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Mogul Mani-The Connector

@emanifigaro

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Christ Center Living
Creative Placemaking + Ecosystems
Helping creatives earn, learn & thrive
Founder @maisonmogulconsulting | MBA
ATL | CHI | Global

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16-year-old me would be GAGGED. 🥹

I gave up on modeling a long time ago. I genuinely thought that chapter of my life was over. Then in 2024, Miss @barbara_bates gave me an opportunity to step back onto a runway, and now, three shows later, I get to celebrate 40 years of her legacy right here in Chicago. That full-circle moment isn’t lost on me.

Miss Barbara, thank you. Not only for giving me an opportunity that helped me rediscover a part of myself I had put away, but for everything you have built and represented for women, Black creatives and this city over the last four decades.

Your story is one of creativity, longevity, resilience and service. Watching you continue to create while using your experience as a breast cancer survivor to advocate for and pour into other women is a reminder that what we survive does not have to define the boundaries of what comes next.

As a woman with my own story of survival, that resonates with me deeply. This weekend reminded me again: stop boxing yourself in. I am a strategist. A founder. A creative. An artist. A storyteller. And yes, I can still walk a runway too. God didn’t give us multiple gifts for us to decide only one of them is worthy of being used.

Sometimes you don’t outgrow a dream. Sometimes God allows you to put it down until the right people, the right purpose and the right season bring it back to you. And for me, Barbara was one of those people.

To have my third show with her be in my hometown, at Barack Obama Presidential Center, surrounded by so much Black history and excellence, celebrating 40 years of a Black woman building, surviving, creating and opening doors, I don’t take that lightly.

And I couldn’t help but think about my dad. I know he would’ve been so proud to see his daughter in this moment. Thank you, Miss Barbara, for opening the door that brought me back to something I thought I had left behind.

And thank You, God, for continuing to show me that I never have to make myself smaller to fit into one box. Every gift has its appointed time. taken in Barack Obama Presidential Center by @emanifigaro

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7 hours ago

Creating a Custom Hoodie with Personal Words + Colors

In this DRIP Lab student spotlight during @hailey.rodden art class at @nashfinearts , one of our young creatives walks us through a hoodie they designed and created themselves. Featuring the word “B-U-T,” their design was inspired by an idea they had seen before, then reimagined using their own words and favorite colors: blue, pink, white, green, yellow and brown.

That process matters. Young artists learn by observing, experimenting and asking: How can I make this mine? But experimentation requires resources. @chipubschools continues to operate below what Illinois’ own funding formula considers adequate funding. When we talk about education budgets and funding gaps, those numbers can feel distant until they reach a classroom.

That is part of why we collaborate with @geniuslabchicago on DRIP Lab. We believe creativity deserves infrastructure. Young people deserve opportunities to learn design, entrepreneurship and the actual economics behind bringing an idea to life. It is also why civic participation matters. Illinois’ 2026 General Election is November 3, and early voting is available across the state, with dates and hours varying by location.

Budgets can feel abstract until you see what $40, $60 or $100 actually buys in a classroom. Public investment at the ground level looks like supplies on a table, an instructor in the room and a young person with the resources to turn an idea into something tangible. Sometimes, that tangible thing is a hoodie. But what they’re really building is confidence, creative ownership and an understanding that their ideas have value.

Come see those ideas in person.

MADE ON THE WEST SIDE: YOUTH FASHION MARKET
Date: October 9 | Time: 6–9 PM
Location: Duo Starling | @thechicagofashionweek taken in NashElementarySchool by @emanifigaro

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16 hours ago

To add to the series on not burying my talents! A year ago around this time, God put something on my heart: document our stories.

That became The Rink Is Home 🛼, the beginning of my art archiving practice, using visual storytelling and documentary to preserve Black history, culture and the stories within our families.

When I started, I thought I needed to begin in Atlanta, at what I understood as the mecca of roller skating. I tried to build the story there, but I was told I couldn’t narrate or even interview some of the people because I “wasn’t a part of it.” Eventually, God had that entire plan fell apart.

But the whole time, my family had been part of this history. I was looking outside of myself for a story that was already living within my own family. God brought me back to the original instruction: Start with your family. Start with Chicago. Start with Uncle Gene.

Meet my Uncle Gene Cannon, born on the South Side of Chicago in the Stateway Gardens projects around 35th Street. I knew he loved roller skating. I didn’t know the history he carried. In this clip, he shares how, around 1962–63, he and other high school students helped build the FIRST skating rink in the low-ends with donations from skate and food companies, materials from contractors, and their own hands. The parking lot he’s in front of is the location of the original rink, right on 36th n Indiana, my condo is on 31st n Indiana!

When people say Black Americans “don’t have culture,” I think about stories like this. Through oppression, we created. Roller skating. Blues. Rock & roll. Hip-hop. Dance. We turned creativity into resistance, community and joy.

Chicago has its own rich skating history, including the birth of JB style. As this series unfolds, we’ll go deeper into my family’s story, skating, the Civil Rights Movement and the ways creativity has always been intertwined with our pursuit of freedom.

If you or someone you know has a story connected to roller skating, Chicago skating culture or this history and would like to be part of The Rink Is Home, comment below or DM me. 🛼

Chapter One: Uncle Gene Cannon.
South Side of Chicago.
The story starts taken in Chicago, Illinois by @emanifigaro

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3 days ago

PROUD MARY: BEYOND FIRST IMPRESSIONS

Sometimes it doesn’t start with violence. Sometimes it starts with an introduction. An opportunity. A mentor. Someone who believes in your work. And somewhere along the way, support becomes control. Access becomes leverage. Boundaries begin moving. And behavior that once felt like care starts feeling like something else.

Because grooming does not always announce itself. It can look like excessive attention. Isolation disguised as protection. Small boundaries being tested before larger ones are crossed. Financial support that becomes dependence. Professional access that suddenly comes with personal expectations.

And in creative communities, where work, friendship, mentorship, collaboration, nightlife, and relationships often overlap, recognizing those dynamics can become even harder. With more than 1 in 3 women experiencing intimate partner violence, sexual violence, and/or stalking in their lifetime, we need spaces to talk about what happens before abuse becomes obvious.

In recognition of Domestic Violence Awareness Month, @maisonmogulconsulting , @dagurlsbathroom , and @sarahs_inn are bringing women in Chicago’s creative community together for an intimate, living-room-style conversation about grooming, domestic violence, boundaries, power dynamics, warning signs, healthy relationships, and how we protect ourselves and each other.

This won’t be a traditional panel. We’re creating room to talk, listen, ask the uncomfortable questions, learn from @sarahs_inn, connect with resources, and leave better equipped to recognize the signs in our own lives and communities.

Location: Chicago | Private Location
Date: October 8 | Time: 6–8:30 PM
DM for guest list details taken in Chicago, Illinois by @emanifigaro

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3 days ago

Q3 was a season of planting seeds. I’m learning that not every season is meant for harvesting. Some are meant for sowing, some for being sown into, and some are simply about tending the soil without needing immediate proof that something is growing. This year has been about healing, but Q3 made me feel whole again. “To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven.” Ecclesiastes 3:1

After a Q2 where I poured into spaces that didn’t necessarily pour back into me, Q3 reminded me what it feels like to be surrounded by people, places, and environments that see me, value me, love me, and value the work too. There was a time to grieve, release, and heal. Now I’m learning there is also a time to rebuild.

This year, God also challenged me to pivot. For three years, I knew the work I was doing, how to execute it, and what success looked like. This year, He pushed me toward creative placemaking, community building, and thinking more intentionally about the ecosystems we create. Leaving what you know before you can fully see where you’re going is uncomfortable, but I’m learning not to dig up the seed just because I can’t see the flower yet.

I think about community like a garden. Sometimes you have to pull the weeds taking nutrients from the soil, replenish it, cultivate it, plant again, and give it time to grow. That’s what Q3 felt like for me and @maisonmogulconsulting : tilling the soil, pouring into new spaces and allowing new spaces to pour back into us. When you’re in an unknown season, it’s easy to look backward for confirmation. I’m learning instead to trust God with where I’m going. I don’t need to see the harvest to know the seeds are worth planting.

Q3 wasn’t about the harvest. It was about making sure the soil was good. Healing prepared the ground, wholeness gave me the courage to plant again, and faith is teaching me to trust God with what grows next. taken in Atlanta, Georgia by @emanifigaro

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4 days ago

September was filled with showing love and receiving love! Our blessings in life aren’t material but the people we get to share it with! Praise God for those that he’s placed into my life that love unconditionally and whom I can love unconditionally!

Christ is love! We are love! Love is life! 💕🫶🏽✨🙏🏽 taken in Atlanta, Georgia by @emanifigaro

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5 days ago

birthday recap ♡ there weren’t nearly enough pictures to capture all the little moments, but maybe that’s what made it so special. too busy living, laughing, loving & taking it all in by @emanifigaro

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5 days ago

Made on the West Side: Youth Fashion Market at Chicago Fashion Week

This is what we mean when we talk about community investment and creative infrastructure. This relationship started in 2024 with a simple ask from @hailey.rodden : Can we create more opportunities for my students?

And the community showed up. What started with one teacher advocating for her kids has grown into years of creatives, entrepreneurs, organizations, and partners continuing to pull up, pour in, and open doors for Nash Elementary students.

That’s community investment. Not just showing up once, but building relationships, sharing resources, creating access, and coming back. And that’s creative infrastructure: creating the pathways that allow young people to see creativity not only as something they love, but something they can build a future around. Now that simple ask has grown into Made on the West Side, bringing @nashfinearts students into @thechicagofashionweek through a youth fashion market and an opportunity to experience fashion, entrepreneurship, and the creative industries beyond the classroom.

Flowers to @hailey.rodden for being persistent about what her students deserve. The beautiful part of this story is that she kept advocating, and the community kept answering.

Thank you to @nashfinearts , @geniuslabchicago , @rocity , @_blackpearlarts , @starlingbyduo, @drinkmondaycoffee , @thechicagofashionweek , and @maisonmogulconsulting for continuing to build with us.

Thank you to our guest instructors who have been showing up since August to help the students get ready for their market! Thank you for your time, support, and love you’ve poured into them: @knottyloop, @v.a.b, @daniel.hurtt, @patchpartyclubofficial, and @jbfromchicago!

This is the work. This is community investment. This is creative infrastructure. Building the relationships, resources, access, and opportunities that give the next generation real pathways to earn, learn & thrive.

Date: October 9 | Location: @starlingbyduo
Register via the link in the bio.

#chicagocreatives #chicago #creativeentrepreneur #chicagoyouth #explorepage✨ taken in Chicago, Illinois by @emanifigaro

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6 days ago

When we say community investment, this is what I mean. Creative infrastructure isn’t just about events. It’s about relationships and creating pathways for the people coming after us.

In 2024, while Ike and I were Chicago leads for Future Forward, for @thewhitakergrp and we learned that @hailey.rodden was looking for support for her students at @nashfinearts . We jumped into action, bringing Chicago creatives into the school for career panels in 2024 and 2025. Somewhere along the way I told her, “We’re going to get these kids into Chicago Fashion Week.”

Since August, in partnership with @geniuslabchicago showing up EVERY week, working on this in silence, building curriculum, finding partners, securing space, and turning that promise into something real. Now, Made on the Westside is officially part of the @thechicagofashionweek lineup and the only youth-centered programming on the schedule.

Adults can get so focused on getting OUR seat at the table that we forget we’re eventually phasing out of the game 😭. The bigger question is: who are we preparing to come after us?

I’ll never forget being told by people at LVMH in a pitch call that “there’s no money in kids.” Maybe through one business lens, but our future is in these kids. Matthew 18:10 reminds us not to despise the “little ones.” They’re watching us as photographers, artists, designers, entrepreneurs, and creatives thinking, I want to do that too.

Especially in the age of AI, who is teaching them the craft behind what they see? And who is supporting teachers like @hailey.rodden who are already doing the work to expose them?
Thank you to @hailey.rodden @nashfinearts , @maisonmogulconsulting , @starlingbyduo , @drinkmondaycoffee , @rocity , @geniuslabchicago , @_blackpearlarts, @thechicagofashionweek and our creative + community partners for helping us build the road.

Thank you to our guest instructors who have been showing up since August to help the students get ready for their market: @knottyloop, @v.a.b, @daniel.hurtt, @patchpartyclubofficial, and @jbfromchicago!

Date: October 9 | Time: 6–9 PM | Location: @starlingbyduo
RSVP via the link in my bio or Chicago Fashion Week. taken in Chicago, Illinois by @emanifigaro

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6 days ago

#1 school for a #1 gyal. 💙🤍

20 years at the top? Proud to be a part of a sisterhood of Black women who dream boldly, move with purpose, and women who made a commitment to make choices that will change the world. And this Spelman gyal will forever talk her talk. taken in Atlanta, Georgia by @emanifigaro

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8 days ago

📦 BIG NEWS: @maisonmogulconsulting x @whenweallvote 🗳️

We’ve been partnering with @whenweallvote Pass the Mic to Gen Z campaign since July to make sure Gen Z isn’t just being talked about… we’re actually being listened to.

And the package just dropped. This one came with liberation inside. 📦

Because we can’t complain about the system if we’re not willing to participate in changing it.

Cost of living. Jobs. Healthcare. Housing. Gun policy. Education. These are real issues shaping our everyday lives, and policy helps determine what happens next.

That’s why this survey matters.

50,000+ Gen Zers have already spoken up across all 50 states + D.C. And we need YOUR voice in the data, goal is 500 by October 31st. What are you worried about? What needs to change? What do you actually want decision-makers to understand about our generation?

I’ll be in Chicago until Oct. 17, so if you see these stickers on da street… just know it was me. And our intern Lex is hitting Clark Atlanta, making sure ATL gets the message too.

It takes about 10–15 seconds. Hit the link in my bio + tell us what matters to you.

These ain’t just stickers. It’s a pack of liberation. taken in Atlanta, Georgia by @emanifigaro

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11 days ago

Sundays are for Christ, Sabbath, football, food, and fellowship! 🪽🙏🏽🫶🏽✨

“So you have sorrow now, but I will see you again; then you shall rejoice, and no one can rob that joy from you” John 16:22 taken in Atlanta, Georgia by @emanifigaro

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15 days ago