DALLAS — It's the little things that always stick with us.
“Growing up, my mom and dad always kept me dressed up,” said Ty’Viana Woodard, owner of Ty Wood Final Touch.
And it's those same little things that eventually play huge roles in who we become.
“I like styling and dressing up,” said Woodard.
Since elementary school, Woodard told her mother, Steveia Bowens, exactly what she wanted.
"We asked, ‘Hey, what do you want to do? What do you want to be when you grow up?" said Bowens. "It never changed. It never changed. It was 'I want to be a fashion designer.'”
So, for Woodard’s 11th birthday, her dad bought her a sewing machine.
"For a while, I didn’t touch it," said Woodard.
For almost two years, in fact, the sewing machine sat in Woodard’s closet. Then she felt a pandemic push.
"When she got bored during the pandemic, she said, 'Mama, I’m about to start sewing,'" Bowen said. "I said, 'OK!' She got on YouTube and went to work."
She started sewing masks.
"When the pandemic happened," Woodard said, "I felt like making masks would be a good start off."
Then, sewing masks turned into sewing hair scrunchies. Then. swimsuits Then prom dresses.
Eventually, she was moved on up to designing and sewing her entire Lincoln High School’s Drill Team uniforms -- making 15 uniforms in less than a month.
"I’m willing to try new things even if I’ve never done it, even if it looks hard," Woodard said. "I’m willing to take on difficulties."
Woodard has been taking on difficulties since birth, actually. She was born prematurely, and has endured more than 70 surgeries to rebuild her airway.
Pictures are her only memories of that past at this point. Now, Woodard focuses solely on her future - and her business, Ty Wood Final Touch.
"I came a very long way," she said. "There were times when I was like, 'Oh, I can’t do it anymore. I can’t.' But at the same time of me telling myself I can’t do it, I continue to do it."
"I brag on my baby more than anything," Bowens said. "That’s my daughter. I’m over proud."
Woodard is also proud of herself, too.
Or, as she puts it: "That’s my final touch."