We recently connected with Essence & Dynomite Myrick and have shared our conversation below.

Essence & Dynomite, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Can you open up about a risk you’ve taken – what it was like taking that risk, why you took the risk and how it turned out?

When we decided to officially start our LLC and create the custom design and print studio, we underestimated the amount of work it would take to start a new business. We both worked full-time jobs at the time, I was an accountant and he was a construction worker. We were adjusting to our new home, and I had just given birth to our third child. All the behind the scenes work such as the recordkeeping, vendor research, client consults, and design work started to become a lot to handle. We were tired!

We had a lot of customized apparel orders coming in and literally no time to get them done. We just couldn’t keep up and it was starting to affect the amount of time we were able to dedicate to the kids, ourselves, and our marriage, which was an absolute NO, NO!

After a lot of long nights working, and plenty of tense marital discussions, we finally sat down and had a heart to heart conversation.

It was around 2am and we were wrapping up an order. We were exhausted, and in less than three hours would have to get up and get the kids ready for school. We had around 5 arguments over material choices and the tension between us was rising. He said “This is not working, I need more time to create and complete our orders.” The more time we invested in the business, the more we realized that one of us had to run it in a full-time capacity in order to provide the very best service to our clients.

The very next day, my husband came home and said “I am resigning.” Just like that!

I was shocked, but deep down I knew it was the right decision.

At the time construction employment was declining due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and my job offered a remote option. We decided that I would transition to remote work and he would resign from his job to solely focus on the business.

From a business perspective it was an ideal solution.We could increase our new client intakes, decrease the processing time for orders, and finally launch our own clothing brand. From a financial point of view, we were removing an income from the household while adding expenses to continue investing in the business. Life was about to get real, real quick!

The first couple months were a challenge as we learned how to adjust to a one-family income. We sat down together and I used my accounting resources to review all of our expenses and determine where we could minimize, and remove expenses. Our biggest spending category was take-out!

Once we narrowed it down, we re-created our budget to account for both personal and business investments. Finances are very important in any relationship so going through this chapter in our journey tested our faith and definitely our patience, but also taught us how to be more mindful when it came to spending.

Essence & Dynomite, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

Both Brooklyn born and raised, we are best friends, parents to three boys, and the husband-wife duo behind Royal Reigns.

We are not just a small business, we are a black-owned, family-owned small business!

Our first t-shirt design “Family First” was created back in 2016. My husband conceptualized the theme, simply 2 words with a meaning that represented the family values of love, loyalty, and respect which we hold close to our hearts. He had a T-shirt created and wore it to one of our pre-wedding events.

Although we thought the design was simple, “Family First” made a statement and people loved us showcasing the beauties and value in Black love.

One year after our wedding, we had a family BBQ. It was the first time both sides of our families came together since the wedding. Once again, the concept of “Family First” just felt right.​​ This time we had all of our immediate family members wear Family First T-shirts, which drew attention from other attendees and people walking by.

All of the positive attention encouraged us to take the next step of creating a T-shirt company. That was the beginning of Royal Reigns, formerly known as Sincerely Supreme (named after our two sons).

Our first paying customer wanted us to design a remembrance T-shirt for a family member. This order was very personal for us because we both shared a personal relationship with the family member. We wanted to be involved in every piece of the project from design to production to make sure the shirts were perfect.

With the help and support of family donations, we purchased our own T-shirt press machine, a desktop computer, and design software. Our kitchen was our office and space was not our friend.

T-Shirt designing evolved into creating a full design and print studio. We began designing all types of customized apparel and keepsakes such as pillows and backdrops, for events and special occasions.

In 2021, we added additional services and began designing high-end clothing and activewear for an emerging clothing brand.

What sets us apart from most custom printing companies is our creative design capabilities. Our items are all uniquely designed based on an idea or theme provided to us by our client. No customer design is the same and our personal touch is what turns our customers from one-time customers to loyal family.

Over the course of the years we’ve been able to build a steady and loyal client flow on the custom side of the business, and open a shop on Etsy. Staying true to our mission and motto of “Family First,” we are currently working on our lifestyle fashion brand called Reigns.

In 2022, we launched our “WOLF” Heavy-Weight Varsity Jackets for adults and kids under our “We Only Love Family (WOLF)” collection. This was our first time jumping into the outerwear arena. We received great feedback from our customers and look forward to releasing new colors and styles for the fall.

We also have some new items coming out for the spring and summer that we cannot wait to launch. There are so many exciting things happening for us this year!

What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?

Oh that’s easy! In our design studio we are our clients’ voices. They grant us creative freedom to capture every aspect of their vision, and their emotional reactions when they first see what we designed for them is priceless! The trust they have in us as a team, along with their deep appreciation of our work, is the juice we need to keep us creating.

In our apparel brand we are showcasing the strength in family values and unity. We sometimes overestimate and undervalue the power and meaning in a design. Whether it’s on a T-shirt, a backdrop, or a new Reigns sweatsuit collection, we are telling stories, and creating messages through words and graphics, that can be viewed all over the world.

During the beginning of the black lives matter movement, we designed t-shirts with the words “I Matter, You Matter, We Matter” with a fist that read “I am Black History.” We advertised this shirt on all of our social media platforms. People were drawn to the message and symbolism of the fist. While we were at a family BBQ in Pennsylvania, a guy walked in with one of the shirts on. We couldn’t believe it!

My husband asked where he purchased it and he said his wife bought it for him from Royal Reigns Design because she loved what the shirt represented. When my husband told him that he created the shirt, he was speechless. He didn’t believe it and we literally had to show him proof!

Once we got past the proof stage, he shook my husband’s hand, asked for a picture, and said thank you for creatively expressing such a meaningful message on one t-shirt. You have a customer for life. Since then, we follow him on social media and have seen him wear the shirt on multiple occasions.

Is there mission driving your creative journey?

T-shirts never go out of style, and we’ve found that people really appreciate seeing meaningful messages on them.

Whether it’s bringing awareness to a special cause or designing a new collection for our Reigns brand, we want to be the ones delivering creative messages on those garments. Most importantly, we want to deliver them family-style!

Our goal is to build a business with our children and teach them about the work ethic and dedication needed to successfully continue the family legacy when we are no longer here.

Each one of them brings their own talents and creativity to the business.
The eldest and youngest love working with their hands, so they help cut and peel the materials to be used on the items we are customizing. Our middle son loves to edit videos, so we’ve assigned him to content editing. He takes all of our pictures and videos, and edits them into smaller videos for Instagram and Facebook Reels. He is also the household TikTok master. Since all three of them love music and performing, they have a lot of fun on days we dedicate to photoshoots and social media content creation.

We spend a lot of time creating memories for our clients and through this business we’ve created our own family memories and stories. During family time, which is mostly in the kitchen while I’m cooking dinner or in the family room playing games the kids make up, we are all always talking about our next design or content suggestions. There is never a dull moment in the Myrick household.

It’s truly a family affair, and moments like this reassure us that we are moving towards our goal everyday.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.royalreignsdesign.com
• Instagram: @reignsfashion_17 & @royalreignsdesign
• Facebook: Royal Reigns Design & Reigns
• Other: https://campsite.to/royalreignsdesign