For Teresa Chumpitaz, fashion has never been about chasing trends or luxury labels. It’s about creating confidence. The Miami-based fashion designer, stylist, and founder of POWERStylings has dedicated more than 20 years helping people express who they are through what they wear. Whether she’s designing an original garment or helping a client, every piece is crafted to help people feel authentic, empowered, and seen.
“I want people to feel powerful,” said Chumpitaz. “I want people to feel seen, and continue to work hard to showcase the very best of people.”
Chumpitaz’s journey through the fashion industry began in luxury retail. She developed an eye for presentation, craftsmanship, and storytelling. She started dressing mannequins at Saks Fifth Avenue before rising to assistant manager, later expanding her experience with retailers including H&M and J.Crew. This sharpened her experiences, but she realized she wanted to create clothing an not just curate it.
Chumpitaz also earned her degree in Fashion Design from the Miami Fashion Institute at Miami Dade College, an experience she says is one of the most transformative chapters of her professional journey. Surrounded by talented professors and mentors, she refined both her technical skills and creative voice while developing a deeper understanding of fashion as both an art form and a means of personal empowerment.
Her fashion design instructor challenged the class to style a magazine editorial.
“I knew I could put outfits together like nobody’s business,” said Chumpitaz. “That assignment was fun, and she opened my mind to thinking I can do this.”
The experience gave her the confidence to pursue fashion with a new vision and purpose. In 2013, she launched POWERStylings, initially working with professionals on Wall Street before expanding her clientele to entrepreneurs, executives, celebrities, musicians, and independent artists. Today, the Miami-based fashion and image consulting brand reflects the same philosophy that guides her design work: fashion should never change who someone is and reveal it.
“For me, it was always about making people feel beautiful,” said Chumpitaz. “Giving people confidence, and I always knew that I just wanted to help people with my hands.”
Her creative portfolio includes editorial work featured in SDMag, Vixen, Elements, and American Salon. She has also styled commercial campaigns and music videos while collaborating with luxury fashion house Brunello Cucinelli. Her work has earned recognition for its refined aesthetic, thoughtful storytelling, and ability to blend timeless design with modern sophistication.
“I’m inspired by a lot of things,” she said. “Even the way cream stirs into coffee because it’s like a dance, and fashion is like a dance. The way it swirls and makes magic in a cup. For me, it’s about seeing that person and making a dance of how they want to be seen, who they are, and how they can level up and how I can help them with creativity, strategy, and self-expression.”
However, life throws curve balls and life presented challenges that tested her. Following a divorce, Chumpitaz chose not to allow hardship to define her future. Instead, she recommitted herself to her education, her career, and her children.
“I went back to school after a divorce,” she said. “But I wasn’t going to just lie in bed and do nothing. I was intentional then and intentional now with every design and step. It was a tough kick in the pants, but I’m still going to be the best person I can be, especially for my children.”
That determination recently earned her the prestigious Ruben and Isabel Toledo Award, recognizing her creativity and contributions to fashion. While honored by the recognition, Chumpitaz views it not as the culmination of her journey but as encouragement to continue designing with purpose and inspiring others through her work.
Yet long before magazine editorials, fashion awards, and custom designs, her story began thousands of miles away.
Born in Peru, Chumpitaz immigrated to the United States with her family when she was just three years old. They settled in Queens, New York, where, like many immigrant families, they built a new life through determination, sacrifice, and hard work.
“My mother worked days in a Manhattan garment factory,” she said. “At home, a small walk-in closet was our sewing room.”
It was there, surrounded by fabric, colorful thread, and the rhythmic hum of a sewing machine, that Chumpitaz witnessed creativity transform.
Every Halloween, while neighborhood sidewalks filled with tiny superheroes, Disney princesses, pirates, and ghosts carrying buckets overflowing with candy, Chumpitaz never reached for a costume off a store shelf. Instead, her mother made one.
“That’s where it all started for me,” said Chumpitaz. “Our mom prepared our costumes. She always made us feel special through our clothes. But she was preparing me for a world that’d inspire me to make a difference in the fashion world.”
Those early memories became the foundation for everything that followed.
Today, every garment she designs, every editorial she styles, and every client she works with carries echoes of that small sewing room. The little girl who watched her mother transform fabric into fairy tales now creates designs with the same intention; to empower others through confidence, authenticity, and self-expression.
