17 Jul Crisis X FEL – Gabriella’s Inspiring Story

FEL learner Gabriella Rolls hit hard times when she was unexpectedly made homeless and suffered a nervous breakdown last year, fortunately she was able to find support from the charity Crisis and gain a new direction by attending Fashion-Enter Ltd’s Stitching and Pattern courses.

Here’s her story…

“I was made homeless in October 2022 after an illegal eviction took place, I found myself sat on all my possessions in black bin liners, with no home in London, no savings and nowhere to go. 

“I spent two-weeks sofa surfing. The council were not able to help me but Streetlink were, and they put me in touch with Crisis who took me under their wing into the Crisis at Christmas hotel in Greenwich. 

“It was here I met my support worker Sydney, after some time together, listening to my story they were wonderful and worked very hard and rapidly to make sure I was housed. In the meantime they helped fund me into temporary accommodation. 

“It was in this extremely dark, confusing and scary time that I found solace in designing and bought along a sketch to a meeting: I was then introduced to the education team who saw I had drive and the dedication to study. The women from the education team explained how this new avenue was opening up and that I would be the perfect candidate for yourselves (Fashion-Enter Ltd). 

“It’s through the consistent support of the charity financially and personally that I was able to attend and prosper in Level 1 Stitching and Level 2 Pattern Making. It’s been a wonderful experience and I’m excited to embrace the opportunity and future that I now see available to me. 

“Crisis has a stories team, I was contacted by the team to put forward my story to the public to show how my story could help other women all over the country access education and full-time employment. Additionally it could achieve a higher level of funding from the government to boost this scheme and add weight. 

“I am still going through the process currently so my story hasn’t quite finished yet, and I have been accepted for full-time support from Crisis and hopefully will be able to access the Changing Lives grant that will allow me to start my own business.”

At Fashion-Enter Ltd we are proud to offer a variety of courses and opportunities for individuals from a broad range of backgrounds, and members of the education team have been trained in Mental Health Wellbeing First Aid. 

On 1st July, Gabriella and her mother visited the FC Designer Collective shop to attend the Sample Sale and to host a career and mentoring meeting with Ana and Gee. Gee spent an hour explaining and advising on the importance of skills attainment and outlined the various apprenticeship programs that are delivered by FEL’s FTA.  This included Product Technologist Standard and also the Fashion Studio Assistant route. 

Both Ana and Gee then disused the different levels of stitching and pattern courses before Gee providing an hour on the different career paths and jobs that occur with in fashion and buying for retailers and e-tailers. Gariella was delighted with the advise and was so keen to support the career and mentoring program delivered by FEL she was prepared to go on video to discuss her story. 

Gabriella is now set to continue her fashion journey with a year-long course at Waltham Forest College this September and she is a shining example of a person that, with the right help and support, has really turned her life around. We wish Gabriella the very best of luck and we can’t wait to see how she develops her creative design skills to start her own business.

Tap here to view a short YouTube interview video with Gabriella.