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Faculty & Instructors

Learn from the
Practitioners

Every instructor at HFA is a working fashion professional — not just a teacher. Our faculty bring the real world into the studio, every single session.

Leadership & Faculty

Fashion cannot be taught from a textbook. Our instructors are designers, tailors, stylists, and entrepreneurs who are building careers in the very industry they teach.

Every instructor at HFA is selected not only for their expertise, but for their ability to communicate it — to see where a student is struggling, and to find the right word, demonstration, or exercise to break through. Teaching at HFA is a craft in itself.

Mrs Cleopatra Chekwubechukwu — Founder & Executive Director
Academy Leadership
Mrs Cleopatra Chekwubechukwu
Founder & Executive Director

Mrs Chekwubechukwu founded HFA in 2010 with a vision to make world-class fashion education accessible in Ebonyi State. With over sixteen years of combined industry and teaching experience, she oversees the academy's curriculum, faculty, and creative direction — and remains actively involved in studio sessions, critiques, and graduation showcases.

Garment Construction Bridal Couture Fashion Entrepreneurship Curriculum Design
Studio Instructors

Our studio instructors are specialists in their disciplines — bringing both deep technical knowledge and real-world professional experience into every class.

Amaka Eze
Senior Instructor · Pattern Making

A master drafter with over a decade of experience producing patterns for custom and ready-to-wear lines. Amaka's teaching style is precise, patient, and deeply technical — students leave her classes with confidence in their hands.

Pattern Drafting · Dart Manipulation
Ngozi Okoro
Instructor · Bridal Wear Construction

Ngozi runs her own bridal atelier alongside her teaching role at HFA. She brings real client work and live projects into the studio, giving students exposure to the full lifecycle of a bridal commission.

Bridal Gowns · Lace Placement
Chukwuemeka Ibeh
Instructor · Streetwear & Digital Design

Emeka bridges the analogue and digital worlds of fashion — teaching students to translate their street-inspired concepts into garments and digital illustrations. His sessions are energetic, culturally grounded, and technically rigorous.

Streetwear · Illustration
Adaora Nwike
Instructor · Corsetry & Contouring

Adaora is one of the few specialists in South-East Nigeria with formal training in historical and contemporary corsetry. Her classes cover everything from boning placement and seam engineering to the philosophy of shaping garments for different body types.

Corsetry · Structural Design
Onyinye Okafor
Instructor · Fashion Business Class

Onyinye built and sold a fashion brand before coming to teach at HFA. Her Business Class is grounded in lived experience — covering pricing, client acquisition, social media strategy, and the financial mechanics of running a sustainable creative business.

Business Strategy · Brand Building
Ifeoma Ugwu
Instructor · Design Fundamentals & Fabric

Ifeoma is the first instructor most HFA students encounter — and many say her Fundamentals class changed how they see the world. She has a gift for making the technical feel approachable, and for igniting curiosity in students who arrive without any formal design background.

Fabric Science · Construction Basics
How We Teach
Hands-On from Session One

No months of passive theory before students touch fabric. At HFA, students are creating from day one — building confidence and muscle memory in the studio alongside conceptual understanding.

Live Critique & Constructive Feedback

Students present their work and receive structured, honest feedback from instructors and peers. Learning to give and receive critique is one of the most valuable skills any designer can develop.

Small Cohorts by Design

Cohort sizes at HFA are deliberately limited so that every student receives meaningful, direct attention from instructors — not a one-size-fits-all experience in an overcrowded room.

Real Industry Projects

Where possible, HFA instructors bring real client briefs, production challenges, and professional scenarios into the classroom — so students are preparing for the industry as it actually works.

Train Under Industry Professionals

Apply for our July 2026 intake and learn from instructors who are actively building careers in fashion.

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