Daytona Beach Woman Creates Own Mentoring Opportunity

By Belinda Hoyt, APD Northeast Region

After researching opportunities to learn about fashion design, and finding none at local colleges and schools, Mildretta Williams took matters into her own hands. She decided the best way to learn about fashion was to try it firsthand. She located a Daytona Beach family that owns two stores near her home. She asked her first contact, Abraham Thornton, also known as “Poppy,” about the possibility of coming into one of the stores to dress mannequins.

She then met with Poppy’s son, Bush Abdul, and explained that she needed a mentor to teach her about job opportunities in fashion design. Abdul, owner of two Moya Model stores, decided to let Williams experiment with fashion by dressing mannequins at the two locations. Moya Model carries clothing, handbags, jewelry, wigs, and other beauty and fashion accessories. The stores are located at 856 Orange Avenue and 1114 Mason Avenue in Daytona Beach.

Williams loves fashion and always dresses with lots of color and flair. She is very good at coordinating her clothing, shoes, jewelry, handbags, hair accessories, and hats. She found the dressing of the mannequins to be a bit of a physical challenge. She has cerebral palsy, lost the tips of some of her fingers to complications from scleroderma, and is a lupus survivor of 15 years. To raise awareness about World Lupus day, which will be on May 10, Williams dressed herself and a mannequin in purple.

Williams has not let any of her medical conditions keep her from volunteering with APD, the SNAP food program at a local community center, and answering the phone for disAbility Solutions for Independent Living. She will tell you that the more opportunities you create for yourself, the better chance you will have of finding employment that fits you.

Williams was recently interviewed by the Daytona Beach News-Journal. Visit http://www.news-journalonline.com/article/20150424/LIVING/150429740/0/search to read the article and learn more about her experience with lupus.

Mildretta Williams of Daytona Beach and a mannequin wear purple in observance of World Lupus Day. She is dressing mannequins to break into the fashion business.  Photo courtesy of the Daytona Beach News-Journal.