In the Works 006: The Brand Builder

American garment craft was built on workwear. Plain Jane New York was built on that same foundation, creating the modern wardrobe essentials that working women actually need. By women, for women.

IN THE WORKS is a series about the women who get things done. Each edition goes inside what she's working on, where she goes, and what she wears through all of it.

When we first started thinking about our ‘Longer Sleeves’ launch, one thing we knew for certain was that Dana Mosa-Basha needed to star in the campaign. Flash forward a few months, not only is she the face of the campaign, she would be a true thought-partner and collaborator from day one. Is there anything better than having brilliant friends?

Dana is of Syrian descent, and was born and raised in Detroit, Michigan. After spending the better half of the last decade in New York, she moved back to Detroit two years ago to step into the role of director of marketing at Detroit-based design house and watch brand, Shinola.

Our ‘Longer Sleeves’ campaign comes in two parts: this profile and ‘The Long Week,’ an editorial of seven days, seven locations, and seven outfits. The profile takes place at La Ventana, one of our favorite coffee shops in Detroit and the first stop of the week. We talked with Dana about work, the words she lives by, personal style, and more. But let’s start here…

Plain Jane New York: If someone only read one sentence about you, what would you want it to be?

Dana Mosa-Basha: One sentence? Okay, I have a good answer: “See essay above.”

PJNY: We’re making this the first question, so it’ll be “See essay below.”

DB: Literally. Or maybe “Read between the lines.”

Words to Live By

PJNY: Words you live by?

DB: There’s a word in Arabic, tawakkul, that pretty much means trust and surrender. It’s not necessarily words, but it’s the word I live by: you are always exactly where you’re meant to be. As long as you’re pure-hearted and working toward something bigger than yourself, everything will work out exactly how it should. So tawakkul is the biggest word I live by.

And a quote I really live by is by Rumi: “What you seek is seeking you.” I probably repeat that in my head ten times a day.

PJNY: What’s a thread, literal or otherwise, that’s run through every era of your life so far?

DB: A thread that’s run through every era of my life so far has been trust. It goes back to my answer before: surrendering and trusting that everything will work out. I’ve believed that since day one.

PJNY: It takes a lot of people a long time to figure that out.

On Work

PJNY: What are you working on right now, and what were you doing before?

DB: Before I started working in brand building and storytelling, I actually got my master’s in international policy at Columbia’s School of International and Public Affairs.

Before that, I’d spent a lot of my time on Syria policy work and refugee resettlement. I decided not to go to law school, and that the best route forward was public administration and international policy. I got my master’s and worked in that field for about a year.

I realized that I had this creative side of me that felt very unfulfilled, and this tension where I was asking myself how I could still show up for my community while fulfilling that creative side. Then I decided that being a Muslim woman showing up in the world of brand building and luxury is a form of community service in and of itself. And no one’s stopping me from doing Syria-related work on the side, which I still happily do.

I got my start in fashion pretty soon after. I was working at PVH, the parent company of Calvin Klein and Tommy Hilfiger, and slowly transitioned my way into marketing. I started in social impact communications and then weaseled my way into the world of marketing. I worked at Soho House, then TikTok, and now I’m at my little hometown hero, Shinola.

PJNY: How would you describe Shinola to someone who’s not familiar with it?

DB: I’d describe Shinola as a maverick brand. It does the hard thing, but the right thing, and it’s very, very witty. We are the American watchmaker, but that’s fourth on the list.

Shinola really is the blue chip of American manufacturing. If you think about it, there genuinely is no other brand doing what we’re doing. We have watches, but we also have leather goods, chests, blankets, candles, and a hotel. You think of other design houses, like Tiffany or Hermès, but no one is doing it (a) in Detroit, in the Midwest, the Motor City, and (b) in the world of watches, at this scale in America. We’re the only ones doing that, and we don’t white-label anything. We produce everything from the ground up, which is amazing.

PJNY: What’s the piece of work you’re proudest of so far?

DB: At Shinola, or in my life?

PJNY: I would say in your life.

DB: The piece of work I’m proudest of at Shinola is a series we have called 10,000 Hours. I’m going to describe it as marvelous. It’s literally been marvelous to put a spotlight on people who are so deeply embedded in their subcultures, their communities, and their neighborhoods. We get to highlight their work and their craft, and how they contribute to the greater good. They’re such an important part of the fabric of their local communities and society.

In my life, the thing I’m proudest of so far is being in the position I’m in. Sometimes I have to pinch myself and remind myself that I can be in a room of 1,000 incredible marketers and storytellers, and nine times out of ten, I’m the only hijabi Muslim woman in that room. That’s something I’m really, really proud of.

PJNY: What’s the driving force behind the work you’re doing now?

DB: I would say the biggest driving force behind being in the space I’m in right now is representation. I always grew up thinking that if I’m outwardly Muslim, if I’m outwardly Arab, if I’m outwardly modest, opportunities aren’t going to come my way, and I have to hide certain parts of myself. I think that subconsciously ended up being a much bigger driving force than I realized. Being told you can’t do it, or that it’s going to be very hard, motivated me to work even harder.

There was also this creative fuel that had nowhere to go, and now I have an outpouring of creativity that I get to contribute to every day.

PJNY: That was beautiful, thank you. A follow-up: you have such a unique approach to brand building, and it really elevates Shinola. How do you get to those ideas, and what does your creative process look like when it comes to building brands?

DB: I wouldn’t necessarily call it a creative process, but the most important thing is your gut. If you have a gut feeling that something is going to work, it will most likely work. If you have a gut feeling that it won’t, it most likely won’t.

Another very important part is keeping really, really inspiring people around you, as a sounding board and as people to listen to and learn from. And it doesn’t hurt to brain rot and be eternally online, because you learn a lot by consuming other people’s content.

PJNY: I want to ask you about 10,000 Hours. We love the series, and it seems really fulfilling to make. Does it also perform well from a numbers perspective?

DB: This is on the same topic we were talking about earlier with influencer marketing. That content performs really well in every way.

First of all, it’s really important to pick the right people. Not everyone is going to have 100,000 followers, or a million. We’ve seen higher reach and engagement from working with a tailor on the Lower East Side who has fewer than 1,000 followers on Instagram. It was one of our highest-performing posts, because he’s so deeply embedded and loved in his community and his neighborhood that he’s instantly recognizable.

And consistently, every time we do one of these posts, 80 to 90% of the engagement comes from non-followers. That is very, very important.

I also think it matters in terms of standing behind something, which is so key in brand building. It tells the consumer everything you stand for without you having to say it yourself. You’re standing behind people who stand for something, and that’s a cosign.

PJNY: What’s something you believe about your field that most people in it would disagree with?

DB: It’s going to be a hot take: if you feel like you don’t have taste, it’s probably not the field for you. Sue me.

PJNY: What did you have to unlearn to become good at this?

DB: I had to unlearn doubting myself. I think a lot of women, and especially women of color and women from minority spaces, are taught to be the helper. There’s the idea person, and then there’s the executor, and I always thought maybe I was just the executor for the idea person. But once you get past that self-doubt, you realize you’re so full of ideas and inspiration yourself. So I really had to unlearn self-doubt.

PJNY: What part of your work makes you feel like you’re doing what you’re supposed to be doing?

DB: My energy feels different every single day, and I come home every day with a new story and a new idea. I love that in the world of brand building and storytelling, your day-to-day can look so vastly different, and everything can be a source of inspiration.

PJNY: A habit or ritual that makes you good at your job?

DB: First things first, drinking three beverages minimum a day, on rotation. Key.

A good song on the way to work every day is so important, depending on your vibe. This morning was very much a Yebba type of inspiration. Yesterday was Miley Cyrus. The day before that was Young Dolph. RIP.

Oh, and a habit or ritual that makes every single person 100 times better at their job: you need to be telling jokes with your coworkers, because a kiki a day keeps the ROAS at bay.

I literally come to work every single day like, who wants to hear every thought I had in the shower this morning, and what woke me up at four o’clock in the morning?

The ritual is that you go to work, leave no thought unspoken, then go home, take a shower, and think, “Why did I say everything I said today?” But I think it’s because in between meetings, you have to let all of that out, and then the work gets done.

PJNY: And what are the beverages?

DB: An iced cortado with a little bit of brown sugar from either Kitab Café or Café Sous Terre, or an iced matcha from Fred’s. And then, let’s see… water?

On Life

PJNY: Is there a woman who came before you who has shaped or inspired how you think or work?

DB: Oh my god. This is such a cliché answer, but the woman who came before me and inspired every bit of my creative thinking is my mom. She’s the most naturally creative, ahead-of-her-time, curious woman I’ve ever met. Hate to say it. Actually, I love to say it, because it’s true.

My mom was the one putting me in outfits that looked insane in third grade, because she knew they’d be trending in a season. That’s why I had to wear ankle warmers over jeans six months before everybody else was doing it. I was wearing them to summer school.

She’d wake me up at 4 o’clock in the morning to take a patch from another shirt and sew it onto the shirt I was going to wear. She’d bedazzle my hair, straighten it and do a slick back before I left, and lay out my outfits the night before, until I had to be like, “Cut the cameras.”

PJNY: She’s so girl mom.

DB: She’s so girl mom for having mostly sons. I have three brothers.

PJNY: And no sisters?

DB: No sisters. I’m in constant survival mode.

PJNY: Isn’t that crazy? You give the energy of someone who has a sister.

DB: Well, I have so many cousins. They’re my sisters. Shoutout.

PJNY: What advice would you give your younger self?

DB: Don’t worry, calm down, everything is going to work out exactly how it should. And stop being shy, because the second you decide to step out of your shell even a tiny bit, every door you could possibly want will open up for you.

PJNY: What’s something you’re still figuring out?

DB: Balance. I pour so much of myself, my energy, and my creativity into work, and I’m still figuring out how to balance that with finding my own individual identity, and with friendships, family, religion, and relationships. I’m still figuring out balance every day.

PJNY: The best-kept secret in Detroit is…

DB: The best-kept secret about Detroit is that it’s a UNESCO City of Design, which not many people know. The city produces so many creatives, so many innovators, and so many revolutionaries who are born and bred in Detroit.

On Style

PJNY: What do you think about when you’re getting dressed for work?

DB: I feel like I produce my best work when I physically feel my best and look my best. So I actually won’t go to work unless I’m wearing an outfit I really like. I mean, I’ll go to work, but I’ll go late until I figure it out.

PJNY: How has your style evolved?

DB: My style has drastically evolved. Now more than ever, I put an emphasis on feeling cool and comfortable. If I step outside the house feeling cool but still comfortable, I can accomplish anything, TBH.

PJNY: What makes an outfit feel like you?

DB: I really identify with the color red. Anytime I’m wearing a pop of red, whether it’s a bag, shoes, or my scarf, it feels like me. Red is definitely my color. Wearing my hijab also makes an outfit feel like me, and hoop earrings, for the most part.

PJNY: How would you describe your personal style in three words?

DB: Modest, different, and unique.

PJNY: Favorite way to style your Plain Jane New York t-shirt?

DB: Exactly how you see it styled right now. I love a little layered moment, but honestly, my favorite way to style it is with literally everything.

PJNY: What’s the first thing you noticed when you put it on?

DB: That it wasn’t sheer. As a modest girly, there are so many pieces of clothing I love that I just can’t wear because they’re sheer, and this wasn’t. And how soft it was.

PJNY: What are you wearing today?

DB: I’m wearing the latest and greatest Plain Jane New York Three-Quarter sleeve, layered with the latest and greatest Plain Jane New York Short black t-shirt, my vintage Levi’s, these knee-high boots that are actually making me really hot, and a Chanel watch. And my hijab is from Wyoming.

PJNY: Before Plain Jane, what was your biggest complaint about basic tees?

DB: It was so hard to find the perfect t-shirt. Either the sleeve was wrong, or the waist was wrong, or it was sheer. I love that with Plain Jane, you just have options. You pick whatever fits you best in the arms and whatever fits you best in the waist. I love it.

PJNY: What would you tell someone who’s on the fence about trying a Plain Jane t-shirt?

DB: That you don’t know what you’re in for, or how much every outfit you own is about to change. You know that TikTok that’s like, “Me when my friends get married”? Me when I discover Plain Jane New York. You are in for the journey of your life.

PJNY: It’s true. That’s an ad.

DB: Literally. That’s how I felt about Accutane too.

PJNY: One thing you can’t live without?

DB: Other than my Accutane? Plain Jane New York.

Last Thing, Dana, Fill in the Blank…

PJNY: My signature scent is…

DB: It’s an oud oil with a little bit of pepper in it that I’ve been wearing for a few years now. But recently, the man himself, Mr. Drake, came out with a perfume that has stopped the whole city in its tracks, and it’s becoming my new one. It’s called Better World Fragrance House. Shoutout.

PJNY: I am currently obsessed with…

DB: Animal print pillows. Zebra pillows, cheetah print pillows.

PJNY: The last thing I Googled was…

DB: Okay, it’s a lot of pillows. Tiger print pillow, animal print pillow, burgundy cowhide pillow, velvet leopard decorative bed pillow, velvet burgundy decorative bed pillow… long sleeve corset top.

PJNY: The one thing I always splurge on is…

DB: Everything. One thing about me is that I’ll convince myself that literally anything I like is worth it. Bad day? Splurge. Good day? Splurge. Feeling ugly? Splurge. Feeling sad? Splurge. It’s the key to life.

PJNY: What’s a smell that instantly takes you back to a specific version of yourself?

DB: I actually have two answers for this. Viva La Juicy takes me back to middle school and high school: reading Seventeen and Teen Vogue, cutting out pictures of all my favorite outfits, and of course drowning myself in a bottle of Viva La Juicy. That’s partly because Zac Efron did an interview with Seventeen and said it was his favorite perfume on a woman. So naturally, as a sixth grader, I thought, I need to get to him through this perfume.

PJNY: How to catch a man.

DB: And my second answer is jasmine flowers. They always take me back to Syria, because the streets there are lined with jasmine trees. That’s probably the biggest reminder of my identity and where I came from. And we have a jasmine tree in our backyard now.

PJNY: My pet peeve is…

DB: Lateness. People who are just eternally late with no explanation. And men who cuff their jeans at the bottom, but only on men.

PJNY: I’m currently reading/watching/listening to…

DB: I’m currently listening to the album Jean by Yebba. It’s on rotation, specifically “Different Light.” I think I’ve played it 500 times in the last three days.

I’m currently watching Presumed Innocent on Apple TV with Jake Gyllenhaal. It’s taking me 10 years to finish, but I’m committed.

And because of work, I read the Business of Fashion Daily Digest a lot, and Rachel Karten’s Link in Bio (read Rachel’s interview with Dana here).

Thanks for reading <3