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“Anybody that wanted to place an order that day, they would get it the next day,\" she said. \"But it started growing so big, like their aunts would order, their moms would order, their little cousins would order, so then I started making like hats, then fanny packs, and then I started making outfits.”

Her products quickly gained traction not only through the school but also eventually to residents throughout the city. She eventually created her current brand, Emani Milan.

Now, with more than 38,000 Instagram followers and having made custom pieces for celebrities, including Cardi B and Megan Thee Stallion, Outterbridge -- who is also expecting two more crotchet vending machines to arrive in other locations -- says she thankful for the trials and hurdles in her life, because without them, she wouldn't be the crotchet influencer she is today.

It’s never a lost it’s always a lesson

In May of this year, in the midst of the pandemic and as her online boutique was booming with requests of 100-plus orders a month, Outterbridge suffered a broken leg. At that time, she thought being in a cast for six weeks would set her and the production back, but the downtime got her mind bubbling with ideas. With her own personal yarn line already out, Outterbridge dreamed up a yarn vending machine to distribute her line and engage with her customers.

“I released my yarn line on my birthday,\" she said. \"Two weeks later, my foot was broken. So, I'm in bed, depressed, just sitting down and thinking, like, how can I still get [customers] to purchase my yarn while being down and still [bring] a new experience to Emani Milan?\"

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A post shared by Crochet Influencer (@emani.milan)

Outterbridge asked her followers to either purchase yarn or donate to fund her idea for the vending machine. She received an outpouring of donations supporting her idea, and the funds she raised are slated for the three vending machines she plans to have scattered throughout the city.

\"Me being in the house for two months, three months straight could have messed me up mentally, but I didn't let it,” she said. “God just needed me to sit down and think of something new.”

With the success of her brand, her yarn line and now her vending machine, Outterbridge plans to build her company into a fashion empire while also helping other Black fashion entrepreneurs.

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A post shared by Crochet Influencer (@emani.milan)

Since she attended Cheyney University of Pennsylvania, a historically Black college and university (HBCU) and enjoyed the atmosphere of the Black culture, Outterbridge's dream is to move to Atlanta where she believes the city embodies that same energy. She hopes to run her own company while teaching others how to crochet. For her, crocheting was a reminder of a time in her life when things weren't so positive, but she evolved that experience into a victory.

“Take those Ls and turn them into Ws, period, because everyone loses, but it’s about how you win from that loss,\" she said. \"I wouldn’t know what I would be or what I would be doing if I didn’t know how to crochet.”

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