Breast cancer survivor and breast cancer awareness advocate, a Chicago legend, a fashion Goddess, a business owner, one of society’s most renowned clothiers, a dynamic speaker, a motivator, and is simply “cooler than a fan”.
Some call her a Black Warrior Princess…but her mother named her Barbara Bates.
Many may know Barbara for her timeless fashions, amazing runway shows, and by being amongst those given the opportunity to dress/style a few household names i.e. Sinbad, Ce Ce Winans, Bernie Mac, Michael Jordan, “Iron Mike” (Tyson), Val Warner, and the list goes on and on!
In the midst of being a style maven “leather Queen”, Barbara also survived breast cancer.
With a Stage Three diagnosis in June 2009, Barbara was in for the fight of her life.
While taking chemo, she would STILL come in to work… “gotta keep it movin”, she says. She states that she had to get into “survival mode”, because not only was she dealing with a terminal illness, to which there was no history of breast cancer in her immediate family, she was dealing with the fact that her youngest son was facing 19 years in federal prison for a non-violent offense (conspiracy to distribute drugs).
In the midst of caring for her family, and running her business, she still managed to survive, and ultimately defeat breast cancer.
I call her the ‘Black Warrior Princess” because so many would have given up, let depression set in, and may have even stopped focusing on a reason to live.
That wasn’t Barbara. When you’re clear on your purpose, you fight for that purpose.
She continues with her fabulous fashion designing skills and this past August, she celebrated the 5th annual “Walk Where You Live” Breast Cancer 5K Walk/Run, sponsored by the Barbara Bates Foundation.
So she not only understands the importance of fighting for self, but she also understands the benefit of being in the fight for others dealing with this disease.
Listen…if you want to see a TRUE Black Warrior Princess at work? Take time to visit her website atwww.barbarabatesdesigns.com
Because of Who I Am LLC (BOWIA) is a company I founded in July 2018 that includes BowiaBrand products (a confident expression products company) and Khalade3 Publishing. Persevering through life’s ups and downs inspired me to start BOWIA as a way to share empowering ideas.
I believe despite my life experiences my spirit has not been broken in large
part because of who I am at the core. Each individual has “something” i
nside that keeps them going when life gets dark, but may have to
dig really deep to find it at times, and that is okay.
The idea for the name of the company came to me
over 13 years ago when life was pretty challenging.
At that time, I thought I’d one day write a book about my life experiences and
be able to celebrate how I made it through.
I am happy to report that life has gotten so much better since then. 😊🙌🏾
My plans have changed a bit and instead of writing one book I plan to self- publish
a series of Because Of Who I Am books with stories from people
detailing how they have been able to survive life’s challenges because of who they are.
Each of the items sold in the BowiaBrand store contains a confident expression
I use to keep me motivated.
BOWIA seeks to inspire individuals to be their authentic self, to find
their purpose and live life with confidence. BOWIA aims to make self-confidence the standard, not the exception.
