (from Keisha’s point of view, thus the first-person tense) 
 I have Limb-Girdle Muscular Dystrophy (MD); I was diagnosed at the age 24. I was born and raised in Cambridge, MA and went to high school in Cambridge. I received my bachelor’s degree in Fashion Design and Merchandising and then got my master’s degree in Business.
 
While in graduate school I began to repeatedly fall, and my leg would just give out on me without notice. I would fall to the ground and not be able to pick myself back up, I would need assistance from someone to lift me up with all their might, because it was something I just wasn’t capable of doing on my own.
 
I also began notice when I tried to reach for certain things in the kitchen cabinets or try to exercise I was unable to lift my right arm up all the way.
 
I kind of just thought to myself maybe I need to go on a diet and lose weight, but in the back of my mind I knew it something more and after getting all the different testing done, I was officially diagnosed with Limb Girdle Muscular Dystrophy.
 
I always wanted to be a business owner and create something in fashion, so I started with a t-shirt line. Because I always like to wear different graphic logo t-shirts with different writing on them and wanted something inspiring.
 
That’s when I came up with the name Girls Chronically Rock because I wanted it to have some form of the name chronic in it for chronic illness, so I thought of Girls Chronically Rock and I loved it.
 
Girls Chronically Rock was inspired by my own experiences, because I was diagnosed with Muscular Dystrophy and wanted to create something to help motivate, encourage, and let people know you rock and you can accomplish anything you put your mind to.
 My t-shirt line consists of many different designs/logs with multiple meanings behind it. I add about a few different designs every month or so with a new look to see what customers may like best.
 
Each month 10% percent of proceeds go towards the Muscular Dystrophy Association.
 
Where you can find Keisha Online:
 
Check out the official Girls Chronically Rock Website (for more info): https://www.girlschronicallyrock.com/
Give Girls Chronically Rock’s Facebook Page a “like”: https://www.facebook.com/GirlsChronicallyRock/
Follow Keisha’s work on Twitter: https://twitter.com/girlschronical1
Keep up to date via Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/girlschronically_rock/
 
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