OXFORD, Miss. (WTVA) - An Oxford woman is using her talents to lead her out of homelessness and into a once-in-a-lifetime trip to Europe.
Timber Heard will be going to Paris Fashion Week by the end of September to debut some of her fashion designs.
She lives in Oxford now, but that is one of many places she has called home in Mississippi since she was placed in foster care at 12-years-old.
“I’ve been everywhere from Biloxi to Clarksdale to Jackson,” Heard said. “I graduated in Jackson.”
However, her situation did not get much easier when she moved off to college at the University of Mississippi. That is where she became homeless for about three to four years.
“I remember staying on campus sometimes,” Heard said. “There was a really sweet janitor. She would let me sleep in the Union.”
The one constant in her life has been designing jewelry and purses.
“I started sewing when I was eight-years-old and I picked up beading when I was in a foster home,” she said. “With bead working and drawing and sewing, you can just put it all together and make things.”
Still, Heard’s life has not been easy. She said she found out she has bi-polar disorder at the age of 10.
“I’ve struggled with suicide. I used to be a cutter. I used to just do things that are better off unsaid.”
Now, Heard wants to use her business to raise awareness of a topic she says should have been talked about a long time ago. She is focusing specifically on bi-polar disorder and schizophrenia.
“People barely talk about the harder to deal with mental disorders so that is something I try to emphasize in my work.”
Heard’s business is called Talitha Kumi Jewels. She got the idea from Mark 5:41 in the Bible.
“That’s kind of Jesus pulling me up,” she said.
This is why she encourages everyone who may be struggling to “get up.”
“It gets better. It really really gets better,” Heard said. And for her, it really has gotten better.
“I used to watch E! News network. I would see the models walking down the catwalk and I was like, ‘You know what? I don’t want to walk the catwalk, but I could do that. I could make what they have on.’ Now that I’m invited to Paris Fashion Week, I do get to do that.”
Heard will be flying out to France by the end of September. The Paris Fashion Week panel selected Heard as one of 70 designers or brands from thousands of applicants believed to be the “ones to watch.”
She describes her designs as haute couture.
Heard said she will be the first woman from Mississippi and the second African American to have her designs showcased at Paris Fashion Week.
“I am terribly excited,” she said. “I’ve never been out of the United States, so I’m kind of nervous to travel across seas, but it’s going to be interesting.”
If you would like to shop Talitha Kumi, you can visit Heard’s online store.
“Creativity is a gift. If God gives you a gift, I mean you just have to roll with it, right?”
Heard has GoFundMe set up to help cover expenses such as hotel and travel. Her goal is $8,000.
On her GoFundMe page, she said, "This was an unexpected blessing and I’d like to thank the people who have helped so far."
Stay with WTVA 9 News as we follow Heard’s journey to Europe for Paris Fashion Week.
