Dr. Debby Goodnews Silas, the CEO of Debby Classique Magazine and the organizers of D’cem Awards has been honoured with a doctorate degree of humanitarianism from Heart International University in USA.
Dr. Debby is the founder of Debby Classique Magazine, and the host of the much anticipated D’CEM Awards, she is one lady you would be proud to be acquitting.
An author, a magazine publisher, a motivational speaker, an event planner, a fashion designer with skills of curating new designs.
She developed her passion for fashion from an early age, as she was always using needles and thread to make dummy dresses, and gradually she began to create wearable styles for herself with needles and thread. The need to empower her passion for fashion became more evident to her parents.
At age 12, her father searched for a fashion house and registered her and she doubled as a secondary school student as well as a fashion apprentice.
Her parents were relieved and delighted to commit her to both a two year informal training and the formal education.
Debby’s first clientele list was made up of friends, classmates, and teachers, and she was able to monetize her sewing skill while still in high school. “Sewing was never a distraction from my education, and neither was my classroom activity a distraction to my sewing time,” she says. It was enjoyable to leave school and return to fashion school, and “I was able to diligently learn faster than my co-apprentice.”
Upon graduation from secondary school, she worked as an intern for a year with a professional fashion designer where she learnt some additional tailoring techniques. She later went to the University of Lagos, where she studied philosophy. Education “ My first admission was for business administration, but there was space for me, so I was given the option of studying Philosophy. My philosophy influenced who I am today”. Despite being a degree holder, fashion was the topmost of her plans. Hence, she worked for a year and then went into the full-time practice of fashion designing and styling, a business she sees more as a way of life. According to her, “I have been fashion designing since I was in high school at 12 years old, and I continued in the fashion industry after my 1st degree.” “I created the ideal fashion that is wearable. I love glamour and elegance and I create fashion styles for other designers. The motivation for creating fashion products in Vietnam and Turkey is to reproduce my designs and sustain my Fashion label”. Her styling business has a branch in Festac Town, Lagos, Nigeria and the United States. Her fashion week often witnesses new style creations.
The exquisite fashion publisher’s drive and engagement enabled her to launch the first magazine, Debbie Classic Magazine, on June 7th, 2009. “The zeal for publishing fashion styles in a magazine arose in me at a time when the African fashion industry had not made a notable wave”. Creating and inventing fashion ideas through the use of many fabrics in different colours was the target. According to her, “I created fashion styles for the magazine publication”. One publication later became too overwhelming for the fashion content being published yearly and this gave birth to the other three publications.
The first magazine had 34 pages, then the subsequently reviewed editions had 24 pages with exhilarating content about different fashion events and fashion styles across Africa.
The desire to see African fashion accepted by developed countries became the driving force in her life. She understudied existing fashion magazines and saw a need for a men’s fashion magazine and this led to the publishing of CityMag Magazine. It got great support from TV reporters and television programmes like Silver Bird. The Silver Bird team gave great support to the fashion publication. Her other magazines include; Dee Legend Magazine, Dews Magazine, and Citymag Magazine, a magazine that captures the best of men’s clothing styles.
Debby was the founder and first President of the Fashion Magazine Association of Nigeria. She was also one of the youngest fashion publishers in Nigeria. “I was president of FEMPAN and the youngest President.” The aim was to globalize African styles across the world. She became the first female fashion designer to publish four fashion magazines with award events in Nigeria. She is also the youngest female humanitarian who created an internationally recognized award for distinguished couples, noble personalities and veterans. Debby Classic Magazine has an award event which has over the years become a golden platform that showcases the achievements of great personalities, D’CEM. The Glamours Award is yet another award event born out of the understanding that the family is the smallest unit of society and a dysfunctional family will take a turn on the society, hence “the Glamours Award’. In her words, ”My wish was to create an award that gives credit to outstanding families in the society”. It’s rare to see any organisation that honours exemplary couples with awards, especially in the Diaspora, and I am delighted that I can do that through The GLAMOURS Award.
The pretty and cheerful humanitarian is married to her best friend, Buchi Silas. They are blessed with two princesses and a prince. They are all based in the United States of America, where they live beautiful and fulfilling lives. Debby is no doubt a lover of God and humanity; her devotion to growth and excellence has often been a point of reference. The tenacious stylist who champions as the publisher of four outstanding fashion magazines loves to hang out with her family in her spare time, “I take time off for family most weekends. I travel between June and July. Family is the most important part of my life.” Her motivation: “my life is a big lesson. There was a point in my life when some people I trusted gave up on me, but with God, I was able to rewrite my story”.
Stunning and soft-spoken, Debby is quite unparalleled in researching the stories of notable Africans who have influenced the growth of African heritage, African businesses, African culture, and Africans’ support of fellow Africans in the Diaspora. Her utmost joy is to see the positive development of Africans in the Diaspora and encourage the outstanding personalities to be more persistent in inspiring a better and safer world for the black community through investment, service to humanity, exemplary lifestyle and also through the involvement of the entertainment industry.
This is the 6th D’CEM Awards and it has a lot of surprises. It covers a lot of notable Hollywood actors, actresses, entertainers, and more. The Debby brand event is notable for being top-notch. I have my studio, where I design and produce new fashion designs and do photoshoots for magazine publications. In her statement at the 2020 DCEM Awards, held in Lagos, Nigeria, she said, “We are here today to celebrate icons of excellence.” We celebrate you and honour you for your great contribution to American society and the world at large. The awardees have been carefully chosen based on their activities and the various ways they have touched lives.
It is never a small feat to put these great acts together, but Debby Classique has shown that with a little encouragement, people can achieve more.
Debby Goodnews was the first female Nigerian to have a doctorate degree honor and own 4 high in demand entertainment and fashion magazines in Nigeria. Her fashion magazine centered on promoting African fashions for global recognition.
She is the first Fashion and Entertainment Magazines Publishers Association of Nigeria, (FEMPAN).
