We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Roosevelt Corbett a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Roosevelt, 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?
The name Rose 2 Akhieve started as an identity for me when I was reconnecting with God. I wanted something to identify myself with while also providing a daily motivation to wake up everyday and achieve. For that time of my life I just lost my mother in law a year prior, I was denied a career move I’ve been working towards for awhile and covid just hit. I wanted to create something that was not just mine but something centered around my faith that I didn’t not even realize at the time. I honestly was trying to create a clever instagram name along with a tagline I could place with my inspirational quotes that I started sharing daily on social media. During this time of exploration I was also listening to Les Brown. He said something that was profound to me in one of his books “The Courage to Live Your Dreams”. He said think back to when you were a child think back to when you were doing something you love that when you did it everything else faded away. For me that was drawing different characters sometimes Dragonball z sometimes basketball players like Tracy McGray but what I also loved was drawing my own clothes. My parents worked hard to provide and me and my sibling never needed for much but we also did not normally have the newest or best fashion. In fact I was the youngest so many of my clothes from my oldest brother especially in high school were handed down or I borrowed them from him. lol .
However drawing what I would like to wear became my way to wear what I want to wear in a mental sense. Back to the name when I heard Les Brown say that it instantly came to me that I was going to start my own clothing line with a positive message to share. However, to be honest I was on the fence of whether I wanted my brand to just be a positive motivational brand or if I wanted it to be more interims of the way I shared my faith and the gospel with others. That day came during a bible study group with my life group at Elizabeth Baptist Church where I shared what I was doing and they gave me the encouragement to stand strong on my faith. That’s when I decided that my brand would not just represent me but the love I have for Christ and how He motivates me till this day.
So essentially the Rose was for my name Roosevelt but became more about Jesus who Rose for us. The 2 represents when two or more are gathered in His name He is present and the K in Akhieve stands for the king of all kings God the father and the word akhieve represents what we are faced with and challenge to do every day. So in total I say Rose 2 Akhieve your God given gifts and inspire others to do the same everyday for the betterment of HIS Kingdom
Roosevelt, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?
My name is Roosevelt A.D. Corbett I was born in New York, Rased in Columbia, South Carolina and now live on the outside of Atlanta, GA in Lithonia with my wife of 8 years in September and our first born child. I belive I am simple in the things I enjoy but complex in my thinking. I gain so much of my inspriation from studying the bible and attending church. However, I belive that the best way to turely experince God is to be out in nature at the beach hanging by a lake, hiking a mountain just being somewhere outside spending time with love ones that is when I ture feel the most free. That sense of freedom and faith is what I try to bring to my faith based clothing barnd while providing it with my own style of what I like.
May of the styles and designs are your everyday street wear with a rose fair! I try to make my designs and my brand one that inspires a connection with God by being bold in its design as God intened us to be. Within my designs I want them to be fun and expressive as well sharing myself through them in away to encourage others to seek their God given gifts and share them with the world to make it an better place.
How about pivoting – can you share the story of a time you’ve had to pivot?
Rose 2 Akhieve is still really young created in 2021 but as many faced with the challenges of a pandemic, career changes, financial pressure, self identity in this short time I have made two big changes with my business the first was commitmenting my brand to God and making it faith based at the start of its creation the second was one that I was most challenged with because I just wasn’t sure if I was doing the right thing, how to do it or if I was letting myself down. When I started my brand I wanted to feel and see all the products be apart of every part of it from the design, to talking to vendors, packaging and driving to the post office to ship it. I love it I enjoyed it so much along with the opportunity it provided me to connect to the people I was selling it to even if it was mostly co-workers, family and friends. I remember my wife and I staying up late packing product I don’t know if she loved it but I absolutely did and greatly appreciated. However in August of 2022 I remember like it just happened on my birthday my wife said “We are pregnant” and it was and still has been the greatest gift of my life. However with that increased responsibility and the space that would be required I had to change my approach to having boxes of hoodies, sweatpants, and shirts all over our two bedroom apartment. So while looking for a house, going through the financial process, moving out of our apartment into my sister’s fiance house oh and my wife giving birth in between that move (that’s another story to tell) I worked hard to sell the rest of the product I had and which I still have some in our now basement. I told myself I would take a step back to give more to support my wife and our two big life changes. Once we had Rose (our daughter’s name) and moved I started back working to build my brand. But this time I would do it all online to not have the challenges of connecting with vendors, packing products waiting for shipments and shipping products myself. But as well this took a lot let’s capital but still allowed me to create and grow my brand. Selling all online has helped me create greater balance even though I feel like I want to do more. I don’t feel like I am sacrificing as much time to be a husband and father.
Can you share one of your favorite marketing or sales stories?
Being a young brand every choice to promote your brand can provide some kind of risk however, you have to know your goal and purpose behind everything you do. The promotion can be done to gain an audience, connect your brand with another or even doing something charitable. The first time I took the opportunity to market my brand outside of social media was to support another organization called 5Strong Scholarship which is a non-profit focused on providing students scholarships to partnering HBCUs. Not only does this organization tie to my business mission of finding your God given gift but I currently serve as a board member for the organization. We were hosting our annual golf tournament. The promotion allowed me to have the Rose 2 Akhieve logo posted on the banner for picture backdrop, positioned at the 15th hole and a table setup with Rose 2 Akhieve apparel to sell. This being the first time doing a live event I was nervous and unsure but when I thought about the purpose of the event the purpose of Rose 2 Akhieve it just connected for me. It just felt right and although you should not base your business solely off feelings at times you have to do what is right for the spirit and mission of your brand. Although I only sold one shirt I know I increased the brand awareness of Rose 2 Akhieve among audiences that would have never seen my post on social media. To add to that the picture I posted from the event had so many people tell me how proud they were of me sponsoring a golf tournament. It also felt great that they thought Rose 2 Akhieve could sponsor an entire Golf tournament lol but I was proud non the less as well that I was using Rose 2 Akhieve to uplift another.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.rose2akhievepurpose.com
- Instagram: rose2akhieve rosegold_b_i_r_h_j
- Facebook: Roosevelt A. D. Corbett
- Linkedin: Roosevelt A. D. Corbett