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

Hi LaToya, thanks for joining us today. We’d love to have you retell us the story behind how you came up with the idea for your business, I think our audience would really enjoy hearing the backstory.

The name eymjusme (I’m Jus Me) came to me in 1998 while only in the 6th grade. Long story short, I always felt like I was the lonely kid in school. I could hang with everyone but I’ve always felt I was different. One day while on a break I looked around and realized that I was all alone. I felt this presence come over me (it was literally like a hug from Jesus), I walked back into my classroom and wrote on a piece of paper “eymjusme”. That was my confirmation to embrace my different and be who God created me to be. Fast forward to 2020 I decided to create an apparel company to allow others the opportunity to showcase that they too were embracing who God created them to be. Whenever you see someone wearing “eymjusme apparel” let it be a simple reminder that you are beautiful, you are unique, and to embrace EVERYTHING about YOU, including what makes you different. I wouldn’t say that I was solving a problem that no one else was solving but I would say I was creating a lane where it gave people the confidence to be who they were created to be.

LaToya, 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?

I am the owner of eymjusme apparel, which is a brand I created to empower, encourage and motivate women to embrace their different. I started this apparel company b/c I wanted people to see “eymjusme” and read it as an affirmation that they were embracing their full authentic selves including all of their flaws. I also wanted it to be a conversation start for others to be able to ask what it read and for them to start embracing their flaws. We sell t-shirts, sweatshirts, hoodies, journals, coffee mugs and more. I am most proud of being able to create all things eymjusme and market them in a way that is relative to everyone.

Alright – let’s talk about marketing or sales – do you have any fun stories about a risk you’ve taken or something else exciting on the sales and marketing side?

My favorite marketing story is the time that Tabitha Brown and her family wore eymjusme apparel. In 2020 Tabitha and her daughter choice had a show called Very Good Mondays where they would give small businesses the opportunity to send in items from their business and they would promote them. At the time that I thought about sending in apparel I wasn’t able to find their PO Box information. One morning I woke up and God told me to send some of my products. I looked online and their PO box info was available. Every obstacle that could get in my way that morning, did. I continued to do everything in my power to get the shirts to the post office and shipped that same day. About a week later Tabitha, Chance, Choyce, and TyLeah all wore the shirts that I sent them. Them wearing my product during their show skyrocketed my business in a way that I wasn’t 100% prepared for in the sense of manpower but was able to pivot in a way that would allow my business to grow in a major way. I will forever thank God and them for being a vessel.

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

In 2016 my sister and I started a crafting business making custom items. One day I had this idea of instead of making custom items I would pivot to designing items that only had “eymjusme” on them and creating a brand. So that’s what I did. I designed a few logos, used my cricut machine to cut the designs, used my heat press to press the designs and ordered shirts online or went to Michaels or Hobby Lobby to get them. Over the years I’ve done a lot of research to provide the best products for my business. I no longer have to use my cricut machine 100% of the time but can order screen prints from other small businesses with my logos on them to add even better quality to my products. 99% of my products are manufactured in-house by me. The only product that was printed outside of my warehouse are the “embrace your different” journals. I created those but they were printed offsite.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.eymjusme.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/eymjusme/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/eymjusme/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@eymjusme/

Image Credits
29thand11th