When I wore a Diarrablu dress to celebrate Thanksgiving, everyone the beautiful wrap design, dramatic sleeves, and bold print made quite a splash.
When I told my friends and family the pattern was generated by a math equation and designed by a Senegalese woman who lost her memory and nearly died on her path to becoming a designer, they wanted to know the whole story, naturally.
I'm guessing you're intrigued now, too, so voila: Diarra Bousso's evolution from math nerd to Wall Street bond trader to creative math teacher and fashion designer—and how she nearly lost her life along the way.
And no, she doesn't plan on choosing between the math and fashion any time soon.
"I almost feel like it's too good to be true, that I can do both things," Bousso told me. "Not just for me—the fashion brand is uplifting entire communities and artisans and providing jobs. And my work in education and research is getting kids to care and learn and be successful."
Her arrival at this poised position didn't come easy. The fulcrum of Bousso's story is a life-threatening accident in 2012 when she was 23 that left her paralyzed and with no memory. The event was precipitated by a bout of severe depression, and in Senegalese culture at the time, Bousso says mental health was considered embarrassing and not discussed openly. Hence, she kept much of her story private.
But with nearly eight years of recovery and perspective behind her, plus her current success as both a high-school math teacher and a designer (she's currently a designer-in-residence at Fashion Incubator San Francisco)—she's ready to share.
"It took being a teacher to realize the importance of mental health and the need to share it openly and ask for help when needed," Bousso said. "In my case, I fell into depression while working on Wall Street because I had chosen the wrong path and was miserable and felt no purpose. I didn't know what depression was, in my culture we never talked about such a thing."
Bousso is private about the specifics of the accident itself, although she's certain her depression caused it. Her art, fashion, and, surprisingly, Tumblr, all played a role in her journey to recovery.
As a teen, Bousso was a bright student who wanted to be rich. She also wanted to be a cool, respected artist and fashion maven, inspired by her stylish mother who designed most of her own wardrobe using fabrics collected from travels around the world. But no one in Bousso's family believed art was a viable career path. It was a fun hobby, and she was a gifted painter inspired by Picasso and cubism. But art wouldn't make her the earner she impatiently dreamt of becoming.
At 16, she declared to her parents that she was bored with school in Senegal and wanted a challenge. She informed them she'd be moving to Norway as one of just three students accepted by United World Colleges (she'd applied without her parents' knowledge) to study in the Nordic country. They said she was too young—she could go abroad for college in France after graduating high school, the natural progression for a smart Senegalese student.
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