"Shoes Have Taken Over My Life"

Qiana Markham, a self-proclaimed shoe addict, left her job in advertising several years ago to pursue a career in shoe design. She has been mentored by a cowboy boot maker in Guthrie, Oklahoma for the last two years, and now finds herself moving on to bigger things. For the next six months she plans on hopping around and learning from the best, but nothing will stop her love of shoes.

Tiki Doll

What do you get when you mix Courtney Love's style with McQueen, and throw in some funky prints just for fun? You would get the collections Love Child and Dirty Candy by Tiki Doll. Tiki, 33, lives in Midwest City with her six year old daughter and her extended family, and works out of what used to be her mother's dining room. Her studio, heady with incense and vibrating with loud 90's grunge bands, is filled with bright fabrics, clothing racks of her collections, and the odd dress dummy or two. She was very open about her inspiration (different textures, grommets, and free-thinking) and her collection reflects her personal style. After graduating from design school, Tiki released her first collection, Love Child, into the metro runways - and used herself as the press poster model. Now, having just released her second collection, Dirty Candy, Tiki is ready for bigger venues. She hopes to take her collection to Dallas in the early Fall, and then hopes to move to Los Angeles, California. She feels her style is better suited to "Cali." One thing is for sure, with her unique aesthetic, her fun prints, and her sparkling personality - Tiki is sure to go far.