I spent a week in Paris and kept going back to the same place, Café Le Charlot. Every day I sat at the same table and was served by the same waitress, Betty. What started as small talk turned into something I looked forward to. She showed me a side of the city I never would have found on my own.

The day before I left, I asked her to dinner after her shift at 8:00 PM. She said yes, and we planned to meet at the café. I got there early, around 7:45, but she was nowhere to be seen. I waited. 8:00 came and went, then 8:30, then 9:00. She never showed up.

That’s when it hit me. I never got her number or any way to reach her, and I was leaving Paris the next morning. When I got home, I tried everything to find her, but nothing worked.

So when it came time to name my clothing brand, I named it after her. I never knew her last name, so I took inspiration from her favorite book, A Streetcar Named Desire, and used Dubois. Now I hope that one day she sees it and knows this was always about her.