Yvonne Modupe Telford is the founder and creative director of Kemi Telford which she founded in 2017. Yvonne was born and raised in Kano, Nigeria and she arrived in England in 1996. Her journey into the fashion business started when she started blogging and people kept asking her, “Where did you get that outfit?” Like many Nigerians, her clothes were hand-tailored one-offs. Despite having no formal training in the fashion industry, Yvonne decided to create two skirts using bold wax prints that she grew up seeing women in Nigeria wear.

After her first child started school, Yvonne felt it was time she followed her childhood dream of owning a shop that sold fabulous clothes to women. Clothes that would make women feel great about themselves. Clothes that would encourage women to take up their space and be everyday wearable clothes that spoke for women even before they spoke for themselves.
Yvonne is married to John and they live with their two daughters in Surrey.