09/25/2026
Chatta-Griot Spotlight: Venita Vee Rhodes
Style is about more than what you wear. In the right hands, it becomes storytelling, identity, art and an entire experience.
She has made a career out of bringing those things together.
Vee is a stylist, designer, fashion show producer and entrepreneur. She is the owner of Sii. LLC, co-owner of The Smart Oasis, and serves as Director of Fashion for the Music, Fashion & Arts Foundation. She also works as a fashion coordinator for The Pink Bride.
Her creative footprint can be seen across Chattanooga through fashion shows, styling, cultural events and collaborations that use fashion as another form of artistic expression.
And Vee knows how to create a moment.
Her work has extended into some of Chattanooga’s cultural spaces, including fashion-centered programming at the Hunter Museum of American Art. She has styled creatives, produced fashion experiences and helped bring the visual component of larger arts productions to life.
But what we especially appreciate about Vee’s work is that she isn’t just working in Chattanooga’s creative community. She is helping build it.
Through her leadership with the Music, Fashion & Arts Foundation, Vee helps create opportunities for fashion creatives to be seen and recognized as part of our city’s larger creative economy.
And as co-owner of The Smart Oasis, she is part of creating a physical space where entrepreneurs and creatives can gather, collaborate, produce and bring ideas to life.
Which brings us to a fun little full-circle moment in this Chatta-Griot series.
Last week, we celebrated Vee’s Smart Oasis partner, LaSha Rockymore-Mitchell, and the work she is doing to build infrastructure for Chattanooga’s creative community.
We also recently celebrated Shateria Smith, creator of the Brown Girls Can podcast and movement.
Well, look who connects the two. Vee.
On October 8, Vee’s Sii. LLC and T3M Creative are presenting Brown Girls Can: Sniff, Sip & Slay, an intimate experience bringing together fragrance, w**e, fashion, beauty and personal expression.
And that connection is part of what we’ve loved about telling these stories.
One woman builds a space.
Another builds a movement.
Another brings her creative expertise to the table.
And then they find ways to build together.
That is what a creative ecosystem looks like.
Stylist. Designer. Producer. Entrepreneur. Fashion leader. Space maker.
Vee wears a lot of hats.
And somehow, she makes all of them look good.
Today, Chatta-Griot celebrates Venita “Vee” Rhodes and the style, vision and creativity she continues to bring to Chattanooga.
Because fashion is part of our creative economy.
Fashion is part of our culture.
And the people building that ecosystem deserve their flowers, too.
Brown Girls Can: Sniff, Sip & Slay is Thursday, October 8, from 6 to 9 p.m. at The Reading Room.
Learn more and get tickets here: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/brown-girls-can-sniff-sip-slay-tickets-1997480076680
