Lights, Camera, Fashion: How Zoba Martin Fuelled Her Passion In A Pandemic

By Jessica Powell

Last month, a recent study done by the Canadian Black Chamber of Commerce found that Black owned businesses are not fully supported and lack capital skills for advertising and promotion, personal development and mentorship, and securing and qualifying for capital. But continuing to face racial injustice on a regular basis as well as being one of the most infected minorities during the the COVID-19 outbreak, Black individuals continue to strive for better by letting their voices be heard and promoting their businesses.

One of the many business owners right here in Toronto who is taking the fashion industry by storm and putting her own spin on things is fashion designer Chizoba Udeh-Martin a.k.a Zoba Martin.

Born and raised in Nigeria, Martin moved to Canada in 2009 in which she spent time in Waterloo and went to University of Ottawa for four and a half years to study business.  Then she decided to try something new: fashion. 

“My passion for fashion kind of developed when I was younger. I knew I wanted to have a boutique, but I wasn't really sure what intricacies or what I needed to get started? I remember I watched my aunt make her wedding dress from scratch and my mom also went to fashion school,” said Martin. “So that was what got me into making dresses and when I got to university and I graduated, it just became clearer and clearer that I wasn't really a corporate person. I would rather be in the creative field because of the flexibility and I feel like I had more control.”

 After attending fashion school in 2014, Martin officially launched and started her brand in 2016. Being inspired by her roots, Martin’s design pays homage to her upbringing as well as modern trends whether this be seen through patterns, choice of fabric, cut outs, or simply the beading on a wedding veil. Her work continues to inspire women to feel beautiful and empowered, while being a trendsetter. But even though this process was familiar for her, that doesn’t mean she never faced lack of inspiration.

“It takes time and effort to design a piece. You want to make sure it's something that really stands out and stirs inspiration. It doesn't just come like that. Sometimes you don't have intuition or inspiration, which is why I think the designing stage is underrated, so for me to gather inspiration, there are times where I don't go on Instagram for a while just so I can have fresh ideas in my mind and not replicate other people's designs. So developing a design easily is the biggest misconception I think people have of this business.”

After making debuts at fashion shows and gaining clients through word of mouth, COVID-19 has forced her and so many small business owners to continue to struggle to make ends meet, something Martin didn't see coming.

“When lockdown first started, I thought it was going to be for two weeks. I did have a lot of orders I had to fulfill by April for wedding guests, but then it became real and there was a lot of uncertainties forcing people to not move forward with a project, asking for refunds, or not even paying a deposit. So that was hard, especially like when you're looking at your numbers,” Martin said. 
But instead of focusing on the negatives, Martin forged her own path.

“I just had to detach my mind from what could go wrong and I focused on what I could do in the meantime, which was make a mask collection, in which I donated some, and started teaching sewing classes on Zoom. You can check out my website www.zobamartin.com and you’ll see my collections as well as recent mask collection and my sewing classes are under shop in which shows classes offering three hours or you can have an entire package of 25 hours one-on-one with me tailored to your specific needs,” said Martin.

Although we are living in tough times, that should not stop anyone from pursuing their dreams and aspirations. Martin encourages those looking to get into the fashion business to take a leap of faith. 

“You have to have a lot of patience and you have to be willing to learn and be open-minded. I continue to learn from my students and clients on a daily basis and sticking to that has helped me a lot. Just because you may have experience in this field doesn't mean you can't learn something new. There may even be times when you tell people your prices and they scold you. Don't take that seriously because you know your worth and you know how much work you put in, and the value of it. Keep pushing!”
To learn more about Zoba Martin, follow her on Instagram @zobamartin and check out her website: www.zobamartin.com