ABOUT
Born in Panama to a Guatemalan mother and a Black/Chinese father, Cesia Kerem Ramos is a fashion designer, creative director, stylist, and visual strategist whose work is shaped by multicultural identity, historical research, and global storytelling. Her creative philosophy draws from her faith, heritage, roots, and culture, transforming these influences into visual narratives that resonate across diverse audiences while honoring authenticity, identity, and emotional connection.
With more than fifteen years of experience across creative direction, styling, fashion production, and digital content strategy, Cesia has built a career at the intersection of fashion, storytelling, and brand development. She began her professional journey in Chicago while earning a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Fashion Design with honors, presenting her designs in numerous runway showcases and gaining experience across multiple areas of the fashion industry.
During this formative period, Cesia worked alongside the Fashion Director and their team at The Merchandise Mart (THE MART) in Chicago, gaining firsthand exposure to planning, marketing, and the production of major apparel trade shows and fashion-industry events. Her experience included insight into seasonal event production, visual presentation and floor planning, promotional coordination, trend awareness, and the relationship between visiting retail buyers and participating fashion brands. This early exposure gave her a broader understanding of how fashion operates beyond garment design—connecting creative vision with merchandising, marketing, event production, and the commercial fashion marketplace. Separately, an internship with a local knitwear designer expanded her technical knowledge of knitwear design and product development, strengthening her understanding of how a design concept translates into a finished product.
Following graduation, Cesia moved to New York City to broaden her industry experience before returning to Chicago, where she played a key role in the creative evolution of one of the city's leading fashion eCommerce brands. Advancing from Copywriter to eCommerce Content Editor & Production Coordinator and ultimately leading both the Creative & Production Team, she directed multidisciplinary teams responsible for editorial campaigns, commercial imagery, digital storytelling, styling, production management, and brand communications. She oversaw more than 100 editorial and commercial productions annually, collaborating with photographers, stylists, models, agencies, artists, and marketing teams to deliver cohesive brand experiences across digital platforms.
New Summer Arrivals Editorial for AKIRA CHICAGO
FACTOR Chosen Models: Marta & Katrina
Creative/Producer: Cesia K.
Photographer: Marcin T.
Make Up: Tina Marie
In 2016, Cesia founded HADASA, her fashion atelier in Guatemala, where she developed collections that combined contemporary design with cultural storytelling and artisanal craftsmanship. Her work led to invitations to present at Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week Guatemala and Vancouver Fashion Week, positioning her designs within both Latin American and international fashion contexts. Her collections and creative vision were also featured in both print and digital editions of Vogue Latin America, further highlighting her growing presence within the international fashion industry.
SPRING SUMMER '18 FOR HADASA
Creative Director: Cesia K. Ramos
Today, Cesia's creative process is strengthened by interdisciplinary research. As a Master's candidate in Biblical Studies, she has developed advanced skills in historical analysis, cultural interpretation, symbolism, and narrative research. These disciplines have refined her creative methodology, allowing her to approach fashion and visual direction not simply through aesthetics, but through the histories, identities, symbols, and cultural contexts that give those aesthetics meaning. This research-driven approach enables her to develop concepts with greater depth, authenticity, and cultural relevance while uncovering the historical and symbolic foundations that can give visual storytelling lasting impact.
Fluent in both English and Spanish and experienced in collaborating across multicultural environments, Cesia brings a global perspective shaped by Latin American, North American, and Asian cultural influences. Her cross-cultural background enables her to navigate diverse creative environments while respecting the unique identity of every artist and brand. She believes exceptional creative direction begins with understanding people—their stories, values, audiences, histories, and cultural contexts—and translating those insights into meaningful visual narratives that resonate with global audiences.
Whether developing fashion collections, directing large-scale productions, styling editorial campaigns, or shaping creative concepts, Cesia believes art, fashion, music, and visual storytelling can preserve identity, inspire connection, and transcend cultural boundaries. Her goal is to contribute to creative teams that value innovation, collaboration, and research-driven storytelling, helping artists expand their global presence while remaining authentic to the essence of who they are.
As technology and digital culture continue to connect the world, creative ideas, trends, and influences travel faster than ever before. While this unprecedented exchange has expanded opportunities for innovation and collaboration, it has also made preserving individuality one of the defining creative challenges of our time. Cesia believes that authenticity has therefore become one of the most powerful forms of creativity. Every artist possesses a distinct story, identity, and cultural voice, and creative direction should amplify—not replace—that uniqueness. These elements are most impactful when they preserve an artist's essence while creating meaningful emotional connections that transcend trends, cultures, languages, and generations.
