Written By: Kayla Rojas
On August 23, 1974, Rosa “Lerica” Rodriguez was born at a children’s hospital in Santiago, Dominican Republic. She was the third child of her mother Ana, and her father Salvador. Lerica lived in a small town about thirty minutes away from where the hospital was. According to Lerica, life in the Dominican Republic was “absolutely beautiful” and “the best”. Most of her childhood was spent outside doing activities like planting, and relaxing on the roof of her home. She felt this sense of “freedom” that was unlike anything she’s ever felt before.
One memory that she disclosed to me was about her family's business. Her parents opened up a grocery store and a tailoring shop in her home. “Our house was big. One side of the house was for the grocery store, and the other side was for the tailor shop”. Her family ran the grocery store, and little Lerica would sell her dolls' clothing. When it came to the tailor shop, both her parents used to specialize in making dress pants for men. They both knew how to sew, and they saw an opportunity to create a business tailoring clothing for the people in their town. From the very beginning of her life, Lerica was always surrounded by clothes. This, along with her parents, would inspire her to pursue her dreams in fashion.
At the age of eleven, Lerica and her family moved from the Dominican Republic to the Bronx. Coming to America was not all that she anticipated, due to the nature of where she was going to be living. During this period of time, there was a lot of violence in the Bronx. It was a major transition for her and her family. When I asked her about how it was moving to the Bronx, she had this to say. “I was so nervous, but it was okay. There was an abandoned building across the street from our apartment. There were a lot of homeless people who lived there. I saw that building catch on fire. I was so scared”. Even though some of her memories of the Bronx weren’t the best, she did have some that outweighed the bad. She shared with me that she loved living in her apartment building. “ I loved living there. It was so beautiful. It had so many murals inside and was so colorful. The people were nice so it felt like a big community. We would celebrate Christmas and Halloween in the lobby with everyone”.
Lerica always knew that she had a passion for fashion, and that she wanted to pursue this goal seriously. When she told her parents that she wanted to do fashion, they were so happy. “They were always so supportive. My mom helped and kept me company when I’d stay up late working on projects”. After she finished junior high, she applied to get into The High School of Fashion Industries in New York City. She was accepted into the fashion design program, and was there from the start of tenth grade until she graduated in twelfth grade. While in high school, she had to work on countless projects, doing children's, teen, and adult clothing. At the end of each school year, the students had to design clothes that would be modeled in a fashion show in order to showcase their work. Lerica explained that going to this school was everything that she imagined. “I got good grades in school. Fashion stuff came easy to me”. Even though these things came easy to her, I asked her about some of the challenges she faced at this point in her life. “It was summertime and we went up to Syracuse for this fair. The teacher told us we had to design bathing suits, and they would be modeled at the fair. I had a hard time because I didn’t like making bathing suits. When the show was going to start, my teacher told us that we would be the ones modeling our own designs. We didn’t know. I was so uncomfortable because I did not know how to walk like a model. We did this for three days”.
When it came to choosing a college, Lerica knew exactly which school she wanted to apply for. “I only applied for FIT (Fashion Institute of Technology). I was really determined to get into that school. I knew the area really well and everyone was talking about it”. However, things didn’t go the way she planned. Lerica was rejected from the Fashion Institute of Technology. “They rejected me because I didn’t draw nice”. Even though she wasn’t accepted at first, she applied again and was finally accepted into her dream school. She told me, “this is the place I needed to go. I was not going to give up”.
While in FIT and at the age of nineteen, Lerica met the love of her life Jose. Eventually, they became a couple and got married three years later when she was twenty-two years old. Shortly after getting married, Lerica and Jose welcomed two baby boys into their lives. Their names are Anthony and Bryan. Since she was now a mother of two, she stopped attending college to raise her children. While she loved being both a wife and a mother, she knew that something was missing from her life; fashion. I questioned her as to what made her want to go back to college after having two children. She told me, “I wanted to complete this goal for myself, but for my kids also. I wanted to show them that it doesn’t matter how long something takes, as long as you get it done”. I also made sure to ask her how it was tackling motherhood and schoolwork at the same time. “It was super challenging. I had to take evening classes and I was working, so I had to make sure that my husband and I supported each other a lot because I was so busy”.
Throughout time, Lerica had many fashion jobs. Her first fashion job was during her time at FIT. She worked at a bridal boutique called Wearkstatt. It was during this time that she “fell in love with bridal” and so she enjoyed her time working there. While working at Wearkstatt, she also began her own business. “When I was working there, they told me I was very talented. They said ‘Rosa if you want to make accessories, take fabric’, and I did. I wanted to make ring pillows for weddings. At the time there were only two shapes: square and round. I wanted to do something different, so I made one’s that looked like flowers. I presented them at the end of one of Wearkstatt’s fashion shows. People liked them. My pillows were in magazines”. Wearkstatt ended up closing down, and so she started working at another bridal company called Reem Acra. “I loved working there. I liked their designs and the bead work of their dresses”. Lerica even discussed the owner of the company at the time. “Everyone said she was like The Devil Wears Prada. She would always carry her dog into the office. She was nice to me. We had a good relationship”.
At the age of thirty-five, Lerica finally landed her dream job working at the company she always wanted; Oscar De La Renta. I asked her, “how did it feel when you got the job at Oscar”? She answered with, “bello (Spanish for beautiful). There were two thousand applications, and I was so lucky that I was hired. I applied for the assistant designer position, but they needed someone in the bridal department; so I took the job”. Little did Lerica know that she would end up meeting Oscar himself during her job interview. “I remember when I was in FIT, he came to speak. I did not think I would get to meet him. I got a tour of the office during the interview and we went into the conference room. He was sitting there and he just stared at me from head to toe. He was perfect. I was meeting my dream designer”.
There have been many celebrities and influential people that Lerica has met since working for Oscar De La Renta. “Can you tell of the celebrities you have met throughout the years”? “I’ve met Nicky Hilton, Anna Wintour, Hilary Clinton, Sarah Jessica Parker, Jessica Chastain, and so many others. I am so bad with names”. Lerica has also worked on dresses for big events like Celine Dion’s 2019 Met Gala look, Laura Bush’s dress for the Stars and Stripes Ball, Jessica Chastain’s dress at the 2023 Golden Globes, and so many more.
At the end of my interview with Lerica, we began discussing the future of fashion. “Where do you see the fashion industry going in the future”? She responded with, “at the moment I don’t see good things in the future of fashion. It’s disappointing. After Covid, I don’t see the quality being the same as it once was. The quality is not the way it should be. It’s only about selling over everything else”. I also inquired about if she would try to go for the designer position again like she did when she was first hired. She stated, “I would do it temporarily just for the experience, but family time is more important to me. Being a designer requires a lot of hours and I don’t want to give up time with my family. If anything I want to go back into doing accessories. Like veils, bracelets, and necklaces. If you have the opportunity to finish, why not”? The last question I knew was crucial to ask her was, “what would you say to people who want to get into fashion”? She said, “be aware of the new trends! Look at what’s going on near you and what's going on internationally. Be on top of these things! Keep names in mind, it’s important. Have the knowledge to sew, and the knowledge to do patterns and sketches”.
