A Former Buyer Turns Designer

01 Jun 2011

A Former Buyer Turns Designer

Re: Ammara Yaqub (MBA 2005)

Topics: Career-Career Changes Entrepreneurship-General

While Ammara Yaqub’s (MBA ’05) first line of women’s clothing, AMMARA, won’t hit department stores until this fall, she’s already landed in Women’s Wear Daily for bringing fashionable apparel to mature customers at a lower price point.

“I felt there was a void in the marketplace,” Yaqub, 31, told WWD (February 3, 2011). “You go to the contemporary floors, and there’s great stuff to buy, but everything is skewed very young. You could go to the designer area, but you may not want to pay $2,000 for a dress.” So she has designed a line of clothes to fill a void for sophisticated women’s wear priced between $220 and $900.

Yaqub left an investment banking job in New York City in 2003 to attend HBS, where she unexpectedly changed her mind about returning to finance.

“My favorite experience at HBS was the field study that four of us did for Neiman Marcus,” she said. “Prior to this, fashion was a hobby. But after working on the field study, I knew I was going to have a career in fashion.”

Last year, after working in fashion sales and merchandising, she struck out on her own. “I’d always aspired to be an entrepreneur,” said Yaqub.

Featured Alumni

Ammara Yaqub

MBA 2005

Featured Alumni

Ammara Yaqub

MBA 2005

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