Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Quinnell Williams. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Hi Quinnell, thanks for joining us today. So let’s jump to your mission – what’s the backstory behind how you developed the mission that drives your brand?

My brand Politically Urban stand’s for Politically unified requires bond and Nuture. The mission for brand is to bring black men and women together through fashion. As a graphic designer by trade I create all my garment designs. I make sure each design sparks a conversation or will bring a smile to black men or women’s face.

This mission is very important to me because I just have seen a lot of content on social media of black men and women debating about gender roles and negative stereotypes against each other. There will always be differences because we are different but I didn’t see a streetwear brand that really spoke to how much we love each other. I am goal is to combat the noise of us black men and women not working together or having unity. Through my clothing content and branding I want to show that that black men and women can having loving relationships with each other it all starts with the willing to see the beauty in one another

Quinnell, 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 28 year old Graphic Artist from Yonkers, NY. I have been drawing since I was 8 years old. My mother wanted me to read books but instead I would draw the characters out of them. My father would get the Sunday paper and I would imitate some of comic strip drawings.

My guidance counselor introduced me to Graphic design in my senior year of high school. I didn’t know if I wanted to go to college because my family was facing financial challenges. However my guidance counselor helped me get a partial scholarship and write my college essay so I can get into SUNY Cobleskill. Through falling in love with my graphic design classes early on I eventually graduated with my Bachelors Degree. For my senior year we had to create an art project for an our senior thesis. I was always looking at fashion during my leisure time.

Is there a particular goal or mission driving your creative journey?

Politically Urban is to foster unity among black men and women through fashion. I believe in using my designs to symbolize the strength and togetherness within our community, creating a sense of pride and solidarity through visually impactful graphics. My goal is to combat the noise of black men and women not working together or having unity. Through my clothing, content and branding I want to show we can have loving relationships with each other. It all starts with the willingness to see the beauty in each other.

I want show my community that we can also build a brand that we are the target audience and have it be successful because their a narrative that black consumers are not value for a business to grow. As we grow I want to hired people from my own community to show how black employees can build a successful culture and prove black business can have high quality products, great customer service, and the ability to scale.

Looking back, are there any resources you wish you knew about earlier in your creative journey?

I wish I valued a business plan, market research, and a great credit profile. I was caught up in creating great designs I forgot to make sure to map out my real costs to get the business to be profitable. I was listening to a microwave version of starting a business. Skipping all the steps and just going to market. It’s very important to know who you are targeting, their interests and where they would hang out. It’s important to get data on their fashion trends so you can make designs that serve your customer and not just feed my artist ego. Having a business plan gives you structure so you know what you need to execute your business and measure your results. I was fixated on feeding into pressure from my peer group to just launch quickly and I ended up right back where I started. It’s important to do things correctly then fast. A lot of videos on YouTube will tell you don’t need a lot of money to start a clothing business but I have found it’s important to have up wards of 50,000 to invest in your brand to see real results. After getting samples, setting up my website, copyrights and the biggest expense of them all is marketing. I don’t have that type of capital so acquiring business credit is my next step so we can get out of the rebrand phrase to consistent sales. There will always be an element of testing when it comes to marketing. I need to make sure I have enough financial resources to execute my marketing plans and try different marketing channels to develop a marketing system for success.

Contact Info:

• Website: Politicallyurban.com
• Instagram: Politicallyurban
• Facebook: Politically Urban
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/quinnellw?utm_source=share&utm_campaign=share_via&utm_content=profile&utm_medium=ios_app