Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Shay Animashaun. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Hi Shay , thanks for joining us today. So, naming is such a challenge. How did you come up with the name of your brand?
ANIMASHAUN is my last name, im Nigerian, and it means one who gives freely. Someone that likes to give, and that’s really who I am. I like to help people or at least do my best to help someone, so I thought that would be the perfect brand name. And the more I looked at it the more it does look like a brand name. The craziest part about naming the brand was the Instagram account. When i decided to name the brand animashaun, I went to Instagram and tried to make the account, but animashaun was already taken. And I was like no way, I need to get this username. So I went to the account and it had basically been inactive for 7 years, so I tracked the owner down on Facebook, after scrolling through pages of people and trying to match the profile picture to the pictures on the ig lol. so I found him and at the time he was living in Nigeria. so i get in contact with him and he said he had lost the password to it. So I spent weeks helping him to get back into the account, and after weeks of failures, we finally got into the account, at first we had disagreements on the price haha but luckily we were able to come to terms, and now we’re friends haha, so once I was able to get that account, it was my first big W, so it just kinda gave me the confidence like okay, I can do this, I got this. I look back on it now, and I think about how I was so discouraged when I saw someone have the account, and I could have really given up right there but I was so locked in on getting the account.
Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.
I’ve always been into clothes, but i really got into clothing by basically getting in trouble. I was 18 at the time and I was at the mall with one of my friends, and I got caught stealing shorts and a shirt for my friend, and I had to go to court and the judge said why don’t you just make clothes instead of stealing them, and I was like damn that’s a good idea lol. but fast forward 4 years, I’m about to graduate college and covid happens, so now I’m stuck at home, and that’s when i pretty much started. I’m glad I got caught stealing haha I was scared at the time and never stole anything again but that was a period in my life ill forever be grateful for.
How did you put together the initial capital you needed to start your business?
during covid when the government was giving away stimulus checks, I basically saved up all that money and put it towards my first couple of designs. i say all the time the business is government funded because of that haha
Have any books or other resources had a big impact on you?
i think everyone should read shoe dog by phil knight, that book changed my whole life
Contact Info:
- Website: www.anima-shaun.com
- Instagram: animashaun