Raya began her career in fashion as an intern for Nylon Magazine in 2011 in New York and after one day assisting a stylist on set for a Steve Madden campaign, she decided that she wanted to turn her passion as a stylist into a career. 

After three years of freelance styling in New York,  she realized that styling did not fulfill her purpose and she wanted to take high fashion design and lifestyle to Detroit; essentially to introduce a new wave of shopping and dressing to her hometown. 

In 2020, she started her business focusing on sourcing vintage for both men and women and introducing independent designers to the midwest market. After two years of reselling vintage and finding unique designers to showcase in the metro Detroit area as well as around the world, Raya still felt like she wasn’t connecting with her purpose. 

In 2022, Raya reached a breakthrough moment and realized that fashion design has always been a dream and passion of hers so this past year she invested her time in learning how to sew in efforts to create her own sustainable lifestyle brand. Raya’s vision of what sustainable clothes for women and men should feel like and look like by repurposing quality fabrics like denim, leather, and knits. 

RAYA is an eco-friendly lifestyle brand dedicated to the conscious consumers who crave one-of-a-kind pieces and quality craftsmanship. Inspired by Detroit’s music scene and raw architecture, the RAYA brand embodies the natural elements and textures of feel good fabrics with futuristic concepts and design.