- The jewelry to me is childlike wonder.

I love being able to kind of invoke that good core childhood memory to kind of make a person giggle.

I want them to feel like anything is possible, 'cause as a child that's the feeling we had.

Anything was possible.

(upbeat music) I am Aaliyah Taylor, creator and founder of Exalting In Beauty.

Exalting In Beauty is my business, it's my brand, it's my baby.

It's a business that is founded on creating works of art to enhance and exalt the beauty of everyone's creation of who they are and what they represent.

Funny enough Exalting In Beauty started when I was actually in a broken place where I didn't feel as beautiful, because of some life issues that were happening.

And so, from that moment, I started just making jewelry out of the Perler Beads that I had bought when I was in college trying to do a side hustle.

And just creating those pieces and seeing how a lot of faces were like light up, how it brought a lot of joy and it was different experience for people to see something that was once a kid's summer camp toy now become wearable jewelry.

So, I started building that brand up until what I have now.

Now, when I see people buy my jewelry, first and foremost, I love the expressive faces when they come see it.

Because number one, what's happening is invoking a nostalgic experience.

They are like, "Wait, are these the same beads from summer camp?"

And I'm like, "Yeah."

(Aaliyah chuckling) And that then begins a conversation.

And then you have some who say, "Well, Aaliyah, these are kind of big," or, "I'm not sure about this color."

And it helps me kind of be the conduit to lead them to not be afraid.

You know, 'cause sometimes they say, "Well, I'm not bold enough for this."

And I'm like, "Who told you that?"

So, it helps me, the earrings and the jewelry and the clothes, become a vehicle for me to really empower them, because that's what happened for me.

I had my mom, I had women in my family, I had my village who empowered me to recognize that I am powerful.

And even my coworkers at my job, my full-time job, majority of them wear my jewelry and they support me.

And it's always they tell me how it makes them feel when they put the jewelry on that it truly enhances how they think of themselves.

They're able to embrace their individuality and they're bolder, because now it's like, "I got these big old earrings on I could do anything."

So yeah, it feels good to really see how it affect people's personalities and even just how they think of themselves in a positive way.

Oh my gosh, so, Magic City Fashion Week I've always been the one such a spectator looking at it from behind the glass.

And this was the one time that when they started up season four, I was here in Birmingham.

The other seasons I was in Atlanta, or I was in school, and this is the first time I was here.

And I had this passion for fashion.

I would make clothes for different people who knew my secret love for creating, not just wearing fashion, but creating fashion.

And I just felt this moment where I wanted to not just be known as the jewelry designer, the Perler Bead girl, but I wanted people to see that I am multifaceted, that I do have a voice in clothing, and I wanted to also gain confidence in my talent that I knew I have.

But because of imposter syndrome and feeling inadequate there's this part of me that was like, well, I'll just let everybody else do it.

So, it was a leap of faith for me to really trust in myself to gain the confidence.

The goal wasn't to win it was just to say, Aaliyah, you did it.

So, now let's move forward and keep pressing forward.

(Aaliyah chuckling) I'm very into haute couture and avant-garde pieces.

And being a plus size woman, I don't see that a lot on the runways.

I can even see in that moment as the judge was going down each contestant and speaking about their work, I was in the moment just looking at my family, looking at my dad who came to support.

Just seeing everybody there and looking at how I finally did something that I've been scared to do.

And then to hear Aaliyah Taylor called as a winner, it showed me that not only did you do something that you were scared of, you were afraid of, but you also wanted.

Once they called my name and I had to say a speech, and I remember that I kept saying, "I'm taking up space."

And funny with taking up space, that used to be the things that bullies used to say to me when I was younger, 'cause I was tall and big for my age.

And they always say, "You take up so much space."

But the reality of taking that phrase and taking back the power and saying, "This is a powerful moment to take up space."

Even though I dressed to be seen with the colors, if I felt seen in that moment as a plus-sized Black woman winning Magic City Fashion Week.

(Aaliyah chuckling) Me and my mom always talk about being an artist is putting a piece of you out there.

So, when people are wearing my jewelry, or if they're looking at a painting, or looking at a photograph, that's a piece of me that they are looking, judging, giving comments, buying.

And so, this was me being out there.

The colors didn't make sense, but in my brain, that's how I saw the fits, the sculptural, you know, jacket and how everything was put together.

It was me putting my heart and soul, and some blood, 'cause of just the needle and thread, but it was pieces of me that everyone was able to see.

So, they were able to see not just the external look of Aaliyah, or style of Aaliyah, but they were able to see my heart, my soul, and my faith, and myself, and what I can do.