Our guest for this episode is Mr. Christopher Rogers, father of his namesake son: Christopher John Rogers, the accomplished Fashion Designer.
Christopher John Roger’s designs have been worn by Beyoncé, Lady Gaga, Lizzo, Cardi B., Zendaya, Tracee Ellis Ross, & Michelle Obama – to name just a few.
He also recently won the Council of Fashion Designers of America (CFDA), American Emerging Designer of the Year Award. For those of you less familiar with the fashion scene, the CFDA Award is an enormous honor – it’s like winning an Oscar or a Grammy.
Christopher John Rogers, and his sister Sariah, are fortunate to have Christopher as their father. In this episode, we talk about the importance of listening to your children, supporting them in the endeavors that they are passionate about, and encouraging them to finish what they start.
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Website: https://christopherjohnrogers.com/
The Rogers Family: Christopher John, Sariah, Johnell, & Christopher (Senior)
Mr. Christopher Rogers
Please forgive the errors in the transcript! Enjoy the episode!
Jonathan V.:
Well, thank you for being here today, Christopher. I really appreciate it. I’ve been looking forward to this conversation. Your son is I think just 26 years old. Is that right?
Christopher Rogers:
Yes, sir. He actually made, no, I’m sorry. Let me correct you. He just made 27 a week today.
Jonathan V.:
Oh, okay. It’s still a very young age and he has accomplished a tremendous amount. I really like to start by understanding what the Roger’s household was like when Christopher was young. But before we go there, I’d be interested from your perspective, given everything that he’s accomplished already at this young age. Was there a, a moment in time where you, where you felt like, wow, Christopher has really made it, he’s really making it happen. He’s really, he’s really accomplished it and well on his way for more, but he’s really made it in the fashion industry as a fashion designer.
Christopher Rogers:
Well, that’s an interesting question. I think the defining moment would be mother’s day of 2019. When my son, as we call CJ, he and I were traveling from my mom’s house for mother’s day, which was actually a surprise visit. He happened to be in town that weekend. And on my way back home from my parents’ home, he received a text message followed by a phone call from former first lady, Michelle Obama’s publicist. I could see the excitement in his eyes, one that he had received, a hit that he had been looking for and been working hard for. And of course, we want to note that prior to that, he actually had other notable celebrities, such as hip hop artists, Cardi B, who actually wore a coat from his initial collection, which was actually his part of his senior collection in college, followed by pieces that was worn by actress, Gabrielle Union and Tessa Thomas wearing a piece on late night TV. And of course, all of these things was a surprise that my wife and I also, but we was like, well, that’s just CJ, still doing his thing.
He’s still trying to get itself established, but it’s exciting just to see our son’s stuff just out there in the public knowing and just thinking back, where did he come from? But to have one of the most influential ladies of the free world, Michelle Obama, to wear one of his pieces on the final stop of her Becoming Book Tour in Nashville, Tennessee, that was actually breathtaking because while we were traveling back home from my parents’ home, we’re on interstate, I literally pulled on the side of the road with all of the excitement that he had. And I was like, wow, this, I said, this has to be big. And he starts hollering and screaming. And he basically said, Michelle Obama is going to wear my piece. I did not know that she was going to do this. We found that like, just now. So that’s when I knew that the game was actually changing for him. And he was now on his way, living his childhood.
Jonathan V.:
That’s amazing. And what timing to, ah, on Mother’s Day this happens?
Christopher Rogers:
Yes, sir.
Jonathan V.:
Wow. And what was that like for you as his father? What’s going through your head? How are you feeling at that moment?
Christopher Rogers:
Honestly, one of the first things that was coming across my head, it’s like, okay, now we need to try to find a lawyer. I think we need to try to protect the brand. He’s my namesake, Christopher John Rogers. And it all went back to an agreement that he and I had when he went to college. And when he was actually thinking about changing his name from his high school, named his, he had another name which what’s called Roger Lou. And that was in honor of he and his high school classmate. They decided to use part of their names for this high school collection. But then when he went through college, he decided to have the professional name. And he literally started as a freshmen with Christopher John Rogers. But for him to be my namesake and he’s like, okay, my name is going all over the world, but I reflected back that this is his thing. He’s following his dream. I’m happy for him. And now we just have to just lead him in the right direction. And so, that’s been a blessing,
Jonathan V.:
I bet. Oh, that’s so exciting. I can’t imagine what that must have felt like for him and for you and your whole family. So rolling back the clock. My understanding is that when Christopher, John was young, you all were living in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, is that correct? And if so, what was the Rogers household like then?
Christopher Rogers:
Well, first and foremost, we have always put God first in our lives. And within our household, we have always worked to communicate, be respectful, and of course be honest with each other within our household. So we always lean on respect. We were not a perfect family, but I can now say that I was very hard and strict on him as a father, especially when he was real young. CJ is actually our first born. This was my actual first opportunity to learn how to be a father, but also train him about being responsible. His mother and I both worked.
Jonathan V.:
What line of work were the two of you?
Christopher Rogers:
Well, I worked for the University. I’m an IT communications director for an agriculture center, which is Southern University. And his mom is a medical technologist that works for one at the medical centers here in Baton Rouge. You know, we’re constantly working and I guess that’s one of those traits that he picked up from us is being a hard working and also being of service because we both work in service entities within our profession. So he would be with us from time to time just to see what we could do. But while we were at work, he was spending most of his time with his grandparents. Also he and his sister was always involved in a lot of activities in and out of school. He tried his hand in sports.
Jonathan V.:
What kind of sports?
Christopher Rogers:
Wow, basketball, soccer, tennis, swimming, keep him active and just keep him engaged. And then also give him a different environment away from school, but also seeing what the community had to offer for him.
Jonathan V.:
When did Christopher start to show his creative side?
Christopher Rogers:
He’s always been very creative. That’s something from four or five years old. He’s always had a sketch pad, a pencil he was always was drawing things.
Jonathan V.:
Interesting.
Christopher Rogers:
Yes. You probably have heard of this little game called Pokémon?
Jonathan V.:
Sure, yeah, he was into Pokémon?
Christopher Rogers:
Yes Pokémon, or I guess I’m pronouncing it correctly. And he was into Donald SARS. He would literally try to draw the characters of the Pokémon’s. He would draw his Donald SAR collection. So he was always with a pen, pencil and a pad, always drawing on things.
Jonathan V.:
Where do you think he picked that up from? Is that, were you or your wife artistically inclined?
Christopher Rogers:
Well, I don’t want to be biased, but I’m artistically inclined. I’m a photographer. I am a professional photographer. Also minored in fine arts.
Jonathan V.:
So, you’re a professional photographer. That’s wonderful. What kind of photography do you do?
Christopher Rogers:
I do a lot of nature photography. And then of course my degree being in mass communication as a photo journalist, I do a lot of photojournalistic stuff, but as time has gone, I’m more into nature now.
Jonathan V.:
And is that something that you did you share that with Christopher John, when he was younger, did you involve him with your photography?
Christopher Rogers:
I tried to push it on him, but CJ had his own thing. His thing was pencil paper, but he can shoot when he has to. Because of course during that evolution of, as he was growing up, we were actually getting into the internet. I mean, he was born in 1993 and we can say that the world wide web was just getting into fruition. So he was growing with the evolution of technology and the cell phone. So he would take pictures with his cell phone and then try to go back, draw some of the things that he had actually taken pictures of. So I did notice that he had an eye, you know, for art also given the basic skills of art, you know, talking about the perspective and the rule of thirds. And he learned that through high school and he was always around good people or professional people in their craft. So as we, he was in high school, he was, he had a very good art teacher. We use in piano. He was with a seasoned pianist who actually played piano professionally. And I actually have a short story about this piano class that he was actually taking.
Jonathan V.:
Yeah. Tell me about that. And how old is he during this? When he’s taking piano?
Christopher Rogers:
During this time, he would probably be about 10, between 10, 12, years old. So around that time he was taking piano and of course being a disciplinarian myself, he had a piano teacher who was very strict and very disciplined. So his first stance, she said, do you know how to read the keys? And do you know how to read music? So he was just doing the basic things. And of course she said, no. So she asked him to get on the piano and just start playing something, just start moving your fingers on the keys. And he had actually put together a little song that the piano teacher had actually recorded and we still have it. Yes, and she said, this is not going to be hard. He’s going to be a great pianist. But of course he didn’t stay with it. He ended up going with his art and he just was a part of many art contests.
Jonathan V.:
That is fantastic. I love that. That’s great. But he definitely had that, I guess it’s still the same part of the brain. Right? The creative expression, it’s used in music as it is in other types of arts.
Christopher Rogers:
Correct. Right.
Jonathan V.:
Did you travel, take vacations as a family as well? Were there places that you would go to frequently?
Christopher Rogers:
One of his favorite places as a young kid was actually going to Disney World? Really started putting everything into perspective is that’s a whole art gallery and museum all into itself.
Jonathan V.:
Yeah. That’s so interesting. I hadn’t thought about it like that, but I could see, especially from a child, like Chris was that that’s how it would be seen. Interesting. And did you make a point of trying to expose your children to different parts of the country, different cultures, different experiences?
Christopher Rogers:
Yes. Yes we did because I was, both my wife and I, we were actually exposed as kids ourselves to travel and get out of your environment and actually be a part of other things that was taking place, read the newspaper, you always needed to know what was going on in your surroundings. That’s something we always preached and I still do.
Jonathan V.:
And why is that important to you?
Christopher Rogers:
Number one, we need to know our history. We need to know that history always repeats itself. And then you have to know how to protect yourself in the event that something can happen and you know how to at least communicate. And get to know people. Everyone is different, but we’re all children of God. And that’s something we have always tried to preach that we are all in this together and we all have to get along. Everything is not perfect, but that’s been since the beginning of time.
Jonathan V.:
That’s so true. Yep. We need more of that I think, that spirit of unity.
Christopher Rogers:
Yes, sir.
Jonathan V.:
You’d mentioned earlier that with the photography that you try to push it on him a little bit and it’s kind of, wasn’t his thing. He was more into drawing. How did you gauge when to back off?
Christopher Rogers:
Well, I guess it all goes back to communicating, you know, my wife and I, we talk about a lot of things. You know, that’s part of our ritual about what has happened during our work day. Talk about the kids, you know, and she basically would tell me and or my family members that I don’t think he likes this. I think he wants to be an artist. And I always would say, well, he’s photography is an art form, but she always said, but that’s not what he wants to do. He needs to do something that he is happy with. Just like you were given opportunity to do something that you were happy with. And after I saw that that was something that he really wanted to do. And he was like really happy to the point that he could be in his room and just draw. And he could be for hours without even coming out. You know, kids don’t normally like to stay in their room and he would just drop things. Put things together, come back, show us. And that’s how his fashion actually came into being that he would go to church with my wife and his grandmother. And he would actually see the ladies in church and just visualize, I guess, from an artist ladies with the big hats, long dresses and, you know, in a Baptist church, you know, everything is colorful.
And then being a kid, you’re being told, especially in the black church, be quiet, don’t make noise. You know, you have to do everything by the numbers. So he would have his pad with him again, trying to keep him engaged. And he started just drawing, drawing the dresses, drawing the colors, and putting things together. And he would just show us those things, but I didn’t really pick it up myself, but my wife started picking it up or my mother-in-law at the time she would pick it up. And she said, he’s onto something interesting. But that’s when I learned to just give him the opportunity to be happy. And then when he went to his high school, that’s when everything just really started coming together for him.
Jonathan V.:
Was it a public high school, a private high school?
Christopher Rogers:
It actually was a public high school, a public magnet school. It was Baton Rouge, Baton Rouge, high magnet school. This school is actually one of the top magnet high schools in the city. It’s also a blue ribbon school. So your best and brightest kids normally go to that school. And you’re normally on their waiting list.
Jonathan V.:
Aha. And does it have a specific focus? Is it, is it known for certain, like for the arts or is it all around a really strong school?
Christopher Rogers:
This Baton Rouge High. This one was particularly focused on the arts, you know, fine arts, music, and then graduates. When they come out of high school, it’s about 90 to 95% going to college. So our thing was, if you wanted to go to college and you wanted to go to school out of State, you have to find a way to pay it. Cause I’m being as strict father again, because we didn’t have very much money. We just had enough to, you know, to make it. But we knew that whatever we had to do to make our kids, keep our kids happy. He had to do, we had to work. And of course, CJ found, he’s always found his way to make things happen through trials and tribulations. He’s always made it happen. Even down into high school. He learned about a fashion show and he, and several of his friends actually put a show together. And I think he was a sophomore. And at the time it was only supposed to be juniors and seniors that were supposed to present.
And he was able to convince his art teacher to tell the sponsor of the show, to have him enter the contest. And he was able to enter the contest. He had maybe five or six pieces that he had designed, developed and pieced together in our living room. And he took the show. He literally took the show as a sophomore. So we knew he was destined for something. So he just literally just started at it. And then that’s what motivated him to just keep going on in fashion. And he surrounded himself with people who was able to help him even till today, his team that’s assembled, that’s working with him are actually his classmates from SCAD, Savannah College of Art and Design.
Jonathan V.:
Oh, is that right? Wow.
Christopher Rogers:
Yes. His, his whole team, his whole main team. They’re all classmates from SCAD and that’s been a blessing.
Jonathan V.:
So, you said that he had a show in his sophomore year of high school. When did he transition from drawing the ladies in church to actually creating his own designs?
Christopher Rogers:
I’ll say eight grades going into ninth. Yeah. At ninth, 10th grade. Because even going back into high school, he made his own labels for his clothes.
Jonathan V.:
Oh, is that right? Wow.
Christopher Rogers:
Yes. His old label was actually called Roger Lou. We actually still have samples of his label from high school.
Jonathan V.:
I would recommend holding onto those.
Christopher Rogers:
Oh, we are, we are. He made a large number of them. So we have them.
Jonathan V.:
What are your thoughts on that? It’s not a typical career path. It’s a, and it can be perhaps a higher risk path as well. Right. I think there’s a lot of people that would like to get into the fashion industry. It’s very competitive. How did you feel about it? Did you give them any counsel in terms of career advice?
Christopher Rogers:
Well, we actually encouraged it. We knew it was a, not a norm for an African-American to actually be in fashion design, especially someone from Baton Rouge, Louisiana, because you know, we’re in this capital city and everything you hear about in Louisiana is especially Baton Rouge is football, sports, but the have CJ going into fashion. But we knew that eventually he would have to work hard. He would have to be surrounded by the right folks. We knew God had to be a major role to at least get us prepared for getting him to the point where he wanted to be happy. And that’s something he always said that I want to travel all over the place. I want to live in New York. He said those things in the ninth and 10th grade, you know, and that was based off of traveling. Cause we would travel. He said, I don’t want to stay in Baton Rouge. I won’t to be able to do what I want to do here. Y’all just don’t understand. And we didn’t understand, but he knew.
Jonathan V.:
And it sounded like you, while you didn’t understand why he wanted that, it sounded like you appreciated that even at that young age, that he was really had that conviction and sense of purpose.
Christopher Rogers:
Right. And of course he had done his research. He would show us stuff on the internet, seeing what other folks were doing and how did they get there? He would email different people, folks that we didn’t even know things we didn’t, we didn’t realize he was doing those things. He grew up with the internet. So he would see all these things and he would try to mimic some of the things that were actually out there. And, and he said, this is how we can do this. This is how I’m going to get here. And I wanted to do it this way.
Jonathan V.:
He really became a student of the fashion industry at a young age. Did that seem to give him a head start later on?
Christopher Rogers:
Yes. After that fashion show in high school, he was recommended to a recruiter and that was SCAD and it was a couple of schools, art schools, SCAD, Parsons. I can’t recall the other one. And they actually were meeting in New Orleans. And at that time he actually had a portfolio put together with just his drawings and a few newspaper articles from that fashion show because it actually made the newspaper. And during that time, when they were asking him these questions, he was answering those questions to the point that the recruiter said some of our freshmen don’t even know how to answer these questions. Some freshmen don’t even think like this. So he was already thinking at a high level of what he wanted to do. And he said you’re going to be special.
Jonathan V.:
That is incredible. Was he offered scholarships when he started applying for colleges?
Christopher Rogers:
Yes. He was offered several scholarships, and of course dad’s still being dad. Like, Lord, how are we going to pay for this? He didn’t have to worry about out of state fees, but we were guided, we were just guided by God. And it’s some of the best practices that my wife and I had. And that’s just actually putting things on paper and then let’s discuss it and let’s just put it together and just find out what the final [inaudible] going to be. So at that time we took all of the big schools that he wanted to and we broke them down and we actually put it in a place, on a white board and we put the school, we put the amount that the school was going to cost. What kind of scholarship they were going to give. And we broke it all the way down. Even down to the point of how far he was away from home. Could we get to a certain place within a day if we had to, because I’m thinking about my wife, her son leaving home, but he selected SCAD and they gave him a full scholarship. And of course that was the rest is history.
Jonathan V.:
That’s wonderful. What a relief that must have been for you?
Christopher Rogers:
Oh yes. Well partially, we still had to put out some, but we knew that we had to do to make him happy. Cause we if he went there, we didn’t want him to quit. We didn’t want to disappoint him to the point saying that we can’t support what you’re doing because we said, whatever you start, you have to finish. And we did whatever we had to do.
Jonathan V.:
Was that something that was important to you, a value that you tried to instill as your kids were growing up, that what they started, they should finish?
Christopher Rogers:
Yes, sir.
Jonathan V.:
Are there times that you can think of where Christopher wanted to quit something before, he had finished it?
Christopher Rogers:
Well, actually in college he was a junior and he was having issues with one of his professors. And of course, CJ being very strong minded, being that type of individual that already know what I’m talking about because I’ve already done this. He’s like, I’m tired of this. I don’t want to do this anymore. I just want to just go and start working. That’s what the other people are doing. It’s like CJ, slow down. I said, you started something, you must finish it. I said, you don’t get anything easy in life. You still need the follow up and finish, finish it, get the degree, have something behind your name. I said, everyone can not have an opportunity like you have right now. Be the leader. Do what you need to do to get your paper. My wife had told him to go back, apologize to the professor, tell him what he was thinking. Don’t tell him now, calm down and go and talk to the professor. And from this day on, they’re good friends now.
Jonathan V.:
Oh, is that right? Oh, that’s wonderful.
Christopher Rogers:
That was the professor will actually write a letter of recommendation for him for some scholarships, even to the point, this same professor recommended him to travel to Denmark to represent the school. That’s when he met the folks from Swarovski Crystals and that’s actually one of his major sponsors.
Jonathan V.:
That’s wonderful. So along the topic of finishing what you started, and things along that line earlier, you had mentioned that you were more of a strict father. Can you think of any particular times where that manifest examples of how you were strict with your children?
Christopher Rogers:
So, we had curfews even to the point when he was a freshman coming home from college, he still had to meet his curfew. And of course he had to prove to me that he was a man or he was respectful.
Jonathan V.:
Do you remember what his curfew was?
Christopher Rogers:
Midnight.
Jonathan V.:
That’s reasonable.
Christopher Rogers:
Yes. I actually do the same thing with my daughter and she’s a college student right now. She stays here with us, but she goes to college actually where I work. So we see each other all the time.
Jonathan V.:
Oh, that’s nice. What kind of a degree of she pursuing?
Christopher Rogers:
Accounting. She’s majoring in accounting and she’s scheduled to graduate in May 2021.
Jonathan V.:
Oh, that’ll be great. Good for her. And that’s a great place to be as a dad to have gotten your kids that far.
Christopher Rogers:
Yes, sir.
Jonathan V.:
Were there any times that were particularly challenging for you as a father?
Christopher Rogers:
I guess it would be the time when he actually came out per se, as being gay. That was one of the hardest things for me to accept. But at the same time, I had to realize that he was still my son and he was honest with me. It’s not like we had to just find out on the outside, but he actually talked to us and told us what was going on.
Jonathan V.:
And how old was he when you had that conversation with him?
Christopher Rogers:
I’ll say about 12, 12, 13.
Jonathan V.:
Okay. And how did that go?
Christopher Rogers:
It didn’t go well, I mean, we took it hard cause we didn’t quite understand it. We didn’t know how to deal with it. And of course, parents have to deal with peer pressure as well, but also being his parents we had to understand that we still had to protect him as our kid. And then with us being, trying to be children of fate, we would still tell him that you have to follow the teachings of Jesus. You still have to go to church. You still have to pray. But we still told him that he still has to be responsible for whatever actions that he has but he still has to protect the family name. And I can say up until today, he’s protecting the family name and it’s not because of all the accolades and everything that he’s receiving, but it’s just the way he carries himself. He’s still that son that we had when he was in elementary school, up into college, we still talk at least once a week. Like tonight would probably be the night that he’s going to call is either going to be a Friday evening or Saturday evening. We talk for about 10, 15 minutes as a family. He still communicates with his sister. And I think we’re at ease with it. He’s been honest with us, he’s always been honest with us.
Jonathan V.:
And is there any advice that you would give to other fathers in that situation? I would imagine from how you’re describing it, that for you, it was a surprise and maybe your initial reactions weren’t exactly how you would have scripted them with the benefit of hindsight, but speaking to other fathers, if they were in that situation or is there advice that you would give on how to best respond to it?
Christopher Rogers:
Well, I guess the first thing that I would do or what I would advise would be to first, listen, if you have that relationship with your child, listen to them, let them talk as something that was always for me because I went through the same thing with my father. You know, when things would happen, he was a disciplinarian himself, you know, he would just say what he had to say, then he would just leave, to the point that he want to hear about it anymore. But from what I’ve learned and I guess getting wiser now is that just listen to your kids, listen to what they have. We know there’s a lot of things going on in our world today. So peer pressure is a big thing, but I think would be is to communicate with them, tell them that you love them.
Jonathan V.:
I think that’s great. Especially, you know, reaffirming your love for the child. I would imagine that for Christopher, it was probably a scary moment for him to approach the two of you and not know, or for any child who’s coming out to their parents, not knowing how they’re going to respond and to know that they still have their parents love. First and foremost, I think everything past that is much more easy to deal with if you know that you still have that foundation of, of love between all of you. You had mentioned that you had curfew for him, even as he came home from college. How did your parenting relationship change with both of your kids as they grew into that phase where they’re in college? Are you continuing to give them advice? And in what way do you continue to father them?
Christopher Rogers:
Oh yes. We always, like I said, we, we talk periodically, we communicate our relationship has evolved from being a strict disciplinarian to a relationship of almost, you know, being a mentor, mentee type of friendship. So, you know, I’ve gone through best practices. Cause I was once young, my wife was once young. I get a lot of advice. My still from some of my older friends and well, ironically, most of my friends are older than I am. So I get a lot of advice from that. And I try to instill that into my family as well. He normally calls and asks for advice and you know, so I genuinely listen and then I’ll offer my perspective on whatever topic that he has. And if it’s something that I don’t know, I said, well, I have to get back with you. So oftentimes he just, basically just likes to keep things simple is either yes or no or let’s think about it, but whatever we can do to make CJ happy or Sariah who’s my daughter, all I ask is just be honest with me from the beginning. Don’t surprise me too much because I may not take it too easily. But at the end of the day, I’m proud of CJ as a man. Proud of him as my son, I’m proud of him as a citizen.
Jonathan V.:
Well, you have a lot to be proud about in addition to being an extraordinary fashion designer, he seems to be a very thoughtful and smart young man and a man of great character.
Christopher Rogers:
Yes, sir.
Jonathan V.:
I imagine after college, it, it still must have been difficult, even given all of his talent and accomplishments, difficult to break into the fashion industry is that right?
Christopher Rogers:
Right. It’s not like CJ just graduated out of SCAD. And then Michelle Obama started wearing his clothes. He literally had to scrape to get where he’s at. His very, his first job was actually working in a restaurant for about a week. He received his degree and he said, I’m going to go and stay with one of my friends that I met in college, who is now in New York. And I’m going to find myself a job. I said, okay. I said, well, it’s on you now, your a man. And that’s what he did. And he tried to make it, I mean, we assisted him when we could for rent and things like that. But he worked in a restaurant and his tip for that one day was like $15, that’s after he had to split everything up. And he said, Oh no, this is not for me. And he had his portfolio and he kept shopping it. And then that’s when he started working for Diane Von Furstenberg, DVF.
And that’s where everything just started happening for him. And to say that it was not even a year out of college, that he’s working for one of the top fashion designers in the world. And then he’s being mentored by her and other designers that were there. And then he sees giving him the opportunity to actually build his brand and work on pieces for himself because he was literally staying in a one to two bedroom apartment with maybe two or three other roommates. And they were designing clothes there enough where he could put a collection together to go and show. And she actually gave him that opportunity to take a week off and present his collection and then end up getting a global congratulatory on that collection. And that’s what propelled him.
Jonathan V.:
Isn’t that something. Wow. It really speaks to his work ethic also because being a designer, as I understand, is, is a lot of work being a designer for DVF, I would imagine is just that much more demanding. And then for him to be able to assemble his own collection while working as a designer for DVF, that’s just got to be a Herculean task.
Christopher Rogers:
Yes, it is. That’s all from the time when he was really young was actually being dedicated and committed to what he wanted to do. And we come from a family on, on both sides. My father and mother were both hard workers, even down to his mom’s mother and father. They were both hard workers as well. So it was, it’s ingrained in him and his sister.
Jonathan V.:
Were there expectations around the household as well that they would do or work or?
Christopher Rogers:
Yes. You had to do that. Yes you did, he, his thing was taking out the trash, making sure his room was cleaned which that was an understatement, but I guess being in fashion, you would always had the clippings all over the floor or needles, pins, things of that nature. To the point he would just take over the whole house. But at the end of the day, he’s, he’s been a good son.
Jonathan V.:
And how were his academics going through high school? Was he a good student outside of the arts as well?
Christopher Rogers:
I just put it this way. He graduated Summa cum laudi from high school. And then he also graduated Summa cum laudi from Savannah College of Art and Design.
Jonathan V.:
Wow. Did you and your wife have to push that? He just, he just got the grades?
Christopher Rogers:
He just got the grades. It was, we did not have to push CJ to study, so it was almost, and he always would read, he always read, he would read novels. He would read the newspaper. I mean, because we had those things scattered all over the house. So, you know, at the coffee table we would have magazines. So I would read the newspaper for every morning. And of course, when the internet came to be, and he would read stuff on the internet, so he was always engaged. So he can, he can hold his own with almost anyone. And I think that’s already been proven.
Jonathan V.:
Yeah. In many ways. Yeah. Certainly in the, yeah, in fashion design here at a very young age. And it’s interesting hearing you talk about it. I wondered coming into this conversation. How, how can somebody become that accomplished in fashion design at such a young age, with a handful of years of experience out of college, but it sounds like he has 16 years of, he started at such a young age, really doing the thing that he’s doing now.
Christopher Rogers:
I never thought of it that way, to be honest, it’s 16 years of experience. I never really thought of it that way. Wow.
Jonathan V.:
Getting on YouTube, doing his research, sending out emails to these people.
Christopher Rogers:
Yes, sir. Writing his own memos and actually getting a response writing for sponsorships. I mean, he was getting his own sponsorships for his collection in college.
Jonathan V.:
That’s great. So I have just a few closing questions. What are three words that you think your kids or your wife might use to describe your parenting style?
Christopher Rogers:
Strict, compassionate, loving.
Jonathan V.:
Strict, compassionate, and loving. It’s a nice combo, good balance. What’s something that you learned from your kids or just from the process of being a father?
Christopher Rogers:
That’s a good question. I guess, being patient, that when I started as a father, I didn’t know much about being a father and I guess that’s how it is with most first time fathers. That through guidance and looking at good examples around you and in utilizing those skills that you’ve learned from others that’s been successful and then use it for yourself for your own kids. And what has helped me, I’ve always been around a lot of good people, myself, people who are actually that had families, that had whole families that actually worked with their kids and actually had their kids exposed to many things. So I’ve always, I’ve had that opportunity myself. As such as my wife. She’s always been exposed to a lot of folks. So whatever we were a part of our kids were actually a part of it as well. And I think that is what’s helped him is how to communicate with everyone. No matter if it’s the guy on the block, holding up a sign, trying to just get a few dollars or just food. To the point that now CJ actually has former first lady, Michelle Obama, to where his piece are having a candid conversation with Tracy Ellis Ross through a kit. And they are literally having fun, but it all took him just being grounded in who he was not forgetting where he came from. And then also being a true professional where he needed to be, to be successful himself.
Jonathan V.:
Were there things that you had to do to cultivate patience as a father?
Christopher Rogers:
I had to make a conscious effort at one time and that was to listen, just listen, don’t jump to conclusions. And then my wife, I mean, she’s my pair. I mean, she’s helped me a lot to be patient. And also because she’s the quiet one, real quiet.
Jonathan V.:
It sounds like you two have a great relationship.
Christopher Rogers:
We love to have fun. We just, and we love to just be ourselves and just be honest with each other. And that’s the key.
Jonathan V.:
Are there any books or resources or habits that you’ve found helpful in parenting in general or that have helped you to become a better person and through that helped you to become a better father?
Christopher Rogers:
Well, reading the Bible, number one, that’s one. And then just being surrounded by other fathers who are successful and then following their leads and then expressing some of the things that you may be going through and seeing how they would actually encounter it. I mean, I remember one time I asked my own father about how would he attack a situation and then he was able to tell me.
Jonathan V.:
That’s great advice. Is there any additional advice that you would give to other fathers, either fathers in general or fathers that have a child who’s interested in pursuing a career in the arts or in fashion design?
Christopher Rogers:
Well, I guess my thing would be, is to support your children in whatever endeavor that they want to get involved in. Sometime it may not be something you want to do are something that’s not part of the norm of your surroundings, but at the end of the day, your kid has to be the one that has to live with it. And they’re the ones that’s going to have to be happy. It just so happened that CJ is doing something that he’s always wanted to do since he was a kid. So he’s living his childhood dream. And I guess finally I would say is that, remember that he is a child of God, or we are children of God, and we have to be happy and follow that lead that’s already been set forth for us because we are still a part of this ecosystem that’s called this world that we all have to get along with each other.
Jonathan V.:
Yeah, that’s right. That’s right. So I just had one last question, which is, is there, is there anything that we didn’t cover that you’d like to add?
Christopher Rogers:
Well, I just want to just add one thing that yes, I was a strict father, but that was one thing we made sure of for CJ and later on, his sister Sariah is that they attended church service Sunday school, but occasional Bible school. And that he was actually raised by a strict disciplinarian father and, and a very compassionate mom, but we also grew together to the point that, he confirms with his mom, he confers with us and that we always found that time to at least talk, at least every Saturday or every other Saturday, we were getting up early in the morning and we were going to the barbershop. And then at that time that’s when we would actually just talk about things, talk about life, talk about some of the things that he liked, or maybe some of the things that I went through as a kid, he would say something. I said, well, I went through that before and he said, wow, why did you go through that? How, what did your daddy do? And I say, well, you know, I would tell him what would actually happen, but just, we was always trying to be honest with each other, but at the end of the day, we always would just say, God is watching us and we leave it at that.
Jonathan V.:
That’s nice. And it’s a great place to close as well. I think Christopher, thank you so much for finding time for this conversation. I’ve really enjoyed talking with you. You’re an excellent father and it really is an honor talking with you.
Christopher Rogers:
Okay. Well, I appreciate that. Thank you. Thank you.