We had the good fortune of connecting with Leanne Aranador and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Leanne, what do you attribute your success to?
Community! With the support and encouragement of my community around me I was able to see Ladoru become all it is today. Absolutely, couldn’t have done it without them. I tried back in 2015 to launch Ladoru on my own and it didn’t go well, but three years later with all the right people around me Ladoru was birthed.

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
For too long I allowed other people’s opinions and actions dictate who I was. A job rejection meant I was unworthy. A guy who never called me after the first date meant I was unlovable. A colleague that didn’t acknowledge my hard work meant I was valueless. The lies I chose to believe became deafening to the point that I couldn’t hear my own voice. It was when my friend suggested, as a New Year’s resolution, to doodle every day for a whole year that I began to hear a faint, whisper of myself. It wasn’t until the 209th day that I recognized the true value of expressing my voice through my art. My voice has the power to decide who I am. It has the power to turn my imperfections into points of interests and my vulnerabilities into strengths. From that day on I promised myself to always honor my voice, for I am loved, valued, and purposed. That’s when Ladoru was born. I created this brand to encourage women to wear their voices and transform their lives and the world around them. Ladoru is a collection of wearable art that inspires closets and minds. Just like you choose your clothes every day, you can choose the words and thoughts you put on. It’s my hope that every day you’ll be inspired to choose to wear compassion, kindness, humility, strength and most importantly, love. Because our words shape our world.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
Basing this off of the city I previously lived in before moving to my hometown: Brooklyn/NYC Top 10 things/restaurants: 1. Bagel Hole in Brooklyn – Best bagels! My go-to order: Sesame bagel with scallion cream cheese 2. Prince Street Pizza – Pepperoni square slices 3. Soho – love all the shops and their displays, also stop at Mulberry Iconic Magazines 4. Cooper Hewitt Museum – I feel this one is a bit underrated and is always so interesting/experimental in what they exhbit 5. Rubirosa – Tie dye pizza! 6. Butler Cafe in Dumbo – Breakfast empanadas are so good! 7. Brooklyn Bridge Park – my favorite view of the river and the city. You can also see the Statue of Liberty. 8. The General Store in Dumbo – Unique, vintage finds 9. The Met when their Fashion Exhibit is displayed! 10. Random comedy show at Union Hall in Brooklyn

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
I would love to shoutout my friend Louisa Wells, a brilliant fashion photographer based in NYC. She is not only talented but has a way to make any person in front of her lens feel comfortable and shine. She has an incredibly generous heart and has helped make the last two Ladoru look books a beautiful reality. Also, I have to shoutout my family and friends – they helped me to keep going and remember who I am.

Website: ladoru.com
Instagram: @ladoru
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/shopLadoru/

Image Credits
Photos by: Louisa Wells (@bylouisawells), Lilly Brown (@lillybrown.photography), Christian Hernandez (@hernandezcphotography)

Nominate Someone: ShoutoutMiami is built on recommendations and shoutouts from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you or someone you know deserves recognition please let us know here.