Walk into Nina Cherie Couture in downtown Spokane and you’ll feel two things at once: elegance and grit. Owner, designer, and dressmaker Nina Cherie built her business the old-school way–by apprenticing, failing forward, and saying yes to challenges before she felt “ready.” Her story is a masterclass in believing in yourself, taking chances, learning from mistakes, and seeking out the people who will sharpen your skills.
Nina taught herself to sew young, then leveled up by apprenticing with a master tailor and completing intensive training at New York’s Fashion Institute of Technology. Along the way, a single decision–to take on a bridal gown she’d never made before–changed everything. “I was up for the challenge, and I did it. I made some mistakes, but it was the push. I accomplished it; she loved her dress in the end, and it made me think I could do this.”
That mix of courage and humility threads through her journey. She didn’t wait for an invitation to learn; she made one. “I put an ad on Craigslist and said I was just looking to learn. He had me watch him, and I would copy things; he corrected me by showing me. I’m a visual learner, so I learned precision and the value of making a garment look like you bought it, not homemade.” From there, she moved into technical design–translating creative sketches into garments that fit, function, and scale–working with brands like Michael Kors.
But progress is never a straight seam. Nina openly shares a painful miss–ruining a commission for an NFL player’s mother–that nearly made her quit. What kept her going was an inner certainty and the willingness to keep learning. “I think what’s for you will always find you. If you want to give up but still feel a fire when you see someone doing the thing you want to do, it means it’s still there. The bumps are meant to challenge you.”
That determination was shaped years earlier, when Nina volunteered in nursing homes as a teenager. Sitting with elders, she heard the weight of regret repeated again and again. “I talked to so many older people who said, ‘I wish I could go back and do this or that.’ Hearing those regrets made me say, I don’t want to be like this. I have to do it.” For Nina, that perspective hardened into a vow: she would live without regret, take risks, and push past fear.
Representation matters to Nina, and so does range. In a city where Black residents make up a small percentage of the population, her client list spans cultures and backgrounds. For her, excellence is universal–and it’s also a platform. She is deliberate about mentoring, opening doors, and naming her worth in an industry that too often asks makers to shrink. Entrepreneurship, she adds, requires both heart and strategy: study your market, specialize in what inspires you, and deliver at a standard that commands the price.
That ethos extends beyond fashion. Nina’s vision includes building a bridge between African Americans and the continent–she purchased land in Ghana with plans for an oceanside retreat that welcomes Black travelers “home.” It’s a living lesson in taking chances and refusing regret: start where you are, follow the tug, and surround yourself with people who believe bigger for you.
Her advice to young creators is refreshingly practical: get technical. Pattern making is engineering; couture is math plus taste. Don’t chase the glamour without the grind. Apprenticeships, technical colleges, job shadowing–these are accelerators if you assert yourself as a learner. And remember that confidence grows from competence: every precise hem, every corrected draft, every re-done seam is a brick in your foundation.
Nina’s legacy goal is as crisp as a freshly pressed bodice: don’t let anything or anyone hold you back. It’s not about being fearless; it’s about doing it anyway, if you are scared, choosing growth, and refusing to be defined by a single mistake. It’s also about the responsibility to pass knowledge on. This echoes the adage that can keep the connective tissue of a thriving community strong: Give someone a fish and they’ll eat for a day, teach them how to fish and they’ll eat forever.
In Nina Cherie’s world, faith meets follow-through. You take the shot, you apprentice yourself to the craft, and you keep showing up–stitch by stitch–until your work speaks for you. Then you use that voice to make room for the next one in line.