Amira Rasool’s journey began in South Orange, New Jersey, where she started a fashion blog and interned at prestigious outlets like V Magazine, Marie Claire, and Teen Vogue while studying African American & African Studies at Rutgers University. She later earned her master’s in African Studies from the University of Cape Town, which deepened her appreciation for African fashion’s diversity.
In 2018, Rasool launched The Folklore, inspired by her discovery of talented African designers during a trip to South Africa. Initially a curated e-commerce platform to bring these brands to U.S. consumers, she realized there was a deeper problem: lack of infrastructure to scale wholesale operations.
By 2022, The Folklore pivoted into a B2B wholesale platform, The Folklore Connect, designed to help African and Black-owned brands connect with retailers worldwide—overcoming barriers like high shipping costs, limited logistics, and absence of retail know-how.
Rasool quickly gained recognition, raising $1.7 million in pre-seed funding in 2022—making her one of the youngest Black women to do so.. In 2024, she further secured $3.4 million in a seed round led by Benchstrength, bringing total funding to around $6.2 million, which enabled a suite of brand support services: The Folklore Source, Capital, and Hub.
The Folklore offers:
- Supply chain support: reducing shipping costs from $50 to under $20 per item,
- Line-sheet and logistics assistance,
- A labor marketplace for freelance talent,
- Funding access via Folklore Capital,
- Educational resources through memberships priced at $39/month
For Rasool, The Folklore is more than commerce—it’s activism. She frames economic empowerment of marginalized entrepreneurs as a form of Black liberation: enabling designers to earn and grow on their own terms. By early 2025, over 400 brands were active on the platform, and major U.S. retailers—including Nordstrom, Bloomingdale’s, and Shopbop—stocked Folklore-listed brands.
Rasool is building a global fashion infrastructure: staging showrooms in New York, Paris, Cape Town, and more to showcase African talent during major fashion weeks. Her aim: to expand presence in global retail and help designers gain sustainable, cross-border visibility.
Amira Rasool stands at the intersection of fashion, tech, and cultural advocacy. Launching The Folklore from a journalistic impulse to curate African aesthetics, she evolved it into a full-fledged wholesale platform enabling tangible growth for emerging brands. Through smart funding, strategic services, and unwavering belief in cultural representation, she is building the infrastructure that connects global consumers and retailers to African designers—transforming fashion into economic empowerment.
Image Credit: Essence
