SBHS Alum Wins NJ Fashion Executive of the Year Award

She started her own fashion magazine on a challenge from one of her professor's at Rider University, and now just a few years later that magazine has launched Kendall Park native Tirusha Dave to the pinnacle of New Jersey's fashion world.

As part of Atlantic City Fashion Week, Dave was recently honored with the prestigious Fashion Executive Award, as the only South Asian nominee out of seven others competing for the award.

“When I received the call from the executive producers of Atlantic City Fashion Week) that the polls were closed early, and I was the winner in the Fashion Executive category, it was truly a Miss America moment,” Dave said. “The first two people I had to tell were my parents, because they were beyond supportive of me when it came to the voting process.”

After graduating from South Brunswick High School in 2002, Dave moved on to Rider University where she was working towards a degree in English. Dave's journey into the world of fashion began at Rider when she found herself unsatisfied with the magazine she was interning for, feeling that the guidelines she had to follow left no room for creativity, as the pieces she was writing felt sterile and lacking in personality.

"My professor told me if you're unhappy then create your own platform, which was her own way of telling me to go start my own magazine," Dave said in a prior interview. "I knew nothing about that, so I spent a semester researching how to start a magazine."

Last year, Bravura Magazine became the only South Asian to publication to receive an invitation to attend the inauguration of President Barack Obama at the Inaugural Ball hosted by the State of New Jersey. She also had the chance to meet and interview Newark Mayor Cory Booker.

Since Bravura started Dave has interviewed Bollywood celebrities such as Hrithik Roshan, Freida Pinto, Dev Patel, Shahrukh Khan, and Manish Malhotra.

Following being named as Social Media Director for Atlantic City Fashion Week, the power of South Brunswick's support helped propel Dave to the Fashion Executive award.

“It was so funny because the same day one of my neighbors came up to me and said, ‘What's this that we read about you in the South Brunswick Patch and working in fashion?’ I'm just very thankful to each and every person who voted, Tweeted, Facebooked...everything to help get the word out to support me. And I hope I can continue to make South Brunswick post with all of my future endeavors.”

Click here to visit the Bravura Magazine web site or click here to visit their Facebook page. Dave is also blogging for South Brunswick Patch, which you can follow by clicking here.