Kayla Smith, an Honors Freshman Marketing student at North Carolina A&T State University, has taken the campus by storm with her fashion apparel line, KCubed. Smith learned to sew at the age of 12 and decided to take her talents to a new level upon entering high school and starting her own custom apparel shop. 

She didn't just make the common, traditional t-shirt. Smith's business specialized in graduation caps, sashes, cups, and even sweatsuits. After graduating high school, the Atlanta native decided to take her business from Georgia to her dorm room in Blair Hall. “As an out-of-state student, I knew I wanted to continue my business to help out with the cost of tuition,” said Smith.

Kayla Smith’s freshman year at North Carolina A&T was filled with orders,  and KCubed flourished instantly as she stepped foot on campus. Smith’s daily routine consists of checking her business' social media accounts for order requests around once or twice a day. By the end of the week, she gathers all of the order requests of the week and then begins to start her designs, purchase the apparel items, and work on all the orders at once to get the biggest yield. Due to her growing success, she’s set to launch the KCubed ambassador program in January 2022 to assist in spreading the word as well as help with the daily needs of her business. She wants to select 10 students of all classifications to represent an array of items from the KCubed shop so she can serve every student’s apparel needs for any occasion. 

As a college freshman student, maintaining a business, an ambassador program, and staying on top of honor-level courses can be overwhelming. Smith shares, “Time management is the biggest key in trying to have a school life and family/friends life.”

Smith also admits that running a business at this rate can be daunting, but her family and friends keep her rooted that this is going to help her reach her overarching goal of breaking into fashion. “My goal is to make 6 figures by junior year, branch out and get a warehouse in Greensboro, and hire a team to help.”

Due to the success of KCubed, she plans on eventually becoming a double-major in Fashion Merchandising and Graphic Design in spring of 2021 to get into coursework that can assist her in reaching her goal in developing KCubed. Kayla sets an amazing example in what it means to have a vision and act on it. She exhibits the tenet of pride that our Aggies possess.

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Kaylah Kelty is a Senior at North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University from Charlotte, NC. Currently, she is pursuing her B.S. in Journalism and Mass Communication with an emphasis in Public Relations. She focuses her craft in PR on the entertainment and travel sector.