Detroit Fashion Designer Ken Walker Branches Out Into Mental Health Advocacy

Southfield (CW50) - Ken Walker was born and raised in Detroit, attending Detroit School of Arts before securing a Bachelor Degree in advertising in 2014. After a few years in the advertising world, Walker began to feel that a change was needed in his life, in order for him to follow a dream of his. In 2017, Walker founded his own fashion company, K. Walker Collective, as a creative outlet to follow his passion, while still working in advertising.

In February 2019, Walker was invited to have his designs appear at New York Fashion Week, which he says is the biggest highlight of his career. Being from Detroit helped the K. Walker Collective find a unique identity which they describe as a line "for those who take liberty in disrupting the standards of business casual to elevate the conversations around style, success and standing in one's rightful place as an unmatched doer."

"Detroit is a fashion capital. It's always been ingrained in our history. It's always been something I've been inspired by since I was younger," Walker said, when asked why he launched K. Walker Collective in Detroit.

Recently, Walker founded a nonprofit organization called Detroit Mental Health. His reasoning behind the nonprofit's founding was his struggle with his own mental health and his drive to overcome it through his passion of fashion. He wants Detroit Mental Health to become Detroit's hub for mental health and bring important resources into one centralized place for Detroiters.

"I felt like I had a passion for something but I was going to work every day and bottling up what was my passion and that caused a lot of anxiety," Walker said about why he started his company, "I didn't have the ability to feel myself."

Ken Walker joins Lisa Germani on Community Connect to talk about his life from advertising to fashion, and why his path led him to serving as a mental health advocate.

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