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

Tay’Shaun, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. What was it like going from idea to execution? Can you share some of the backstory and some of the major steps or milestones?

While growing up I always had the vision of starting a business. I used to look up at so many teens starting up a business and I looked at it like it wasn’t that hard because I saw everyone starting up one back to back so that’s when I got my ideas set. ZTR Face Masks Aesthetic was the first business I started with my best friends Zoe & Regan. We established this back in 2019/2020 when the pandemic started.

We saw that everyone was making and selling customized masks, so that’s when we decided to take action and make masks and sell them to the public since the pandemic had hit us about that time.
Things were going well until there was some conflict that occurred between us as far as the quality of the masks and the presentation we had of them.

So with this being my first I took a lot of gained skills and techniques and started my own business. On February 27th, 2021 I established Eco Apparel LLC as a clothing and accessories business where we sell T-Shirts, Shoes, Bookbags, and Keychains. February 27th was one of the happiest days and most blessed days of my life.

At that moment I knew I finally did it, I am doing something that I really wanted to do and I will continue to do great things and excel. After that day I took more action with things, I took an entrepreneurship class and got my certificate, and I also did an analytics course for beginners and intermediate and received my certificates.

So then eventually I wanted to go even higher with things. I wanted to start a class for teens to help them start a business and brand while they get themselves out here. In 2021/2022 I decided to start a new line called Grace By Tay. Where I sold T-Shirts that say Grace with a crown and set 2022. For that line, I sold a little bit of everything. That’s when it wasn’t just Eco Apparel LLC it was then Eco Apparel LLC x Grace By Tay 2 different businesses collided to be one with two different views of clothing and accessories.

That same year I received an opportunity from Voyage Magazine Michigan to give them a story about my business and that was another exciting day I had. The day they published it was about 3-4 weeks after I did the interview process of giving them a story.

Fast forwarding to 2022/2023 I wanted to do more so that’s when I decided to start up a new business separate from Eco Apparel LLC & Grace By Tay. Now I bring to you Selfmade Clothing Apparel where our slogan is as we go up, we glow up. In this business, I sell T-Shirts, Hoodies, & Beanies. This business idea just came in the blink of an eye for me. I really wanted to target my generation of people and create a site and sell products they would like and will be able to copy a couple of fits from the site.

So to this day, all businesses are in motion except ZTR Face Masks Aesthetics, which closed in 2020 towards the end of the year. But the important thing is anyone can put an idea to light and start it, you don’t necessarily have to be 18 or older to start your own business, you can start now and excel in the business world at 14, 15, or 16 years or maybe even younger than that. Just apply the knowledge you have and believe in yourself. Once you begin you will have haters and fans everywhere praying about your downfall. See those people who want you to fail/give up but keep faith in god and your business and continue doing you and being great.

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 back background and context?

Early Days Of My Life Growing up as a child in Detroit raised by my grandparents, mother, and grandfather was a blessing that I had while growing up. My name is Tay’Shaun DeVon Lewis and I was born on October 6th, 2006 at Harper Hutzels Women’s Hospital. And as I was growing up I really didn’t have a father figure in my life. So since I didn’t have a father figure in my life I looked up to my grandfather.

But here is why it’s a blessing, it’s a blessing because, without my grandparents to be in my life, my mom would have been a single parent trying to figure out how to provide for me but she had help and support which is a total blessing to her. I wouldn’t say I was like a bad kid growing up but I was spoiled by my great-grandmother.

I remember one day in particular that was kinda hell for me. So behind our house, we had the corner store Walkers and we used to walk there to get snacks and everything so one day in particular I asked my grandma where we were going to walk and she said no. So then since she said no I waited till she took a nap and I walked out of the house and walked to the store. And the store ended up keeping me and calling my grandma since we were close to the owners. When my parents received the call that I was at the store I knew I was in big trouble.

Since that day I have never walked there by myself without an adult with me. I didn’t care if I was thirsty you wouldn’t catch me lacking again.
So wrapping this section off I would even say I had a bad childhood because it was honestly good besides the up and down moments that I had while a child.

Growing Up

As I started to come out of being a kid a lot of things started to be different including the living situations and school. I would say I would hate to see my mom struggle, but one thing about my mom even though she may struggle she will always keep a roof over our head and food in our refrigerator.

And she never gets expensive or worthless things because at the end of the day when we die we can’t take it to heaven with us in any way. We can’t set our lives up fending on materialistic items and things because they won’t do us any good in the long run at all.

Everyone has a different definition of struggle. My definition of struggle is when you are at your lowest financially. I heard so many people say that struggle means being poor and broke. It does it means you are just at your lowest. And that’s what I have been through. I have seen a lot in my childhood between evictions, my mom getting robbed while at the bus stop with me, car repossessions, and everything.
So by saying that I would never go around saying that I had the perfect childhood because 1 no one is perfect and 2 it’s not a perfect childhood it will be like a different childhood from other kids out there.

One thing that people always think is everything is having a big house or just having a house. That’s cool and all but some people can have houses and only have so many rooms furnished fully. One thing we as people tend to do is live above our means. Not saying it’s bad but instead of us wanting to be known for the designer and nice cars and big houses be known for an accomplishment or something good you’re doing, not for the new Cartiers you bought.

So at the end of the day we as human beings on earth go through different things in life but all of us have different stories to tell and that’s why I’m here today to tell you my story. And for me, my family and I came a long way. Now we are blessed with the things we have currently. And it is ok to have nice things based on how much you buy.

We’d love to hear the story of how you built up your social media audience?

So while I was in the planning stages of my business, my main focus was trying to figure out how I would advertise; it should be everyone’s first question to themselves. To build my audience on Instagram I had to obtain help from my friends and others that I know to spread the word around the community via their Instagram stories. As for myself, I had to print flyers and post them all around the city for everyone to see. And not only that but I sent emails, texts, and made a few phone calls around just so I can get out here. Only hard encounter I ran into while advertising was that no sales were coming in yet. But one thing I had to remember was that you can’t give up because there are no sales you have to continue to do what you are doing to maintain yourself. So some advice I would give would be to never give up, things will get better for you keep faith, and stay prayed up because you didn’t get to this point out of the blue.

Can you open up about how you funded your business?

Funding your business will be the most struggling part of your business. Most people can tell you you can start a business with $0. Not true at all because of the sites we have like Wix, GoDaddy, BigCartel, Shopify, etc. You have to end up paying for something on those sites whether it’s to get your funds when someone makes an order or to add so many products to your site. You will have to make sure you have the income to start your business. It’s all about investing and getting the profit back that you lost but at the same time you’re getting your products out.

Contact Info:

• Website: selfmadeclothingapparel.bigcartel.com
• Instagram: selfmade_clothing_apparel
• Facebook: Tayshaun Lewis
• Twitter: 0fficiallyTay1
• Other: Ig: 0fficially_tay

Image Credits
. Jasmine Madden – Brand Ambassador – . Heather Harris – Brand Ambassador – . London Spivey – Satisfied Customer – . Quentin Shah – Ambassador – . Kenya Ervin – Support Buying Shirts For Prom Committee – Aleiry Martinez & Nikkyrah Gillom