BPR Interview With Stacey Estrella

After each episode during Season 3, BPR will be requesting interviews with the "auf'd" contestant. We were happy to catch up with Stacey Estrella recently to learn more about her backround, her Mom and her love of shoes, among other things.

BPR: Stanford undergrad, Harvard MBA, successful career in High Tech, what possessed you to take up fashion design?

Stacey: I was raised by a single mother who had very limited professional options because she never went to college. She worked hard as a prison guard to provide for three children. That is no life for a woman or a young mother and I wanted more choices than that. Fashion was always my creative outlet from my earliest memories. But I also knew that it was a fickle industry and it appeared that privilege, celebrity and money were necessary to be recognized, not just talent. So I chose to create fallback options. The best way to do that was to get the best education I could and to develop professional skills that would always be in demand (i.e. strategy and marketing). So that's what I did. And, eventually, I did enough of that. And that's when it was finally time to pour my whole self into the development of my creative side that had waited ever-so-patiently to get out.

BPR: We note that you use your Mom�s maiden name. Can you speak to the influence and importance of your Mother to your life and career? Siblings?

Stacey: My mother is one of the strongest and most courageous people I know. She was also extremely strict growing up. This wasn't very "fun" at the time, but I'm truly grateful for it now. She taught me the importance of having a strong work ethic and a strong moral ethic. I have an older sister and a younger brother.

Click here to continue reading our interview with Stacey, including her thoughts about Tim Gunn, shoes, the judges and those pesky Parsons sewing machines!