Nisha Blackwell
Founder and CEO
Knotzland  |  knotzland.com

The inspiration behind Nisha Blackwell’s entrepreneurial journey started in her mid-twenties when she received words of encouragement from a woman in leadership whom she admired. “Her words of wisdom and ability to see greatness in me when I didn’t see it myself was the tiny spark that lit something in me to go after something more extraordinary,” Blackwell says.

Years later, Blackwell was let go during the downsizing of a coffee shop, a job helping pay her way through nursing school. Shortly thereafter, she received an invitation to a birthday party for her friend’s daughter. Unable to dole out cash for a nice gift, Blackwell’s creative juices began to flow. She pulled an unused sewing machine out from her closet and taught herself how to make hairbows by watching video tutorials on YouTube. The bows were an instant hit and by the time she left the party, she had her first few customers.

Blackwell turned her newfound sewing skills into developing Knotzland, a sustainable accessory company that designs and sells handcrafted bowties from repurposed and reclaimed fabric. Since its founding in 2015, the e-commerce company has prevented more than 8,000 pounds of textiles and materials from entering landfills and has worked alongside 29 sewists, whom Blackwell affectionately refers to as Knotzland’s “Sewcial” Network.

Blackwell’s inspiring story was the basis for a Google commercial that has been viewed 2.7 million times on YouTube. Offline, her story can be seen in the Black Lives Matter Mural painted by Homewood artist Camo under the Fort Duquesne Bridge. “It’s incredibly moving to have an artist from the same city who grew up in the same neighborhood choose to amplify me and my work in a mural among other dynamic Pittsburghers while I’m still very much here and alive to enjoy it,” she says.

Going forward, Blackwell wants to continue growing Knotzland until it becomes the go-to destination for bowties in Pittsburgh and expand its product offerings and business to other cities. Simultaneously, she hopes to scale Knotzland’s Sewcial Network so it can serve a larger community and create pockets of economic opportunity in communities across the country.

In the meantime, Blackwell has no intention of getting caught up in the chase. As she would advise other women in business: “Celebrate the journey—the wins and the failures, the highs and the lows and everything in between, because it will all make for great stories someday.”

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