Born in the Mott Haven neighborhood in the South Bronx, Flora Montes grew up in the Mill Brook Houses, a part of the New York City Housing Authority that provides public housing in the city.
Raised by a teenage mother and a father who was an addict, Montes says her childhood was far from stellar. She left the borough with her two-year-old son in 1989 and moved to Connecticut. However, tragedy struck Montes after a pregnancy in her mid-30s. In 2001, her daughter died at birth, passing away in Montes’ arms. The terrible fallout from this heartbreak would eventually bring her back to the South Bronx.
“I wanted to make sense of my life and make sense of why this tragedy happened to me,” Montes, 57, says. “How do I have this little girl’s legacy remembered and how do I make my legacy remembered?”
Striving to pay it forward, Montes spent countless days stuffing all kinds of school supplies she bought herself — everything from pens to notebooks — into her jalopy of a car and driving around to hand them out to students in the South Bronx. She partnered with a local shelter and the Bronx Museum of the Arts to distribute the supplies. At the time, she also attempted to create a name for herself by starting a catering business for companies.
In 2012, Montes got a gig catering a Manhattan event for Latin Fashion Week, an organization with year-round events promoting Latin apparel and professionals. As she served food for attendees, Montes’ eyes began to lock in on the runway, the models and the clothing designs.
“I fell in love,” Montes exclaims.
She wondered why the Bronx didn’t have a similar event — so she set out to make one happen.
“[The fashion industry] wasn’t as inclusive as it should have been at that time,” she said. “I heard a lot of stories from models that were rejected because of their hair. Because it was curly. Bronx Fashion Week’s mission for me at that time was instant.”
In 2014, Montes created an organization she…
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