Q&A with Sara Wagabaza

by Nathan J. Comp   Sara Wagabaza is living the dream. At 26, the Madison native is well on her way to a prosperous career in the fast-paced world of high fashion. As a lingerie designer for the Los Angeles-based Dream Girls International, Wagabaza is making big bucks, traveling the world, and keeping the bedroom a place where sexy rules. However, getting there wasn't easy. After graduating from Middleton High School, Wagabaza wasn't sure of what to do with her life. Once she set her sights on the fashion industry, Wagabaza looked for college programs in Madison, but she couldn't find any to her liking. With two brothers living in Los Angeles, she packed her bags and enrolled with the California Design College, landing the job with Dream Girls shortly after graduating. Wagabaza recently chatted with The Madison Times about life as a fashion designer and the importance of believing in yourself. TMT: What's the typical day like for a fashion designer? SW: The average day really varies. It's not like sitting around drawing pretty clothes all day. There can be some days when that happens; that's nice. But it's a lot of communicating overseas with factories in China. We do a lot of our product development in China, so all of our mass production is done there. It's a lot of back-and-forth, sending designs and sketches to China, getting your samples back, making sure the first samples are correct and that the whole package gets back to you the way you envisioned it. TMT: Who's your target market? SW:  Target market of Dream Girl, we are a lingerie company, so really, our target market is women 18 to anywhere up to 60-plus. On top of lingerie, we're also the leader in Halloween costumes. All of those fun, cute, schoolgirl-type costumes you see everywhere, we do those. Our market for that is pretty much young girls ages 20 through 30, but really, all women like to dress up for Halloween, so that really can go for any age range. TMT: You grew up in the Madison area and four years ago you left for Los Angeles. How did you arrive at that decision? SW:  It took me a few years after high school to decide what I wanted to do. Finally, it dawned on me that I should do fashion design, because I've always been interested in fashion, I've always known how to sew, I've always been a creative person. I looked into Wisconsin schools, but there weren't many options for fashion design. If you're going to do fashion in the United States, it's going to be either New York or Los Angeles. I wanted the nice weather so I came to Los Angeles. TMT:  Is the fashion industry pretty diverse? SW:  Oh yeah. In Los Angeles there's a ton of minorities. Not only are there African-Americans, you're working with Asians, Hispanics, you're really working with a nice handful of people. TMT:  For young girls, what advice do you have about pursuing dreams? SW: It's really just going after your dreams and knowing that there is always an option. If you really want something and are passionate about it, you're going to get it. Fashion design seemed like something that couldn't be attained for me, because it seemed so far away that it would never happen. But moving out here and going to school and experiencing all that I've experienced and working for the company designing lingerie, I've gotten to go to China, I travel, I design, I go to photo shoots. You just really have to believe in yourself and know that it can happen.