It is not a passion, it is a legacy

• Alexis Wilson-Eniss making waves in custom designing

Alexis Wilson-Eniss is on a mission to become Linden’s leading custom designer and is confident that with her determination and self-driven attitude, she will accomplish this goal sooner than later, given the incredible strides she would have made since establishing her business in 2015. As she said, custom designing is not just about taking orders and fulfilling them, but about building a legacy with her creative, unique and artistic designs. ‘For me I think this is my passion, that is the reason I named it passion’s legacy, it is not just a passion, it’s a legacy. I feel that based on my love for it, I put that into my work and people would see that coming out in my work,” Wilson-Eniss said, when she described her business, “Passion’s Legacy”.

Located at West Watooka, Passion’s Legacy provides a plethora of custom designing services for clothing, personal and corporate items. Utilising fabric paint and vinyl along with other materials, Wilson-Eniss brings plain products to life, more so by putting her passion into the work she does. This operation has its genesis since she was a little girl and has now blossomed into a business operation, which she is able to feed her family with the income garnered. “I like craft since small days, I would get cloth and stitch skirts and tops with my hands, then I would buy fabric paint and do designs on them. My friends started liking it and I then started doing students’ SBAs for them,” she related to INFO 10.

IN 2014, Wilson- Eniss participated in an entrepreneurial programme with US-AID SKYE and after completion, was given a grant, which she used to purchase a heat press machine and a vinyl cutter. “Things started slow but it picked up and then US-AID SKYE asked if I want to extend my business, I said yes and I was given another grant which I used to buy a bigger machine to do the cutting as well as a t-shirt printer and the business just got bigger and better. I now do t-shirts, mugs, cups and so much more,” she said.

As any other entrepreneur, managing a business can be challenging, especially as the clientele grows. She has not allowed these challenges to deter her, but to perfect her skills so as to meet all the demands, which has enabled her to provide both quality and quantity to customers. She utilises social media platforms to advertise her business and has set the goal to expand even further over the next five years.  “When I first started, I started in the house, now I have my shop which was finished last year, it has more space and I am enjoying it. It makes me picture the days when I will have another location on the Mackenzie shore, which would be more accessible to everyone.”

 In addition to custom designing, the entrepreneur also recycles old denim jeans into fashionable bags, which have been sold out to particularly Georgetown clients. The strong, spacious and fashionable bags can be used for various purposes. Looking back, Wilson-Eniss said it took courage to transform her hobby into a business and to keep it going every day. During the pandemic, she has seen many young entrepreneurs like herself, struggle to keep their head above waters but that small window of opportunity to not drown, she said must be taken. This has been her motto since she began and she encourages every other small business owner, to not focus on all the negatives, but only the possibilities, even if it is a few.  “For me I would say just go after your dreams,  before I started the programme I was one month from the cut off age, I was this close to not getting into the programme but I did and I pushed and I pushed to get there even to when I got the grant, there were a lot of negative feedback the business would not make it but I always say if out of 100 per cent you only see 20 per cent chance of possibility, then hold on to that 20 per cent and I tell that even to that young person, that it proves that it could happen and you keep holding on because holding on is what have me here today,” she said.