 Today we're excited to welcome a celebrated New York fashion designer and business owner. Garo Sparrow joins us to talk about creating custom designs for his celebrity clientele, being a finalist on project runway and growing his line over the last 20 years. This is School of Hustle, the show of refined advice and inspiration from people who are making their own way. I'm Shannon, the VP of social here at GoDaddy and I live and breathe the hustle of business. Today we're filming from the hustle of it all at the WeWork Time Square in New York City. Everybody, let's give Garo the biggest warmest welcome. Thank you for being here. You are a celebrated designer and business owner in what is probably the most competitive and most renowned city in the world for fashion. That's New York City. You're right around the corner from us right here. Yeah. It's part of it all. And you know what, Garo, you're standing out in that competitive space and it's so cool. How would you describe your style and your business? I would describe my style as being out of the box, you know, I'm inspired by people. It's a lot of custom driven work and pretty much there's nothing that we do that it's a head-to-toe look. It's a one-stop shop when you come into my boob tee. And I think when I was watching you on Project Runway, I noticed you were very futuristic in your style. And I tried to channel that today as I got dressed to get ready for our interview. I was thinking about your Elton John costume and I was channeling a little bit of that. I think that may have been my favorite piece that you did. Thank you. That was outrageous. But I love your style and I love what you're doing in this city. You were recently a finalist on Project Runway. You didn't just show up. You went to the end. And you, my gosh, what an accomplishment. Congratulations. Thank you. How did appearing on the show influence your vision as a designer? You know, appearing on the show, it basically, because I had been in business for many years beforehand, so like I never had people say no, that's not good or no. Just to be told no. Or like you need to fix this or fix that. It was kind of tough at the beginning, but it was actually a great experience. It added to the journey and I came out as a better designer in the end. In addition to hearing no, you heard things like you have a time limit. You have a wild, crazy challenge that you have to do. There's cameras in your face. There's people competing with you sitting right next to you. How did you handle that kind of pressure? That's crazy. Well, the good thing is like my business is like a boot camp for that situation because we get 24-hour turnovers all the time when we work with musicians and celebrities. It's crazy. So it was a little bit of a shock at the first. You had that many people, but once it began to be less and less people, it got easier and easier. Well, you've been doing this for a long time and you're in the city now since 1995 and you started design at 19 years old, right? How did you know that you wanted to be a designer and do what you do? Oh, I knew immediately, you know, I knew from like the age of five years old. Really? Because like my family were always in the garment business and there was like always a sewing machine in the house. I was the only kid allowed in that room and I got to experiment and I just knew that I wanted to do something that changes somebody's image and they're just encapsulate who they are through fashion, through clothing and the fashion magazines that help too that my mom would get. Well, you had several celebrity clients. Can you talk about some of the folks that you've worked with? Oh, there's many and I hate to leave people out, but at the top of my head is the most people I've worked with the most recently. Lizzo, amazing. She's amazing woman. She's going to take over the world. There's Halsey. There's Madonna. It's been my client since I was like 24 years old. She's still coming back. You know, Nicki Minaj, amazing clients. Beyonce, the list can go on. Yeah. It's a very impressive list. Thank you. And when you think about the demands and the ask that they had and what you created, do you have any one or two favorite pieces that stand out to you that you're most proud of? I did this great piece for Nicki Minaj's tour and I was working with the size B Ackerland and she's like, Garo, I need evil empress from the future. And I was just like that. That was the greatest I went for you. Yes, it was perfect. It's actually your perfect assignment. So what did you do with that? So what I did was I just basically, I've been collecting all these Chinese embroideries over the years, like really beautiful. So I was like, I'm going to give them to Nicky. So I took, I took all those embroideries and I created like a thermal plastic, like double shoulder, like reticulated insanity. And of course, through a cincher in there with the Chinese embroideries all over that and carry them all through and, you know, gave her like very hot shorts with the embroideries all over those. So it was like really a wonderful culmination to have this collection and be able to give it to Nicky was like fabulous. Wow. And you mentioned the course at the cinching. I saw that a lot in your work when you were on the show. Where does that come from? Can you tell us more about that aspect of your style? Yeah, basically it comes from a really strange place. You know, I always wanted a Barbie growing up and that's what you call like the doll silhouette. But I don't really do that. I just, I like to like embrace the figure and make everybody look and feel as good as they possibly can. My courses are super comfortable only cinching the soft tissue. Okay. I did, I only do modern corsetry. So with that, it's an empowerment thing. Like where it used to like make people feel caged, it actually makes you stand up straight. It makes you proud of what your assets, you know what I mean? Yeah. Any size that you are. You're dedicated to the idea that people will express themselves more creatively through fashion. What do you mean by that? Well, you know, if you look at the world today, we have drag queens on television. We have all these amazingly costume like fantasy films and television series. All these superheroes happening. There's an up and coming generation and it's a current generation. Everybody's being inspired by that. You know, you can just wear who you are on the outside and I want to like take that to the whole world. And in today's world of social media and Instagram and these spaces, you get credit for what you're wearing. Absolutely. People take a lot of pride in that. Yeah. For sure. Absolutely. You do empower others through your vision and fashion and what you do. And you think about, you described to me, you know, putting that cinched waist on today's modern women so that you rise up and feel empowered. And I love all of that. But how do you think about your fashion? When you get ready, when you style yourself, how do you think about Garo? Well, you know, I always like to have lots of lucky charms. Like this is for money. This is to keep me calm. This is just a ring that's like from an old family member. I have my like shark's tooth. It's like a thinking tooth. You know, you have Ganesh and Crystal here. I have my lucky charms. You know, I'm never going to give them up. My family crest is on these shields. These are my men's line. So I just try to just like look put together but not trying too hard. And I have to have like my necklaces too. You know, like keep me calm. These crystals. And it's working for you. Oh, if I do say so. Thank you. It is. It's working. Thank you. As you move your business forward, how are you thinking about expanding it all? How do you think about your your place around the corner here? Oh, absolutely. That's where in the we're in the process of expanding tremendously. I'm going to be selling and already taking pre-orders from everything I did on Project Runway. I've been in my final collection. We're also selling pieces that I used to sell at my boutiques when I had them in the East Village that people still want like and we're just definitely going to be ready to wear a whole range wear section on my website. A lot of us will be driven online through Instagram, Shopify, all those great things. I would love to work with you and pick something out for me. I would love that. I want to be a customer. You need to come. I would love to wear something of yours. It's something that would make the most sense. We should talk about that. Bring it on, sister. Well, thank you so much for opening up and sharing that. We're going to transition now into a game that we call hustle time. 60 seconds on the clock please. 60 seconds. We'll see how many we can get through. Okay. Okay. Wine, white or red? Red. Peanut butter, cups or M&Ms? M&M. Would you rather have more time or more money? More time. Favorite breakfast food? Egg. Number of times it took you to pass your driver's test? Once. Last person you texted? Troy. If a Jeannie granted you three wishes, what would you wish for? I would wish for everlasting life. I would wish for some money and I would wish for I'd want to fly. If you could go back in time, who would you want to meet? Oh, I would so want to meet Marie Antoinette. Would you rather fly or talk to animals? Um, I'd rather fly. King size or fun size? King size. The best chocolate in the world comes from where? Uh, Switzerland. If you could have a superpower, what would it be? Um, it would be just to be able to read people's minds even more than I already do. New York City tourists, help with directions or keep on your own way? Um, help with directions. Finish this sentence when I dance, I look like. I look like I know what I'm doing. Yay! Okay, nice. Nice, we got one, two, three, 11, 12, 13, 14. Part of your day. Morning. Love it. Best piece of advice you've ever gotten? Um, be true to yourself and don't water yourself down. Worst piece of advice? Water yourself down. How do you use your career to inspire others? I use my career to inspire others just by showing people that you don't have to be in this square box they call fashion. It goes in every direction and it's evolving. Ever felt like walking away? Never. One thing you still need to learn? Um, I would say, say no, but I don't want to ever say no to anything. It's really hard. What do you want people to learn from you? I want people to learn from me that, you know, you could take your own path, you know. I met Dapper Dan on the show and he said, somebody will meet you at, keep going up your own stairwell and somebody will eventually meet you on your stairwell and I feel really strongly about that being a trailblazer. What's next for you? What's next is basically global domination, I'm just kidding. Um, just to like really expand on my line, get people from all over the world, I'm getting orders from all over the world and just like, you know, make it accessible to people and make people feel included. Because they're all sizes, all genders, everything. Who inspires you? Um, you know, a lot of people inspire me that are just do what they want to do in life and don't think about it twice, you know. It's not a specific person, it's just like, it's a state of mind. Who challenges you? Um, my clients challenge me tremendously. Yeah. Thank you so much for sharing that you were coming in social. I pulled a question that I hadn't thought of, this is a great question. They ask, describe Garos Faro in two words. Ah, edgy innovation. And this next question is actually geared toward our favorite entrepreneur noodle, Go Daddy's pug named Noodle. Oh, no way. Yes, Instagram celebrity, 50,000 followers. Oh my God, oh my God, hey baby. Now Noodle is now appearing on two shows at Go Daddy, school hustle like he is right now, and a new series with Jonathan called Tools of the Trade. Oh wow. They're killing it. It's a great series. Excellent. Yeah. As Noodle sets out to look his absolute best, what trends in fashion should Noodle look out for? As far as dog fashion is concerned, which is fashion in general. Fashion in team and fashion for him. Don't be afraid to be body con, where something fitted and beautiful no matter what size you are. I think that that's just a wave of the future, embracing your body. It's like a leather tube top. Exactly, I see it right now. Already working a harness, so you can go that direction. Oh my God. That's some good advice. So when we close this show, we like to leave everybody watching with a final thought. Just sort of a little thought of inspiration as we walk away. I'm going to read three quotes and ask you to tell me which quote resonates the most with you and why. Okay. Right? Number one, style is a way to say who you are without having to speak. Number two, you can't build a reputation on what you are going to do. Number three, the harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph. I would say the number one, of course, because style is a way to show who you are without having to speak. And I'm all about, you know, people expressing them who they are inside from the outside and encouraging that. So that's how that resonates with me. It's just like be who you are, dress how you want, feel good, and you'll look beautiful. I love that. I think that's great. Thank you. Tell everybody how they can follow you. You can follow me at garrosferro.com. You can follow me on Instagram at garrosferro as well as on Facebook, garrosferro as well. And just, just, there's many more things coming from me. So just keep an eye out and you'll be ready to watch me again. I will do that. Yes. I encourage everybody to do that. And I also encourage everybody to follow GoDaddy and Social as well, because we are going to be bringing more fabulous entrepreneurs every week. And I know that everybody enjoyed this conversation today. So definitely follow both of us to stay in the know on all great things. And we will see you all soon. Bye.