We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Jeremy Arviso a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Jeremy, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Coming up with the idea is so exciting, but then comes the hard part – executing. Too often the media ignores the execution part and goes from idea to success, skipping over the nitty, gritty details of executing in the early days. We think that’s a disservice both to the entrepreneurs who built something amazing as well as the public who isn’t getting a realistic picture of what it takes to succeed. So, we’d really appreciate if you could open up about your execution story – how did you go from idea to execution?

My yoga mat company Hood Mats was an idea that I brought to the market in about 2 months. I had the idea brewing in my head for a while and I’m always looking for ways to bring in residual passive income. As a practitioner of yoga and other active forms of movement I felt there was a need for a product that I’d yet to see become available. One of my mentors always spoke about investing in anything that you enjoy doing, something that comes naturally and what you can have fun doing. I love yoga first thing in the morning when I wake up, it gets me motivated for the day and provides me a boost of energy that fires my brain up to be creative. I had no knowledge of the yoga mat market and to my surprise, it was very extensive. However, I didn’t see what I was looking for in a mat that expressed who I am as an Indigenous person. I wanted to design something just as unique as my cultural heritage and that’s when Hood Mats was born! I was forced to sit on the idea as I found a suitable manufacturing company to pair up with, I’m still looking to expand on the offerings but have released my first drop this summer with a total of 12 designs along with apparel and accessories. I’m now collaborating with yoga instructors and onboarding brand ambassadors and artists to create more awareness in this highly competitive market. The process was very organic in the design phase, I wanted to incorporate colors and designs that resonate with BIPOC practitioners of movement. After I had completed my designs it was onto the business side of developing the website, ordering samples and booking photo/video shoots. The site was very time consuming and the most cumbersome part of building the brand. Next was developing a social media presence and maintaining content and customer interactions. This is a short form of how I went from idea to execution with Hood Mats in about 6-8 weeks. So far, the income generated from the Shopify store goes right back into reaching out to more collaborators who want to pair up. The response has been good and I’m looking for another manufacturer that can offer more options as this market has many to choose from.

Jeremy, 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?

Jeremy Arviso is a multidisciplinary artist, designer, and entrepreneur based in Phoenix, AZ. He’s of the Diné, Hopi, Akimel and Tohono O’odham Nations here in the southwest and has established himself as a brand identity specialist with clientele that includes APS, BBC Studios London, The NFL, Nike and The Phoenix Suns. He’s a father to an autistic son and is a recovering alcoholic and drug addict who will soon serve on the board of directors for 5A Alcoholism & Addiction Assistance Association, a 501c3 Nonprofit Organization. Jeremy is also a member of Cahokia PHX, an indigenous led platform for creative place keeping where he offers his expertise, time and voice to indigenize, amplify, and visualize the Native American community in Phoenix and abroad. His next goal is to establish a nonprofit organization initiating a program called Native Art Therapy & Healing Through Indigenous Design. Behavioral, mental, spiritual, emotional, and financial health are at the core of this program. Guiding others on how to heal themselves through native art and indigenous design while fostering an entrepreneurial roadmap to be a successful creative is the goal. Systemic racism, generational trauma, alcohol and substance abuse can be healed through a program of self discovery in the arts. Education through active participation in community art/fashion shows, classes, vending events, and pop-ups will teach self sufficiency in a culture of capitalism. 

Can you tell us about a time you’ve had to pivot?

My old life ended on February 21st 2020 when I was sentenced to 120 days in a state prison for DUI. I started drinking when I was 12 years old and experimented with drugs when I was 14. I’ve battle alcoholism and drug addiction my entire life until this point. I was in and out of jail and constantly in a state of financial burden from a life of crime. Years of unresolved trauma, mental and behavioural health issues caught up with me. My physical health was also very poor, I was diagnosed with hyper tension high blood pressure, type 2 diabetes, high cholesterol, vitamin deficiency and dehydration requiring me to take 6 different medications daily. I told myself that after self surrendering into state custody that I would quit everything and take this time to heal myself and focus on repairing the damage I had inflicted on myself for 30 years. While in prison the Covid-19 pandemic had just begun and I watched the murder of George Floyd and the ensuing chaos that followed while incarcerated. I watched the number of victims rise daily from the pandemic with my grandmother being one of them.

I was released on June 21st 202o in the middle of the pandemic and immediately caught Covid-19. I was fortunate enough to have family and friends take care of my apartment while I was gone and had a home to come to. I didn’t have much but what I did have was a plan that I came up with in prison to change my life. I’ve stuck to that plan and and am now here in the best shape of my life no longer having to take any medications and have been sober from alcohol, drugs and tobacco since. I’m an active member of my community where I’m of service when needed and help other at-risk Native Americans do what I’ve done. It’s not easy and I don’t expect everyone to have the same outcome as me, but it’s possible. If you really want to change your life you have to take the necessary steps to repair the mind, body and spirit and the rest will follow. I didn’t do this alone and have many people to thank including therapists, spiritual advisors, coaches, mentors, friends and family. I had to cut out many things from my old life to be who I am today and I’m grateful to be here now. It was a long hard road to success which has become very cliché thing to say but its very true in my story.

Okay – so how did you figure out the manufacturing part? Did you have prior experience?

I design and layout different types of jewelry using a GlowForge 3D printer. I sketch my ideas on my iPad first for the general layout and then go in for the precise mockup in Adobe Illustrator, a vector application that the machine can read and cut out my designs. After cutting a few prototypes in wood, I assemble them and see if they look good enough to mass produce using a different material such as mirrored acrylic. I buy the material in bulk and layout the designs onto a sheet maximizing every square inch of space. The pieces are then cleaned and organized for the assembly line which is another part of the business that requires employees. A prototype is used for reference and the jewelry is assembled by hand using tools and different colored hardware. Once the pieces are finished they’re wiped down clean and stored for the next step, photography. After the pieces are photographed they’re edited, numbered and put into inventory on my website or for sale at markets. The entire process is done in-house.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.rvso78.com
• Instagram: @rvso78
• Facebook: JeremyArviso
• Linkedin: rvso78
• Twitter: @rvsodsgn
• Youtube: @rezrocket

Image Credits
Kyle Knox, Darren Thompson