We recently connected with Jelani Pinnock and have shared our conversation below.
Jelani, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Can you tell us a story about a time you failed?
2024 has been the most difficult year in business I have encountered thus far. I run three small businesses and they are similar to raising children. They have particular needs at different times, though they all may need something all of the time. This particular failure or loss happened in the Spring of this year. Our retail store was broken into multiple times over a 4 day period. Hundreds of dollars in clothing was lost exposing a discrepancy I failed to notice between our online inventory and our brick and mortar inventory tracking systems. I had not even realized how this discrepancy could cause me to not be able to provide my insurance company with the specificity of what was lost during the burglary. This lack of acute specificity led to a reduced payout from the insurance claim. Not being able to recoup while still paying rent and having nearly 40+ pieces of inventory lost, delayed our recovery time by months. I’ve learned that an unexpected loss in inventory equals a loss in not only time, but money, creative clarity, and a reputation of stellar service. This could set any company back. I am grateful for a very small, but loyal and local customer based. I also learned that building a strong, local, and family styled customer base can help to strengthen a company’s bottom line and business when the going gets tough. People stay loyal to local businesses for more than just the product.
Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.
My name is Jelani Aswad. This name signified a time in my life where I began to embrace my true creativity in it’s fullness and decided to be fully proud of the birth name I was given, Jelani Aswad Nkosi Pinnock, which translates to Mighty Black King. I have been a musician since middle school and felt the only sensible ways to catalogue my heart and thoughts and the thoughts of the characters and people around would be, for me, through songwriting. I write in any genre my heart is lead to but my Caribbean and Bronx, NY roots led me to fall in love with the prose of Hip-Hop. I have always loved all forms of art and was introduced to theater, museums, afro-Caribbean ballet, Roots-Rock-Reggae, and hip-hop at an early age. I began singing and writing music after performing in local and regional church competitions in NY. Simultaneously, my friends in our neighborhood began rapping and I joined in. For the next several years I would rap and sing in church, in middle school and high school, and in surrounding neighborhoods. I battle rapped, aka, I “spit” in cyphers almost daily, freestyle rapped without writing a rhymes down, and honed my craft. The business side of music always intrigued me so I began working at a CD store called, FYE, to learn more about the business and watching lots of videos on how records were sold on the street and in the stores. Eventually I signed a record deal with a small independent startup record company called Triple Threat Records. I added a reggae styled DJing or SingJay lyrical delivery over time as I embraced my heritage in young adulthood. I then started a makeshift record label with friends, toured NYC and played shows in historical venues like the Hammerstein Ballroom, The Blue Note NYC, BB King’s, SOB’s, and The Village Underground. This endless pursuit of seeking acceptance and validity in music and in the eyes of others led to me sensing an emptiness spiritually, within my soul. It lead me back to the Bible (which I never really read) and to where the origins of my appetite for music began; The Church. I opened the bible and my heart was unlocked and illuminated. I recognize I could be God’s child and that YHWH gave me the gifts I had, for a great purpose than fame or recognition. I had a message deep within. I then realize my gift was not simply music, it was the gift of communication and the desire to communicate the heart of God to every person, through there media of art.
I eventually released my first album, The Revival Project in 2018, under the artist name Jelani Aswad, after relocating to Ohio, and designed my own album art work and promotional materials. My design and creative director identity had grown arms and feet with this first project. I had began learning guitar at 25 years old so my music merged contemporary christian rock, hip-hop, and reggae. I designed and released merch to go with my album release. I learned quickly that social media presence, artwork, merch, music, and performance became the necessary ecosystem I would cultivate to maintain a stable life as a recording artist. My beliefs about God’s creation, humans, and the earth led me to produce sustainable, organic cotton, or US homegrown cotton apparel to sell and to supplement my other music investments. This journey gave birth to our clothing brand, Messianic Supply Co. A sustainable and eco-friendly conversation starter streetwear brand depicting art and design that points to the Messiah, Jesus the Christ.
I’ve accepted that some may see my music as niche. However, my clothing brand has become one of my greatest achievements because it encompasses a bit of everything I love. Business, creativity, cultivation of new art, and encouraging others. One of the problems the consulting side of Messianic Supply Co. solves for other creatives is how to create sustainable art that is full of integrity, yet does not compromise in delivering an excellent product. We have helped to launch several merch brands for artists, an art company for a Cleveland Based painter, designed numerous merch pieces for recording artists and radio personalities, and provided sustainable direction and advice for brands wanting to create with more dignity and aligned with their core beliefs.
We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?
One lesson I am currently unlearning is that my spending habits as a business, cannot be as creative as my mind is. I truly need a business minded accountant type teammate who can keep me focused on the priority of paying overhead costs like rent, subscription fees, etc, versus the area I love like research and development. A great profit margin fuels steady R & D. I didn’t know the until we experienced the break-in. I lost nearly $2000 in inventory in a weekend and it set me back for months. My profit margin was not high enough to recoup costs reinvest in more product, my demand was higher than I thought. I realized I did not believe in my product as much as I should have. I also was emotionally depleted, so I did not focus on events, which boosted my brand and sales 10x the year prior. However, if my margins were solid and my inventory was recorded tightly, it could have saved me the emotional drain, which led to procrastination.
What do you think helped you build your reputation within your market?
What has helped us to build a strong reputation in our local market has been the comfortability and superior quality of our product. Our bodies are designed to where natural materials like wool, cotton, silk, and flax. When we put them on they naturally wick away sweat, they are lighter, and breathable. So, how do we communicate that without boring the consumer with the details? We decided to make an everyday streetwear styled t-shirt in several colors as a capsule collection. Most all other clothing we wear that are considered affordable, are not disposable and are created with plastic. They produce heavy amount of toxic waste and ultimately damage our body. Messianic Supply Co is an affordable luxury that is an alternative. Alternatives are always supposed to be cheaper, but they are not always promised to be a better product. We offer apparel that is better for us as people, the environment, and made with sustainable materials in a fair-trade market, by fair-wage employees. The repeat customers who have purchased during every drop prove to us they are now willing to go more sustainable and look fly in the process. We then created free art pop-up events called THE GALLERY, with other like-minded creatives and clothing brand to bring together fiends who had never met yet. We offer art, a curated invitation based shopping experience, the merriness of wine, and the celebratory nature of champagne.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.MessianicSupply.co
- Instagram: @MessianicSupply
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/JelaniAswadMusic/
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jelaniaswad/
- Youtube: https://www.Youtube.com/JelaniAswad
Image Credits
4ft 5 photography
Michelle Loufman Photography
Davis Evans Photography