Emily Bustamante

Emily Bustamante was born on February 10, 1981, in New York City, but was raised in Virginia. Emily is partially Puerto Rican-Dominican and partially American. She attended a vocational high school in Norfolk where she learnt the basics of fashion designing. She began sewing since her 9th grade and that was when she developed a passion for fashion designing. Later, she graduated from a fashion designing college in Virginia.

Emily was always passionate about fashion. Right from her school days, she knew that fashion designing is her true calling. After graduating in fashion, Emily started off as a personal stylist. After a lot of hardships and struggles, Emily managed to make a place for herself as a designer cum stylist. She worked as the personal stylist of many celebrities and sportspersons, and simultaneously worked on her clothing line. Ne-Yo and Trey Songz are some of her famous clients.

Initially, Emily was interested only in apparel designing, but later she turned towards shoe designing. In 2013, she launched her own shoe line ‘Emily B.’ under the shoe brand, ‘ZigiNY.’ The collection is a unique blend of style and comfort. Along with the latest trends, Emily incorporated comfort in her designs which ‘ZigiNY’ is known for. Emily is planning to launch her clothing line under the name, ‘Emily B.’

Emily made her television debut with the show, ‘Love & Hip Hop: New York,’ which was the eighth installment of the reality television franchise aired on VH1. Emily was initially not a part of the show and joined the cast in 2011, after the famous stylist Misa Taylor, who is also Emily’s friend, left the show. Emily had mixed experiences on the show. She expected the show would cover her life as a designer and would show her struggles. Later, it turned out to be more about her boyfriend, Fabolous, and their relationship. That disappointed Emily a lot. Since she had committed to the creators of the show, she completed her part and quit the show. Because of this reason, Emily did not appear again on the next seasons of the show.

Being a designer, Emily indeed has a creative quotient but her creativity is not confined only to fashion. She has been involved in various music and entertainment related professions, including disc jockeying, songwriting, and rapping.

Today, Emily may be a celebrity, but she has undergone numerous hardships and struggles to come so far. She became a mother during her teens; Emily was only 19 when she gave birth to her first love-child, Taina Williams. She conceived Taina from her then-boyfriend. Emily single-handedly raised her daughter and shaped her own career, simultaneously.

When Emily turned 21, she met the Grammy-nominated rapper John David Jackson, also known as ‘Fabolous,’ at an event in 2002, and that changed her life forever. After their first meeting, they connected mostly over the phone and started dating only after ‘Fabolous’ visited Virginia for a show. Since then, they have been together for more than a decade. Emily gave birth to a baby boy on February 16, 2008, and named him Johan Jackson. Their second love-child, Jonas Jackson, was born on June 2, 2015. According to sources, Emily and Fabolous apparently broke up in October 2017, but reconciled a few months later. Thereafter, they both have been on and off into the relationship.

Emily and Fabolous never got married as they both had differences about marriage, which eventually soured their relationship. Emily wanted a commitment but Fabolous was probably not ready.

Emily has suffered a lot while being into this relationship. She has undergone severe mental and physical trauma on several occasions. In 2018 video, Fabolous was seen threatening and hurling abuses at Emily’s father.