Episode Liner Notes
For the fourth episode of Back To Reading Credits, Wes Jackson sat down with old friend and fashion legend April Walker to talk about her early years at The East and Uhuru Sasa Shule School, originating streetwear silhouettes, and her favorite print of all time.
April Walker is a fashion icon, entrepreneur, educator, and author whose work has been featured in Forbes, In Style, Essence, The New York Times, Drink Champs, Vogue, CFDA. April is a pioneer in urban fashion. Her brand, Walker Wear, helped to create a multi-billion dollar industry known today as streetwear, commanded millions in sales, and kicked in distribution doors for other’s working in urban fashion.
About + Thanks
A special thank you to the incomparable, April Walker. You’re an inspiration to so many — thank you for sharing your wisdom with the BRIC team and the world.
Thank you to Ro Johnson, Tadia Toussaint, and everyone who participated in “Confronting Misogynoir in Hip-Hop: Empowerment v Exploitation, A #BHeard Town Hall.” Watch the full town hall here.
Back to Reading Credits is hosted by Wes Jackson and produced by Khyriel Palmer, Emily Boghossian, Raynita Vaughn, Chris Torres, Gabrielle Davenport, and Antoine Hardy, with help from Elyse Rodriguez Aleman, José Astorga, Jonathan Ortiz, Zak Sherzad, Charlie Hoxie, and Kuye Youngblood. Our audio engineer was Onel Mulet, and our director was Raynita Vaughn.
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Ep. 4
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April Walker
April Walker is a fashion icon, entrepreneur, educator, and author whose work has been featured in Forbes, In Style, Essence, The New York Times, Drink Champs, Vogue, CFDA. Walker has also been featured in award winning documentaries such as “The Remix Hip Hop X Fashion” and “Fresh Dressed”.
As a Brooklyn native, she followed her creative intuition, pioneering urban fashion, setting the stage for a revolution in fashion industry norms, gender politics and culture shifting. Walker shaped the direction that style would take in the future. As the first woman with an urban fashion brand, Walker Wear helped to create a multi-billion dollar industry known as streetwear today, commanded millions in sales, and kicked in distribution doors for this category. Creating one of the most influential brands in our histories to date, “Walker Wear” is still relevant and sold worldwide, and most recently, has collaborated with the WNBA’s New York Liberty team.
As one of the first to identify and implement the power of product placement, Walker was one of the first to start a styling division working with clients like SHAQ, Wu-Tang, Hype Williams, and many more. Icons such as Tupac, BIG, Jay-Z, and Aaliyah have all donned her brand.
Walker has also served as the Vice-President for Phat Farm, launched a women’s division for And-1, and has consulted for Dreamworks, Champion, Ron Artest, and MLB Licensed products. When Walker is not sitting at the helm of Walker Wear, she is a book author, an educator, TISCH/NYU adjunct professor, contributor to Parson’s “Streetwear Essentials”, producer, and her work has been featured domestically and internationally by Sotheby’s, Photoville, and at the Kunsthal and Centraal Museum.
Wes Jackson, BRIC President
Wes Jackson has over 25 years of experience as a leader, entrepreneur, innovator, creative and executive in entertainment and academia. Wes has been leading BRIC, a pioneering, multi-disciplinary arts and media institution anchored in downtown Brooklyn, as its President since July 2022.
BRIC’s programs include the free, summer-long BRIC Celebrate Brooklyn! festival whose 46th season kicks off this summer; the New York Emmy Award-winning BRIC TV, whose programming includes acclaimed original scripted series and hyper-local news stories and documentaries; Brooklyn Free Speech TV, a leading public access television network; a major contemporary art exhibition program; BRIC JazzFest, which brings global legends and emerging artists in jazz to Brooklyn each October; family programs; and more. BRIC’s nationally recognized school-based arts and media education program reaches thousands of NYC public school students each year.
Prior to starting at BRIC, Jackson was the Director of the Business of Creative Enterprises (BCE) Program and Senior Executive In Residence at Emerson College. His career began as a concert producer, which led him to his first venture, Seven Heads Entertainment, and later to found and lead the Brooklyn Hip-Hop Festival.
