Linda Rowe Thomas

As the anchor for the Lady Rabbs relay team in the late 1980s, spectators marveled at her incredible speed. Those who knew Linda Rowe marveled at her tenacity it took her to lead her team to victory time and time again.

That willpower earned Linda a scholarship to the University of Central Arkansas when she graduated in 1988. “I never dropped the baton,” she said.

During the pandemic last year when everything was shut down, Linda – who has always been physically active – joined the AAU (Amateur Athletic Union) US Track and Field Team. During the AAU Master Classics in March at Virginia Beach, Linda places second in the W50 200 Meter Dash with a time of 28.00, and third in the W50 60 Meter Run with a time of 8.50.

Those wins, along with many others, put Linda on the track to the 2021 AAU Open and Masters Outdoor Championships to be held July 3 in Miramar, Florida. Once again fans are marveling at her speed; but those who know Linda marvel at her tenacity.

It’s not because she started this new journey at the age of 51 that has friends old and new in awe of her. Rather, it is the fact that she was ever able to do it in the first place.

Linda was born in the tiny East Texas town of Douglassville – population 171. It was there, at the age of two that her path was forged by fire.

“My six-year old sister and I were standing by a heater when it exploded,” Linda states. “My hands and face were badly burned, and my sister died a few days afterward. I have no memory of it. I really wish I could remember my sister.”

That day began years of travelling to the Shriners Children’s Hospital in Galveston for treatments and therapy to help her learn to adapt. She had lost all the fingers on her left hand. Her face and right hand were left disfigured.

“My mother once told me of a story about me being in the hospital at 2 years old. I was flown to a military hospital when I was first burned. That story resonates with me daily,” she said. “There was a soldier there who had both legs amputated and never really spoke to anyone; obviously depressed. One day, I hopped down from her lap and though my face and hands were bandaged and I was in my own pain, I walked over to him and began to sing ‘Joy to the World’ to him. His face lit up into a big smile and apparently from that day, he laughed and played with me daily. Mama always said, ‘Baby, that’s who you are! Always be joy to someone’s world.’”

Linda’s love of fashion was apparent even then and kept her from being hurt worse than she was. “I was wearing a little fur coat, zipped up, with the hood on,” she said. “That’s why only my hands and face were burnt.”

But her parents and five siblings never treated her like a victim; she was expected to do all the things her brother and sister did. “I never wanted to be pitied, and I couldn’t figure out why people stared at me,” Linda said.

Linda transferred from Arkansas State to Murray State University in Tennessee to concentrate on fashion merchandising. Upon finishing her college degree at the age of 22, Linda became head buyer for Belk Stores. Buying jobs with Macy’s and Dillard’s followed, along with a stint managing Corporate Retail Account Manager for IBM in the Kentucky-to-New York Region, but the fashion world was always where she wanted to be.

But it was years later, in her Little Rock guest room, that Linda’s lifelong dream finally took shape. “I got a small following and had to move to a hole-in-the-wall showroom,” she said, “then I got a bigger following and was able to expand to a 7000 square foot studio in downtown Little Rock!”

It’s from that studio that she has designed and handcrafted gowns for celebrities, athletes, singers, models, brides, and prom queens. She named the business “Romás” – a combination of her maiden and married names. And that name has become synonymous in the fashion world with style, grace and quality. And it’s a name frequently mentioned by celebrities.

“The first celebrity to wear my design was Alex McCord of The Real Housewives of New York,” Linda said. “She walked in my very first New York Fashion Week show in 2010, wearing a black sequin gown, then she mentioned me on the show. My phone was blowing up like crazy with people telling me about it. From there, it just blossomed.”

Soon followed commissioned gowns for Kathy Jordan, ex-wife of Al Sharpton, WNBA star Candice Wiggins, and actress Kelitta Smith, who played Bernie Mac’s wife on the television show of the same name. But the biggest break-through yet was a hand-beaded dress she finished in a car outside the FedEx office and shipped overnight to Los Angeles.

“I had to overnight it to Erica Ash at her hotel in Los Angeles in time for her to make sure it fit before wearing it to host the 2018 BET (Black Entertainment Television) awards,” Linda exclaimed. “I had to be in Dallas that weekend, so I took the dress to finish it, and sat in the car sewing the beads on to make sure I didn’t miss the overnight deadline at FedEx.”

Linda explained that most people don’t realize she sews all her dresses by hand – badly disfigured hands. When asked how, she states “I just adapted when I was young. My mom gave me sewing projects, and I think it was her way of making me use my hands. The doctors said I wouldn’t have a very good quality of life because of them, but little did they know, God had placed a remarkable gift within these unusual hands!”

Not only does Linda design and sew, but she has published a novel, Mocha, which is available on Amazon, with another book in the works. Thomas is also the fashion blogger for Soiree magazine. When not designing or writing, she is speaking, with engagements booked all over the country.

She speaks of hope to other burn survivors. And she gives – so much so that Chairman Chris Massingill awarded Linda with the Presidential Challenge Coin for Excellence in Business and Philanthropy in the Delta Regional Authority on behalf of President Barack Obama.

In 2010 Linda created a 501(c)(3) organization, Designing Hope, to benefit burn survivors. “The Shriners Hospital took care of me until I was 18, and my parents never had to pay a penny,” she said. “So now I have a way to give back and help other survivors. I donate 100% of the profit from my annual Designing Hope Fashion Show to [burn charities].”

In 2013 Linda became the official gown designer for the Arkansas Black Hall of Fame. In 2016 Little Rock Mayor Mark Stodola proclaimed March 12th as “Linda Rowe Thomas Day” for her philanthropy and community service. The following year, North Little Rock Mayor Joe Smith proclaimed May 31st as “Romás by Linda Rowe Thomas Day.” The Little Rock chapter of Sister Friends United, Inc. named Linda the 2017 Women of Excellence Business Award.

She has been the guest, or keynote, speaker at many events, including the Woman’s World Summit, World Burn Conference, Delta Regional Authority, Women’s Conference Houston, Delta Sigma Theta, and many schools, colleges and churches nationwide. Designing Your Destiny – Beyond the Scars is her signature speech that she wrote to help other burn survivors learn to love themselves.

In addition to showing at over 10 Fashion weeks around the country, she was chose to participate in the Paris Fashion Week before the pandemic. Linda was named “One to Watch” in 2011 by the New York Examiner, also named among the top fashion designers of 2015 and 2016 by the Examiner.com.

“COVID has really hurt the fashion world – no red carpets, shows or appearances,” said Linda. “I am having to restructure, rebuild and rebrand – lots of changes are in store for my business.”

The pandemic may have slowed down her fashion designing, but it gave her time for more public speaking, training and writing. She says she’s “pretty far into” a book about her life. On May 15th her story was featured on the CNN program Human Factor with Dr. Sanjay Gupta.

Family has always been most important to Linda, and she is close to her daughter, Amari, and son, Zechariah.

At the age of 15, Linda lost her older brother, Calvin Rowe, in an accident. He had come home from Grenada, where he was in the 82nd Airborne. “He was my heart,” she says quietly. “He dared me to do things and made sure I could take care of myself. People automatically expect 25% from me, but I’m determined to give 2000%.”

“I remember my mom saying ‘you’re bigger than Douglassville. I don’t see you staying here.’”

Seems Linda’s mom knew exactly what she was talking about.