We were lucky to catch up with Babajide Bashiru (J.B) recently and have shared our conversation below.
Babajide, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. We’d love to go back in time and hear the story of how you came up with the name of your brand?
GREATNESS GRAM was formed with respect to my inspiring journey from Africa. It has influenced my brand’s vision, which aims to break away from the tradition of defined borders.
My brand is rooted in highlighting Black stories, both past & present. While our main goal is to leave a genuine impact & continue to shine a spotlight on the brand’s vision of transcending borders and uniting global communities through art and fashion.
GREATNESS GRAM started as an online lifestyle and fashion blog in 2020 on Instagram, covering fashion, music, style, and African influences. It got traction, so I launched the merch (GREATNESS-SHOP). Emerging contemporary streetwear with motivational designs that are inspired by my story as an African. My brand seeks to shine a light on Black lives who have shared similar transition experiences as they settle into a new society. Sharing my experience and how my experience shaped my understanding of being different in America from the immigrants’ perspectives.
I created this brand for individuals to come together and connect, inspire and elevate a new kind of subculture.
The message is clear: it’s a community. It’s a culture. Everyone shares similar interests and listens to the same kind of music. it’s a brand that spotlights African culture and represents those of the diaspora community. One factor that makes a streetwear brand successful is its heritage and being authentic about something. Culture holds a significant value in streetwear, so it is much more important for my brand to be represented in society.
One of the biggest things is that my story is organic and true. The “Globe” in our logo represents migration, which fits my upbringing perfectly. All the journeys my family made were about searching for better opportunities.
Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.
I’m Jide Bash (J.B). A creative entrepreneur and fashion enthusiast. I was born and raised in Lagos, Nigeria, where I graduated with a Degree in Fine & Applied Art and a major in Computer Graphics.
I developed my creative skills at a very tender age. I remember my dad bought me my first computer at the age of 7 when I began to learn digital painting with Microsoft Paint. I was later enrolled in a roadside art shop at the age of 11, where I learned screen printing, and billboard design with the use of stencils, and spray paints. We were exposed to different kinds of art, and I saved my money to buy a small screen-printing kit. I started doing things from home. I remember when friends will pay me to print their names on the back of their shirts/jerseys. This was a streetwear trend that started in the early 2000s. It then set off my fashion journey when I started screen printing different designs on different shirts and selling them on social media.
I’d define myself as a creative that major in Art, Music, Fashion, and Tech. This has been my driving force all the way from childhood. I developed myself as a self-taught UX Designer, Creative stylist, Artist Manager, and Video Director. I found success in every professional career I found myself in.
We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.
In 2017, I joined a mobile phone company owned by a multimillionaire Chinese partner – Infinix Mobility Nigeria as a Lead Designer. The company earned a gross sale of 40% in 2018 which was the highest in the company’s history. While working at infinix, I created a social community amongst my colleagues called ATG SOCIALS. It drives a huge cult following that breeds creating entertainment and sports events amongst fellow colleagues that unite colleagues from a different departments. I began to monetize the brand by creating a few merchandises with the ATG SOCIALS logo inscribed on a shirt that sold out the same week it was launched.
Shortly after that, I moved to the States with my family in 2019 and settled in St Louis, Missouri where I still live. It was another serendipitous moment that led me to refocus my effort and decided to continue that legacy. As a creative, especially rooted in the African culture, my creativity allows me to share my experience, cultural background, and style that bridge the gap between Africans and Africans in Diaspora through Art and Fashion. I come from a wide variety of diverse backgrounds not only in financial terms but in societal values.
My brand has maintained its pride and cultural identity, and also contribute immensely to American society at large. I still have to grow and learn, and some goals aren’t accomplishable right now. My biggest dream is to pursue every idea that I have, and a lot of them come with needing more things to do them. I want to go back home, too, and do some work there. Helping build schools and things like that. That’s something I can’t do right now, but as my brand grows, and the resources align, maybe I could pursue some of those ideas.
For you, what’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative?
As a creative, watching someone respond to your artwork in a profound way is one of the best feelings. It fumes a sense of satisfaction and happiness. One of the most rewarding aspects of a creative for me is not only passing the message across but the ability to move people intellectually or emotionally through something you’ve made. It is a powerful feeling to witness your artwork making others feel or think something through a community that motivates and inspire everyone, no matter their race, identity, or cultural background. I want to show people that you don’t have to leave Nigeria/Africa to be successful. I want to reinvest in my community.
People can see my journey, and they can really identify themselves within it. People can recognize themselves, and their backgrounds within my brand. our community gets bigger and more global because it resonates with their lifestyle.
A vital part of GREATNESS GRAM’S strategy is bringing the founder’s (J.B) culture to streetwear by finding contemporary ways to showcase his heritage. The most beautiful thing is that we’re showcasing a whole different section of our culture, where we come from, and people are basically accepting it in a more abstract and contemporary way.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.greatness-shop.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/greatness.shop/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thegreatnessworld
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/babajide-bashiru/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/greatness_tweet
- Other: J.B Website – https://j-b-portfolio.webflow.io/
Image Credits
Babajide Bashiru- J.B