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

Hi RAQUEL, 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.

So picture it Sicily 1899 LOL…(Thank you Sophia, “Golden Girls)

In all actuality, it was 2010 and I was working in retail ,specifically at a store called Dillard’s in Cincinnati Ohio and I was working in the shoe department.

I would often take small breaks and just walk around the store and study the merchandise and study the “why” and “what” of each item and what drew people to them.

I was particularly drawn to the jewelry counter and I would study these different necklaces and earrings. I would study them and dissect them in my brain, pricing each component and wondering , why is this necklace with a simple bead and leather cord $800? Why is this necklace or pair earrings $600 ?

I would ponder to myself ,” I make jewelry , am I pricing my items to cheaply?” “What made this item more expensive than mine ,when I use the same materials!?”

So after doing much research on materials and pricing them and also paying attention to people’s attitudes and behaviors when they would shop , I would see people literally fighting over certain brand merchandise. It was baffling and appalling to see such behaviors.

Items that are mass produced, but it wasn’t even that, it was more of the effect that these items had on people and I would often wonder how would people act if they had something customized and uniquely designed for themselves; that special item that screamed and stood tall, strong, powerful!? A custom item(s) that breaks to systematic monotony of “cookie cutter” images and SCREAMS TO THE WORLD…🙊🤬YOU
” I AM STRONG, FREE, LOVED, WONDERFULLY CREATED BY THE MOST HIGH, IN HIS IMAGE, UNIQUE…DELICIOUS…HERE I AM AS AN INDIVIDUAL!!!!!”
Hahahaha🤣😂

I wanted to solve this problem by creating something that would give people the freedom to stand in the essence of their individuality and how much Freedom there is in that.
I wanted to create a movement not just a brand but a movement, one that would “Leave💜Everywhere”, change peoples vision!

What if you had something that was uniquely designed and created to serve you and your taste and your style!?

So after a lot of time , I prayed, I got quiet,.I got still.

I can’t really describe what happened in that momemt of Divinity, but I think I was inspired by seeing Chris Brown wear a pair of movie theater glasses with no lenses and I took a pair and just started putting natural gemstones and yarn and all sorts of different crystals and rhinestones on them and needless to say…. My brand-movement of “I-Wear by Raqui” was born and blessed!

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your background and context?

Well my name is Raquel Monique Rhodes and I don’t know what to say about myself LOL it’s always difficult to answer this question.

Well, I worked retail throughout college thinking it would bring me.closer to the fashion industry and learning the backdrop of things…..I was WRONG!
I went to college for Design and English because I wanted to be a fashion editor.

However, after this watching so many Runway shows I was so enthralled by the excitement of seeing people sit on the side of the runway and watch all these beautiful handmade Fashions come down the runway and I thought I’m in the wrong like class to be a fashion editor I should have my creative wears on the runway!!!

So I started designing jewelry and it was kind of dope at the time, I had this amazing manager where I worked at Dillard’s her name was Cindy Klein, and Miss Cindy was like a mother to all of us.
So I would wear my handmade necklaces and earrings to work to get the reactions of customers to see what set me apart from the other designers who were laid out in the jewelry showcase on the third floor of the department store.

Needless to say my manager saw the reactions of customers and actually encouraged me to sell my jewelry at the store and I did. That took me even further and I got to a point where I lost myself creatively and instead of creating pieces I started “Making”. Jewelry to keep up with the trends and the masses and by doing that I lost myself.

So I took time to get quiet and get still with God and asked what I should do next ?!?

I told God I wanted to fix the issue of people NOT understanding the Beauty , the pride , the freedom and the deliciousness of being our individual selves and not fighting each other over Mass produce items , the Joy of living out loud and being the trendsetter and creating your own style.

So I can’t describe what happened in that moment I just know that I grabbed a pair of movie theater glasses that I had sitting around the house and started at a yarn and Beads to it. I took those glasses and I wore them to an art show and it took off from there.

A few months later I was seen and of about three major magazines and I had no idea that Raven Symone and Usher and Mary Mary the singing group was seen in my I wear even Beyonce!

I met the owner of one of the magazines she actually saw me at Bronner Brothers Hair Show and she purchased several care for me and that’s how I ended up with my magazine debut that I was unaware of because a friend told me about it and she had said the woman was looking for me I think I still have that email to this very day:-)

What sets me apart from everyone else is, I design everything myself (God above everything) I come up with the ideas for the frames and I have a manufacturer that makes my designs.

All the threading, yarning, and beading, all the details is my own.

It comes from my soul , it comes from a place of love, it comes from my travels from around the world, and it comes from a lot of life lessons that I learned and didn’t learn; it comes from an even deeper place of spending many years living the life that everybody else wanted me to live, looking and being the way everybody else wanted me to.

It took me many years all through college and growing into an adult to learn to love myself to learn to see myself the way God designed me to be and that’s in His image and loving everything about myself.

I am most proud of staying the course I had a lot of strong powerful women and men that pushed me to stick to my eyewear brand because as an artist we tend to jump from one project to the next we get easily distracted and I could have been a multi-millionaire by now if I had stayed consistent with some of my other previous projects however I am most proud of sticking with my eyewear brand.

This brand and movement , as I like to call it, has put me in places that I never thought I would be in , walking into rooms with a lot of big name people, putting me on stage and behind stage. Hearing my name in the same sentence as being labeled “A Legend and Legendary!” I have even been called “THE GOAT” of eyewear and I’m still alive LOL ; usually you don’t become a legend until you pass on to the next life!

What do you think helped you build your reputation within your market?

What helped me build my reputation with in my market were the women and the men that pushed me to be my best and even go beyond being my best.

These were people who were big name people who saw me and I mean really saw me they saw my vision, they saw my soul and they promoted me in their magazines and on network TV like NBC and CBS and Fox News and countless interviews , from selling in barbershops to hair shows to big events, to being months Jennifer Hudson show!!!

My journey has been nothing shy of blessed above and beyond anything I could think ask for or imagine.

But the key to building my reputation was staying consistent and listening to all my mentors to studying eyewear from the first pair that was ever made which was in Italy in 1300’s . I studied I stayed prayed up I took people’s experiencing wearing my eyewear and their testimony seriously and I built a movement because I really want people to love themselves to and to change their vision of themselves and the world around them to give them a different lens to see through to see clearly.

How do you keep in touch with clients and foster brand loyalty?

I keep in touch with my clients as much as I do not care for social media I just have an open door policy people can reach me via email, phone or social media platforms or my website.

I’m honest with my clients if something doesn’t look good on them I will tell them if I don’t think that they’re designed choices will fit their lifestyle I will let them know.

AGAIN, I’m honest with my customers and I make sure that my clients feel loved I always put myself and other people’s shoes to find out how they feel or how I would want to feel when I’m shopping or when I’m getting something customized and I built a rapport with my clients where they majority of time give me creative freedom.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://Www.I-WearbyRaqui.com
• Instagram: https://www.Instagram.com/I-WearbyRaqui
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/IWearbyRaqui
• Other: Tiktok- I-Wear by Raqui

Image Credits

Image Credits: Raquel M Rhodes