PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS FROM TEMITOPE KAYODE
President & CEO of
African Cultural Fashion Heritage (ACFH)
Maryland Fashion Week & Fashion Week Maryland (MFWFWM)
African Cultural Fashion Heritage Academy (ACFHA)
Africa Fashion Week Maryland & Maryland Africa Fashion Week (AFWMMAFW)
Delivered at the 4th Annual ACFH Event – June 2025
Good evening, family.
With a heart full of gratitude and vision, I welcome you all to this historic celebration of culture, creativity, and community. This platform—African Cultural Fashion Heritage—is more than an event. It’s a movement, a mission, and a call to action for every Black, African, and Caribbean soul who believes in the power of unity, heritage, and economic independence.
I stand before you as the Founder and President of ACFH, Maryland Fashion Week, our Fashion Academy, and more—because I believe that when we come together, when we celebrate our brilliance, when we wear our culture with pride, we are unstoppable.
I want to see our Black communities united—not just in culture, but in love.
I want to see African and Caribbean people trusting each other, doing business with one another, building together, and growing together.
I want to see us celebrating ourselves—our beauty, our style, our genius, and our strength.
I want us to value our products, our fabrics, our languages, and our voices.
Let’s wear our identity like royalty, because that’s what we are.
I want to see Black men uplifting Black men.
I want to see Black women holding up other Black women—not in competition, but in community.
I want to see our young people dreaming boldly, and our elders standing as pillars of legacy.
Let us be proud of who we are. Let us empower one another.
Let us build businesses that serve our people.
Let us create a world where our children don’t have to fight to be seen, heard, or respected.
Through ACFH, MFWFWM, ACFHA, and AFWMMAFW, we are laying the foundation for that future—one runway, one class, one artisan, one designer at a time.
To everyone here today: You are the movement.
To every sponsor, model, creative, mentor, volunteer, and supporter: You are the legacy.
Let’s love one another.
Let’s build together.
And let’s leave a powerful, beautiful, and lasting legacy for the generations coming after us.
Thank you.
— Temitope Kayode
President & CEO
ACFH | MFWFWM | ACFHA | AFWMMAFW