Sharifa Murdock is a true industry veteran. With over two decades in the game and counting, this powerhouse professional has created a unique lane in the niche market of trade shows. It has become her passion, along with philanthropy and mentoring young women with aspirations to find success in the fashion industry via her own program, aptly titled The Brooklyn Intern. Murdock graduated from Wood Tobe-Coburn with a degree in Fashion Merchandising and Buying and has worked and lent her expertise to a motley of fashion’s leading brands such as Michael Kors, Donna Karan, and Louis Vuitton. The Brooklyn native’s no-nonsense approach to business, her benevolent allegiance she has for her brands, the designer’s behind them and the reverence she has for her founding partner Sam Ben Avraham, have contributed to the success story she is today.

You have made your mark in this industry for over 20 years. For those who are not quite familiar with who you are, may you provide a brief synopsis? Who is Sharifa Murdock?

I am a Brooklyn girl, born and raised by Caribbean Trinidadian parents. My dad had a career with the air force and my mom in nursing. I am just a young girl who aspired to work within the fashion industry, which somehow started by going to school for buying and fashion merchandising. I ended up in a completely different realm of the industry which I did not know existed which is fashion trade shows. I am ambitious and like to refer to myself as a “mini philanthropist.” I enjoy investing my time and financials into any sort of philanthropy I am interested in. I honestly am a person who just wants to leave a legacy that lets everyone know “I was here” and did something with my time while I was on this planet.

What was your motivation for the outset of Liberty Fairs?

My mentor and business partner, Sam Ben Avraham – whom I have known since my early 20s – we partnered to start our first trade show called Project. We ended up selling it and it became a huge success. Now honestly, I did not realize how big of a yield this was; when you are young, you are just having fun and working and doing something that you love. I was incognizant to how big this was until we ended up selling the company.  What motivated me to participate in another trade show…. which was Liberty… was basically two things: I was working at Project when we sold it, and I ended up staying on board and I realized very quickly what corporate structure was and what I did not like about “corporate” within the fashion space. For the first time in life, I realized racism was real. I knew it existed, but the monolith was “this could never happen to me.” I got hit with that exceptionally hard once the company was purchased, and from that day on, I vowed I would never work for a company that devalued my contributions based on their biases of what I looked like. Sam came to me and asked: “Do you want to do another trade show?” I said: “Not another one. After my experience from the last trade show, I don’t want to do that.” He said: “No, we’re going to be business partners.” At that juncture, our partnership was born. Sam is near and dear to my heart. I owe my career to him. I will always pay homage to him, as he showed and led me the way. It was because of my work ethic that he saw something in me that I obviously did not see in myself at a young age, and that inspired me to be the woman I am today.

What brands have you assisted in cultivating?

Wow so many! We found Scotch and Soda in Europe and brought them over to the U.S. trade shows. I have been working with AG from the beginning of time, and Levi’s Craft since the inception… Poki out of Japan, we have been working with him, and he got his start doing our show. I have been working with Brooklyn Circus,since they started doing trade shows. There is a plethora of brands that will always meet helping hands, just by participating in our show.

In your opinion, are the brands of this generation just as hungry as they were 20 years ago – putting in the hard work, midnight oil grinding, as well as making time to build relations to establish who they are in this ever-changing industry of fashion, or do they garner a sense of entitlement?

I think that it is a mixture of both to be honest with you. I see some of the younger generation like Fe Noel for instance, whom I respect highly; whom I’ve seen grind from when we were younger to now. I think that looking at where she has come from and seeing her continuously go and continuously work hard… people like Fe are a unicorn. I think the newer generation are used to fast reciprocation. They want things immediately! I always say that God blessed them, because they go in with the confidence of “fake it until they make it,” and it works for some people and others it doesn’t. I am going to lean on both to be honest with you. It all depends on the individual and the drive that they have. Some people learned by looking at the old guard, and some people said, “forget the old guard, I want to start new,” which is not bad either. I think you must look at it from a different perspective and I think you must look at it from each individual being – singular, not lumping them all in to one category.

How important is community to you – in terms of connecting, and giving back in your current role?

I think community is majorly important. In my current role, I am all about community. It’s all about connecting and making people feel great. I have been born to do these types of things. I love connecting with people. I have been successful in the trade show space because I had those connections with my brands. I knew when they were having a baby, I knew when they were getting married, I knew when they were getting a divorce. I knew what was happening throughout their whole lives, when I somehow inserted myself, and it made me more of a family member than a work partner. I think building community and building relationships in life is important. You just never know where people are going to be. I was taught, you reach your hand out to help others. I was given a spectacular opportunity by Sam. Why wouldn’t I reach back down to help someone else come up like I did?

If you could change anything in the industry to make it better for Black creatives, what would it be, and how would you execute the mission?

I would want to change how people are perceived, and presentation. I would want to do everything blindfolded. I would not want people to look at the race or the creed. I would want people to look at work ethic. Give people a chance and an opportunity. Out of 100, you may get 25 undesirables, but what is it to give 75 an opportunity? Someone looked at me and provided opportunity based on my work ethic, not the color of my skin or the way I was dressed, not if I was skinny enough or had the right hair. I want people to get this out of their minds and look at people blindfolded. Respect the work! Reward for the work getting done. Not the numbers or the clout chasing. We have come into a society that concerns themselves with how many Instagram followers you have. How many Clubhouse followers do you have? Who the hell cares?! What are you really doing to make a difference? I want to reverse how people are looking at each other by virtue of criticism. I want to feel connectivity! Let us make this world better!

If you could describe yourself in one word, what would it be.

Giver.

Editor’s Note: Mrs. Murdock’s experience of racism and bias against her took place under Project’s previous owners.