HOMETOWN HERO: Former wedding dress designer launches nonprofit to empower creative young women - WPEC

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla — This weeks 'Hometown Hero' is on a mission to help support creative young women just starting out in their careers.

You may recognize Hayley Paige from her time on the TV show 'Say Yes to the Dress.'

The popular wedding dress designer has recently changed her name to Cheval, thanks to a legal battle with her former employer.

It's hard to believe but Hayley lost the rights to her bridal designs, her social media accounts and even her own name!

Now she wants to make sure other women never find themselves in a similar situation.

"I want to make women feel good about themselves and I did that in a very specific way," Cheval explained more than two years after being sued by her former employer.

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She says she looked at the idea of renaming herself as an opportunity to create a new album for herself.

Cheval is the French word for horse and with her love of horses and French culture, it felt like the perfect fit.

But harder than letting go of her name was giving up her trade set and livelihood she worked so hard to create.

"I had to bare bones take a moment and say what can I still do? Is there something I can still do, is there something in my skillset I can still tap into, how can I still present that joyful landscape with maybe some sparkle? And that's where shoes came in."

Cheval's unbelievable story begins in 2011, when at just 25-years-old, she was offered her dream job as a head designer for New York City fashion company JLM Couture.

It was a big break that came with a long-term employment agreement, one she signed without a lawyer's advice.

The trouble then started when it was time to negotiate a new contract.

"I went into a year and a half long negotiating period that was very traumatizing and that resulted in my former employer suing me in a federal court and that was very jarring in itself because I was still working at the company," Cheval said.

She resigned shortly after that, but thanks to what's called a "non-compete" clause in her contract, Cheval says she's currently not allowed to use her birth name in public in any business context nor can she design wedding dresses.

In a way it almost felt like I had to abandon part of who I was and in that attempt to reinvent I had to be really selective in how I moved forward and how I found a solution for myself.

Part of that is designing shoes, a new business she's jumped into with both feet!

She also started a nonprofit to advocate for young women in creative fields and protect them from predatory deals.

I can just relate to a lot of young creators who are just hyper focused on their craft and want to show people what they're capable of.

Cheval's 'A Girl You Might Know Foundation' is an online community where designers and artists can connect and find the resources they need as they start their careers. Everything from legal services and negotiation training to case law education and master classes.

"A lot of time we feel like we're the ones that have to go extra and we're the ones that have to compromise, when a lot of times siting down and looking at it you have to think about yourself and what's good for you and how are you not going to be compromising your worth or your value even if you don't know what that is yet as a young person," Cheval said.

'A Girl You Might Know Foundation' will also be awarding financial grants once a year as another way to help support young creators. There are no age or income requirements, but Cheval says they will focus on applicants interested in a creative medium, small business, entrepreneurship, etc.

The grant will range from $5,000 to $10,000 based on the needs of the applicant.

The deadline to apply is August 23rd and the funds will be awarded by the end of the year.

To learn more, visit the foundation's website.

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