CL sat down with the renaissance woman to discuss why she left her creative director position at Def Jam Records, what it was like to design her own pair of Jordans, and what she plans to do when she lands in Atlanta.

I’d like to begin with the most obvious question: What’s the meaning behind the name Va$htie?
Well, it has a couple of meanings. It is Persian for the word “lovely" or "beautiful.” In the Hebrew language, Vashtie means “thread.” In the Bible there is a queen named Vashti. It tells the story of Queen Vashti who was married to the king of Persia. In the story, the king summons Vashti to his room to basically strip for him, but she says no and refuses. This gets the king mad and he ends up replacing Vashti for Queen Esther.

You moved from Albany, New York to NYC to go to film school. How did you feel when you arrived?
You know what’s funny? I didn’t have a culture shock when I moved to New York City. My family was poor, so I was raised in the inner city of Albany. I was already used to an urban city. If anything I was more excited about the opportunities in New York. New York constantly gets a bad rap about not being safe, but New York is safer than most cities out there. There are too many people around for crime to really exist like it does in suburban areas.

For about a year you held the position of director of creative services at Def Jam. That seems like it would be a dream job, especially since you were hired at such a young age. So why did you leave?

While I was there I got some great opportunities, got to work with a lot of great artist and got to do some amazing things that I wouldn’t even imagine that I’d have the chance to do, but over time it just got exhausting. It was a 9-to-10 job. I would go in at 9 in the morning and I wouldn’t leave the office until 11 at night. I think other people started to see that I was a bit stressed out too.

It got to the point where my boss, who is also my mentor, offered me her position. She said, 'In four years I can see you taking my job as head of creative at Def Jam, but it’s only going to happen if you want it.' And the truth is I didn’t. I wanted to focus on my dreams, my aspirations.

Have you seen the movie Don’t Tell Mom the Babysitter’s Dead with Christina Applegate? Christina plays a 17-year-old girl who lies about her resume to get a job at this big fashion company. In the beginning, she’s really excited until she realized that she’s not qualified to do the work. That’s how I felt working at Def Jam. I felt that someone was going to find out that I’m still a teenager and I wasn’t qualified and the whole charade would be off.

You have a huge catalog of work because you wear a lot of hats: fashion designer, video director, artist, party promoter, and the list continues. Out of all of these different aspects of who you are, what would you say is your biggest passion?

That’s a tough question. I enjoy everything that I do, but right now I would have to say fashion. It’s the one thing that I have most control over. With the other things I do there’s a different process that needs to take place to have the finished product. Ideas have to funnel through different people until there’s a cohesive understanding between everyone, but with fashion it starts with me and ends with me.

Congratulations on being the first woman to design a pair of Jordans. Not a lot of people can say they have that under their belt. What was the process like putting all of that together?

It was the 25th anniversary and they contacted me about creating my own shoe. It started with working things out through Illustrator and adding different colorways to the shoe. Since it was the 25th, the goal wasn’t to remake the shoe. The design of the shoe would stay true to the original Jordans. I was creating an identity with the shoe that represented me. In total, it took about a year from beginning to end for the process. We finally came with three good designs and had Nike make them for us. The one we liked the most is the one that is out [laughs].

As someone establishing their own brand and working with international brands like Nike, how important is brand identity and what would you say your brand is?

Brand is everything. Everyday you leave your house you’re representing your brand. I remember a few months back, I was sitting in a room with my manager. We were about to meet with someone for a possible collaboration but before we went in we were having a discussion on things that I wouldn’t do. It might sound horrible, but it wasn’t meant to be. There are just some things that I don’t want to associate myself with. When the meeting ended, the collaborator respected me for having limits. He told me how he was collaborating with another artist at the time and how that person would say yes to everything as long as the money was coming in. That kind of mindset makes it hard to funnel out a bad idea from a good idea when all you say is yes.

I was looking at the logo on your website, the Jordans you created, your Violette fashion line and some of your previous work and you seem to like to dance the line between femininity and masculinity. Where does that come from?

It comes from my dad. My father was an aggressive person and my mom was not. I saw how those two interacted as a kid and I made a decision that I didn’t want to be pushed around. I wanted to be able to use masculinity to my advantage so that I can do what I please and not be tied down to the idea that I’m somehow restricted or can’t do something because I’m a woman.

Who were you most influenced by as a kid?

I was most influenced by my brother. I have a brother and a sister who are eight and seven years older than me. My brother came out when I was young so I was brought into the gay culture at a very early age. That’s how I learned how to vogue, hanging out with my brother and his friends.

What was the first album you bought with your own money?

That’s a hard question. Let me think. It either has to Biggie’s Ready to Die or Purple by Stone Temple Pilots. I’m not quite sure which came first. It could have been "buy this many CDs and get them for five dollars." [laughs] But both of those albums changed my life forever. I can remember going home after middle school and just listening to both on repeat for I don’t even know how many hours.

So you’ll be in Atlanta on June 23 for the Creative Curating event. What is the first thing you’re going to do when you get to Atlanta?

Probably get something to eat. [laughs] I love food. I’ll go to some local stores and shop, especially Wish in, is it called Little Five Points? I like the Little Five Points area. It reminds me of a place where I used to hang out as a kid. It’s also a lot like East Village in New York.

Since you’ll be in Atlanta for a few days what are some fashion dos and don’ts for these hot days?
The one thing I’d have to say is that I hate flip-flops. Maybe it’s from living in New York and witnessing the amount of dirt that builds up underneath a foot, but no one should wear flip-flops. Unless a large body of water surrounds you, you should not wear flip-flops. But summer seems to make everyone look good. People are wearing less clothing. Everyone is a whole lot sexier in the summer.

More so than in winter.

…[laughs] Yes.