LITTLE ROCK (KATV) — The founder and head instructor of the Arkansas Fashion School in Little Rock will be honored next week by being inducted into the Arkansas Women’s Hall of Fame.

Jamileh Kamran has a passion for fashion.

Since founding Arkansas Fashion School in 2007, she has strived to share her talent for fashion with others and give them the opportunity to learn and forge their own paths. She was pleasantly surprised to learn of her nomination for the Women’s Hall of Fame.

“I couldn’t believe I had done it. So I started working on the clothes. What should I wear, what shouldn’t I wear?

Her story begins in the Iranian province of Gilan, where her parents encouraged her to pursue her talent for fashion and art.

Due to political unrest in Iran in 1978, her family moved to the United States to study, where she and her husband attended Central Baptist College in Conway.

During that time, she says, many people helped her navigate her life in the United States while she continued to search for her niche.

“I’m actually a self-taught designer. I didn’t go to any major universities. I created, wrote my books – and when I designed, it was unique.”

Eventually she dropped out of college and started her fashion business in a tiny room in her then apartment.

She says she barely slept during all the years she spent raising a baby, working and adjusting to her new life in the United States, but she has no regrets.

Thanks to her hard work and motivation, she has dressed many public figures, such as Hillary Clinton, who was featured in People Magazine.

“It was pretty tough because I was a woman and a foreigner. But I still designed for Hillary Clinton. I practiced from home for eight years because I didn’t have the budget to open a shop.”

Kamran remembers a highlight of her career: she joined the AIDS Foundation to fight against stigma.

She designed a fabric from which scarves and ties were made, the sale of which went to benefit the cause.

Kamran says her life journey has led her to her passion, and there have been many obstacles along the way.

She had to prove to herself and her family what she was capable of, and says that this passion embodies who she is – she can’t imagine life without it.

“If I could do it, anyone can do it. If people are passionate about it and work hard, they can definitely achieve their goal.”