On designing dresses and opening a bridal salon: "I knew that in order to sell wedding dresses, I had to be my own seller. So I opened the store in 2013. And we continued to go to New York bridal market and attempt to pick up retailers, but it wasn't that easy. A lot of retailers were playing the comparison game like, 'Oh, you're the Black Vera Wang.' And I was like, 'I'm just Andrea. We don't have to turn me into someone else so it's more palatable for you.'"
On her journey to success: "So it started off as a 400-square-foot boutique and we opened up an extension store across the street, because it was the closest thing that had more space. Then we realised that it was not ideal for us to be bouncing back and forth from one space to the next. Then our first retailer picked us up, and we realised we were expanding fairly fast. So about three years ago, we moved to Nostrand Avenue, which is about a 3,000-square-foot space. Our team has tripled in size, and we're now sold at four retailers and were recently picked up by Kleinfeld. I'm really excited about that. They're pros and have been really, really supportive."