My name is Elyjah Monks and I’m a 27 year old designer from Oklahoma City. Growing up in the skate scene making graphic tees and patching up jeans for my friends, my interest for clothes and how it built community began at a young age. After highschool I worked as an altier where my love and appreciation for garment construction and tailoring grew to obsession. I was hungry to work on any and every project available to me as I quickly immersed myself in the early stages of the Oklahoma fashion scene. I met my first mentors at 20 where I ended up co-leasing a space with all the money I managed to scrape together as an altier. This is where I started my first official label ‘Silent Studios.’ The label focused on mental health issues as a result of my biggest inspiration being my mother, a therapist.

After a year of co-leasing, it was time to go on my own. I opened a multi-brand retail store in the Plaza District called By.Everyone. After 6-going-on-7 years of business at By.Everyone, I moved the shop to Tulsa. Today, I am reshifting the focus of the shop to where I began; in-house brands and collaboration. I started ‘Souvenirs’ in the fall of 2024 as a collaborative effort to pull multiple art-mediums together. Souvenirs is a design philosophy that focuses on the ideas of travel and intimacy. Through ‘Souvenirs’ and ‘By.Everyone’ my guiding principle is and always will be; people first.

Through By.ELYJAH I am looking to broaden my scope of work with other creatives and entrepreneurs. I’m looking forward to the next big project with you.