Mompreneurs: Thriving At The Crossroads Of Fashion And Community With Sharifa Murdock

Source: Courtesy of Sharifa Murdock / other

This week on the Mompreneurs podcast, Sharifa Murdock shares how her love for fashion carried her to the top—from working in retail to becoming a fashion executive at the coveted lifestyle brand, Kith. As Kith’s Chief Impact Officer, the new mom leads the company’s social impact initiatives under its nonprofit arm, the Kinnect Foundation.

Murdock resides at the intersection of fashion and social impact.

Determined to dive deeper into community-centered work, Murdock co-founded ENVSN, an organization working to empower young women through growth opportunities, skill-building, and mentorship.

The Brooklyn native gravitated toward fashion early on. “I love fashion, it’s going to always be at the core of who I am,” she said.

Murdock began her journey working a retail job at Atrium—“the Kith before Kith.” That’s where she met her mentor, Sam Ben-Avraham, who she continues to work with to this day. “I owe my whole entire career to him, because he was that person that saw something in me that I didn’t see in myself,” she said.

Murdock and Ben-Avraham found success in creating their own fashion trade shows—curating unique brands and introducing them to retailers. “I was finding the brands and bringing them to the States, and we built a really great experience,” said Murdock.

In between trade shows, Ben-Avraham founded Kith with Ronnie Fieg, and brought Murdock on as Chief Impact Officer to oversee their nonprofit arm. The Kinnect Foundation organizes a variety of programming focused on fostering community—like volunteer opportunities, youth mentorship, and donation drives.

Murdock’s career is built on authentic connection.

“I always want to see the good before I see the bad. I don’t want to have negative energy. That’s when you start to change as a person, and I never wanted to be that,” she said. “So whenever I met someone, I always gave them the benefit of the doubt until they showed me something different.”

Murdock is furthering her passion for mentorship through ENVSN, which she co-founded with her business partner, Laura Stylez, to empower young women through education, mentorship, and sisterhood.

The new mom is embracing the shifts that come with motherhood.

With her two-year-old son, Legend, by her side, the new mom is settling into motherhood after many years of focusing on her career. “(Motherhood) calmed me down a lot. I was trying to do everything … always saying ‘yes’ to things,” she said.

Murdock is looking forward to doing more community-centered work through Kith and ENVSN. “I want to do more work within the communities that I serve, and I think that’s how other brands should think,” she said. “We can be really dynamic if we were to do for the communities like we do for the fashion brands.”

Catch new episodes of ‘Mompreneurs’ every week.

Every week, we celebrate beautiful Black entrepreneurs who are simultaneously amazing business moguls and awesome moms. Join host and New York Times bestselling author Nancy Redd as these mompreneurs share their life stories and inspiring advice. Catch new episodes of Mompreneurs every Monday on MadameNoire’s YouTube channel. Or listen to the podcast online on the Urban One Podcast Network.