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Cassandra Casas Rojas
Born January 23rd, 1995, Cassandra Casas Rojas is a 27 year old fashion designer and the founder of the fashion brand CasasRojas. Although born in Monterrey, Nuevo Leon, Mexico, Cassandra lives in New Orleans, Louisiana.

Early life
Growing up, the dream or passion of becoming a fashion designer was never present. The goal was to become a neurosurgeon and be on the path to. As for hobbies while growing up, Cassandra participated in dance, cheer, and played sports Interest in fashion arose during her junior year of high school. Cassandra started looking for fashion schools and realized she had not had a portfolio ready since her initial career path and high school work was dedicated to becoming a neurosurgeon. She created her portfolio and applied to different schools.

Education
After high school, Cassandra attended the fashion school of Kent State University, where she received her Bachelor’s of Fine Arts with a fashion design minor in Entrepreneurship and Marketing in 2018. During her time at Kent State, Cassandra participated in various competitions and understudy activities. Amongst these competitions and activities, she studied abroad in Florence, Italy, won awards and networked where she gained recognition of herself and her work.

Awards
Throughout the years, Cassandra has gained a lot of experience in the fashion world while accomplishing many other things. Cassandra attended the International Youth Design competition of 2017 in Beijing, China, where she was the only one to represent her school. She was 1 of 30 finalists and 215 applicants from 15 countries. In April of 2018, while still attending Kent State, she was part of the Undergraduate Research Symposium in Kent, Ohio where she was awarded 2nd place of 400 finalists. That same month she participated in the Fusion Iffiti Student Design competition in Shanghai, China, where she was 1 of 45 finalists of 262 applicants from 12 countries. At this competition, she was also one of the two students representing her school. Still, in April 2018, she partook in the Kent State University Alchemy Annual Fashion School Fashion Show. Cassandra won the Niche Award while also being named the most innovative collection of 27. She was the fashion design finalist and winner. Later that year, in October 2018, Rojas competed in the International Youth Design Competition of 2018 in Beijing, China again. She placed 4th of 31 applicants from 15 countries and was once again the only one to represent her university. In March 2019, Cassandra participated in the iD Emerging Designer Awards in Dunedin, NZ, where she won the Therapy + Psychology Free to Be Me award while being one of the top five designers there. From March 2021 to October 2021, Cassandra’s work was exhibited in the Fashion Forward Disruption Through Design Exhibition in Dunedin, NZ, where she was one of 25 finalists.

Career
Cassandra Casas Rojas's career began in September of 2015 at the company The North Face, where she was a supervisor. She would provide excellent customer and assist them with what clothing product suits their needs best. While working at The North Face, she landed a fashion design internship at Fount in August 2016. In May 2018, Cassandra finished her internship and moved on from her supervisor position at the North Face. With her career just launching in September 2018, Rojas became an associate designer in her hometown of New Orleans, LA, for a company called Tasc Performance. While working full time, Cassandra launched herself as an independent designer in 2020 and launched her brand CasasRojas. In September of 2021, she got a promotion to become the Senior Fashion Designer and in December became a published designer from the Dunedin exhibition previously mentioned.

Original Design Work & Influence
Cassandra Casas Rojas has had her fair share of designs. She has also found her inspiration and has been influenced by many things. Rojas’s senior collection that displayed in the International Youth Design Competition of Beijing, China in 2018 named gLOBAL was inspired by global nomadism. The collection was based on a “on-the-go lifestyle” of a nomadic traveler. Individually, as a designer she always incorporates her origins such as her home town into her work. The inspiration for her own brand was womanhood, empowerment and uniqueness.

Brand
Despite her career at Tasc, Cassandra launched herself as an independent designer in 2020 essentially launching CasasRojas. Cassandra says that her brand is made to empower while also "standing behind diversity and integrity". She created CasasRojas to make sure that there was designer apparel that was accessible and attainable. The brand is inspired by womanhood, comfort, empowerment, prestigiousness. All the products from the brand CasasRojas are manufactured in the United States and Monterrey, Mexico. Rojas makes all the patterns herself while having someone else cut and sew them. The brand does not have a sponsor or invested, Cassandra and her family were the ones to fund the brand. The designer and the brand feature different collections with the most current one being the Spring 2022 #BeBold Collection. Majority of the collections emphasize her Women Suits Made Different theme. Cassandra explains that through womanhood, women tend to start their careers and essentially use suits or professional clothing at the cost of their comfort. Majority of her clothing items are unique women suits that can be worn by women to "prestigious events", as Rojas describes it.