An awakening, from the beginning.

I started House of Sumayya in a luxury brand-management class at FIT. It was bigger than the assignment from the first week.

I wanted something that didn't exist yet. The miracle berry — Synsepalum dulcificum, a small West African fruit — answered the question. Set on the tongue, it awakens the palate for about an hour. My culture, and the fruit's origin in Ghana, answered the question too.

I pitched the House at the New York State Business Plan Competition and lost the first round. The notes I took from the judges shaped the next year of the work.

Later, my FIT capstone selected me as one of seven to pitch to venture capitalists. Everything since has been an elaboration on that first taste.

The House is not a heritage estate. It is an awakening — the gates giving way, quietly, across an evening.