After school, 11-year-old Moziah Bridges gets busy at his real job: making bow ties.
Always impeccably dressed in a button-down, slacks and dress shoes, he pins patterns and sews stiches, slaving away over a sewing machine for hours — or at least until his mom tells him it's time for bed.
"He says it's in his blood — he can't help it," Tramica Morris told the Daily News of her only son. "It's amazing, the way he puts his clothes together. Even before he started wearing neck ties and bow ties, the hats and shoes he picked out as a young kid were very attention-worthy."
But today, it's the bow ties that are getting all the attention.
Bridges, known to friends and family as Mo, launched his bow tie business, Mo's Bows, in Memphis two years ago. The dapper youngster has since been featured on CBS, Fox News, 'The Steve Harvey Show' and in O, The Oprah Magazine. Through his Etsy shop, he's earned more than $30,000.
"I would describe myself as a classy kid who likes to dress up nice," Bridges told the Daily News. "I launched my business because I couldn't find any other bow ties I liked. So my grandma showed me how to sew my own."
From plaid and pinstripes to cartoon prints and zigzags, Mo's Bows span a wide range of styles. They come in men's' and boys' sizes and sell for between $25 and $50 online, and in a handful of Southern boutiques.
Profits go back into the business or into savings for college, Morris said. Her son wants to attend Parsons School of Design in New York City.
"I'm very proud of him. It's still sinking in," said Morris, who recently left her career in retirement services to spend more time building her son's business. She also works part-time for her mom's trucking company, in between sewing, organizing trunk shows and press trips.
Morris, a single mom, thinks Bridges got his love for fashion from his well-dressed dad and grandpa, who instilled in her son the importance of dressing for success.
"When we're shopping, he says he only buys things that speak to him," she laughs.
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Next up, Bridges wants to expand into menswear and shoes — he might even start making neck ties, since they're part of his sixth-grade school uniform.
Balancing academics with fashion seems to be a breeze for Bridges, but he says he owes it all to mom.
"She's a hardworking mom, she knows what to do, when to tell me to start making bow ties or to stop," he said, then quickly corrects himself.
"Not that she can tell me what to do. 'Cause I'm the CEO."