Aurora James Net Worth: How Rich is the Activist Actually?

Aurora James s a Canadian fashion designer, creative director, and activist. She is best known as the founder of the fashion label Brother Vellies. James is also the founder of the non-profit 15 Percent Pledge, which supports Black-owned businesses. As of 2023, Aurora James has an estimated net worth of $2 million.

Early life

Aurora James was born in 1984 in Guelph, Ontario. She spent her childhood days in Canada and Jamaica. Her father was originally from Ghana and her mom was a Canadian.

James moved to Los Angeles in 2010 and later shifted to New York City. Regarding her education, James studied fashion for a year at Ryerson University and later switched to Journalism. Then, she attended the Toronto Metropolitan University and completed her graduation.

Aurora James Net Worth and Career

Aurora James was 15 when she had her first internship at Next Models in Toronto. After some time, she started working with Jeanne Beker at Fashion Television. Beker hugely influenced her and eventually express herself to be a designer.

In 2011, she traveled to Morocco and worked there with many artisans. For the next few years, she spent time experimenting with testing designs, and design at local markets in New York. In January 2013, she eventually started the fashion label, Brother Vellies.

James launched the label with $3,500 in savings. While launching the label, she had a goal of promoting the work of African artisans. She initially produced for the spring 2014 season in South Africa. Later, she expanded her work in other countries within Africa and outside Africa including Honduras and Mexico.

Within that time, she gave continuity to producing desert boots, slippers, shoes, and sandals. In 2015, she started producing handbags for the label, Brother Vellies. That same year, she received the CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund prize. Then, in 2020, she was featured on the cover of the September issue of Vogue magazine.

James’ design has been worn by many celebrities, activists, and artists including Beyonce, Nicki Minaj, Elaine Welteroth, and Solange Knowles. She also designed the Tax the Rich dress for the Alexandrian Ocasio-Cortez, which she wore at the 201 Met Gala.

In 2020, James launched an initiative called the 15 Percent Pledge to support black-owned businesses. On May 29, 2010, she shared an Instagram post about the initiative that immediately went viral and also resulted in an outpouring of interest.

Later, the initiative was created as a non-profit organization that urged major retailers to commit 15% of their shelf space to black-owned businesses. Along with that, the foundation also offers large corporations accountability, strategy suggestions, and consulting services.

The official website of the foundation mentioned that the initiative was born from seeing multiple acts of social injustice and brutality from police in the United States. As a solution to the issue, James came up with a way that companies could make a tangible change, and then the 15 Percentage Pledge was born.

James documented the meteoric rise tale of her career as a fashion designer in a memoir called Wildflower. The autobiography will be published on May 9, 2023. Through her memoir, she has described every detail of her journey from her struggling childhood to being a fashion industry disruptor.

Personal Life

Aurora James has not shared a brief detail about her personal life. She is rumored to be dating her boyfriend, Benjamin Bronfman. James and her rumored boyfriend have been captured on social media numerous times. She has also shared some posts with her lover on Instagram.

Nevertheless, James has been keeping her romance out of the public eye for now. In 2021, she was accused of avoiding paying taxes and reported having debts in multiple states. Her debts are mostly owed by an LLC firm, Cultural Brokerage Agency, that she formed in 2011 to serve as a parent company of her fashion label, Brother Vellies.

Aurora James Net Worth

As of 2023, Aurora James has an estimated net worth of $2 million. In September 2020, she purchased a $1.6 million house in Hollywood Hills. She bought the home despite her luxury fashion brand racking up three open tax warrants after failing to withhold income taxes from employees’ total paychecks of $14,798.