So there’s a certified fly girl who’s been doing her thing behind the scenes for quite some time, designing, directing videos, and producing…

Vashtie Kola.
She’s young, she’s gorg, she’s doing big things, and…she’s Trinidadian! *pulls out the steel pan and starts humming “Trini 2 de Bone“*

Vashtie Kola, or “Downtown’s Sweetheart” as she’s often called, was born in Albany, NY and later moved to New York City where she attended the world renown School of Visual Arts to study directing/cinematography. After graduating in 2005 she landed a gig with Box Fresh Pictures as a Director. Simultaneously, she was also writing music video treatments which included rapper Common’s groundbreaking video for his song “Testify“.

A year later she was tapped to revamp Island Def Jam, but the creative powerhouse found her creativity suffered and shortly after decided to embark once again on her directing career. A job for an independent music video for Kanye West’s mixtape track “Us Placers” helped catapult her into the scene. Her work was a huge success as the video got over a million hits in one day on Youtube and landed her other directing gigs such as Solange’s “T.O.N.Y.” and Kid Cudi’s “Heaven at Night“.

As if she couldn’t get any cooler, Vashtie then started a series of monthly 90s themed parties titled “1992″ (which by the way is also hip-hop’s BEST year as many iconic albums hit that year like Wu-Tang‘s “36 Chambers”, Dr. Dre‘s “The Chronic”, Peter Rock & C.L. Smooth‘s “Mecca and the Soul Brother”–just to name a few–Das EFX, anyone? How about Fu Schnickens?). The parties which only played hip-hop tracks from the early 90s drew in the company of people like DJ Premier and Patrick Ewing and later led to being nominated for “Best Party” at the Paper Magazine Nightlife Awards.

Obviously the girl’s got style. She creates the perfect juxtaposition of tomboy and high fashion in all her looks so it was natural that she started a clothing line called Violette in 2008. The line is inspired by “a mix of opposite worlds: uptown and downtown, hip-hop and rock, feminine and masculine, casual and couture”. As Vashtie says of the line “Imagine if Louis Vuitton had a daughter who lived on the Lower East Side [of New York City]–she’d be rocking a luxury handbag and a fly pair of kicks. Her wardrobe would consist of rare designer items and delicate vintage pieces…”

A look from the Fall/Winter 2009 line:

View the rest and shop at violettenewyork.com.

And as if things couldn’t get any better, recently Kola became the first female to design a sneaker for Nike Air Jordan using her fashionable spidey senses to create her take on the Air Jordan 2. The lavender retro kicks hit stores October 2nd. Could we be seeing a mass exodus from 5 inch and up platforms? We’ll see…

If you learn nothing else from Vashtie it’s to follow your dreams and work hard at your craft. How many of us have degrees in subjects they don’t use? *raises hand* Or followed a corporate career path though your heart was in the arts? Know your following and do what makes you happy.

And for those of us wishing for a piece of that cutie pie Vashtie’s got going on…

Get like the fly chick with these duds:

More Asos…

~Danielle