We were lucky to catch up with Tiera Masters recently and have shared our conversation below.

Tiera, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. What was it like going from idea to execution? Can you share some of the backstory and some of the major steps or milestones?

I started my business as a hobby. I made shirts in my mother in law’s living room for a good 6 months. I sold my first shirt and the rest is history. Over the past 4 years, I’ve made not just vinyl shirts, but I’ve crossed over to embroidery, sublimation, and even DTF transfers. I started designing my own business and thank you cards. I even started designing my own clothing on my iPad using Procreate. How did I go from idea to execution? I started to see more clothing brand owners on my TikTok for you page. There was one brand owner that stood out, she goes by the name Rugawd and has a brand called “Sauce Gawd Apparel.” I practically stalked her page, I loved her work so much. For Christmas, my wife purchased one of her most expensive pieces as a Christmas gift for me. It was an extremely detailed Varsity Jacket. It was beautiful! That was the piece and motivation I was missing. I started watching videos on how to get mockups and different ways to use Procreate. Then there it was, my first designed piece. I took a leap of faith, reached out to a manufacture in Pakistan, prayed over my money before sending it, and believed God will take care of the rest. Believe me, HE DID! The first idea that was executed was 3 silk pajamas in the colors: Mint Green, Lavender, and Orange Gold. I designed the PJs for a Sorority I’m a vendor for and the PJs was everything! I loved seeing my drawing in the flesh. From there I had my very first business photo shoot and I launched my first designed clothing! Fast forward, I designed some soft velvet hats and some tracksuits I can’t wait to release! The Pjs were a stepping stone, basically a soft launch. Now I know what to expect and how to move forward, I’m taking every step to ensure a successful launch for my tracksuits. Most importantly, I’m praying and asking God for the guidance needed to achieve this launch.

Tiera, 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?

My name is Tiera Masters and I’m the Owner and Founder of Up Crown Designs LLC. This started as a hobby New Years 2020, just something to do when I wasn’t doing anything. One day I was browsing google for SVG/PNG files to practice making shirts. I came across a website that had all types of files geared towards African American people. There was one image that caught my eye. It was an image of a black woman with an afro. Inside that afro was different words that described black women. Words like: Queen, beautiful, happy, strong, melanin, loved, etc. I made the shirt in full glitter vinyl, posted it on FaceBook, and the rest is history. Fast forward 4 years later and we’re a vendor for the Sigma Chi Psi sorority as well as their Brothers Gamma Sigma Gamma fraternity. We’ve generated over 600,000 views on TikTok. We’ve been featured 4 times in Vogue Dallas and Bold Journey. We’ve made over 200+ t-shirts for PT’s Fried Chicken and Fish. We’ve made t-shirts for the Dallas County Sheriff’s Department, we made 198 shirts for Gateway Charter Academy, and many other small businesses and organizations. We’ve also crossed over to offering business card services as well as full embroidery services. What sets us apart from other t-shirt businesses is we do our best to provide the best customer service and we literally make every order with love. We don’t put our customers is nothing we wouldn’t wear ourselves, which means, we offer the best quality shirts that will last not only washes, but years!

We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?

The biggest lesson I had to unlearn, is charging what I’m worth is okay! Oh my God, that was a though lesson to learn. In the beginning, I would charge people lower than what they would’ve offered to get an order. There was a time I charged a customer $100 for 13 shirts. 13 3XL shirts with glitter vinyl. I barely had a $15 profit, if that. There was this other time, I charged a restaurant $300 for 30 shirts that took me nearly 2 weeks to make. Cutting the vinyl, weeding the vinyl. I mean, ridiculous. Not to mention delivery. Nowadays, I would charge $390 for 13 3XL t-shirts at $30 each (not a bulk order) and $570 for 30 shirts at $19 each (bulk order). I had to learn that my time is extremely valuable, especially when customers are wanting the orders to be completed ASAP. Now that I’ve learned the importance of charging what I’m worth, I make a really good profit and with using DTF transfers, I can process 200+ shirts in just a couple of days.

Can you tell us about what’s worked well for you in terms of growing your clientele?

The best way I grow my clientele is word of mouth. My customers bring me more customers. I literally had a customer getting her hair braided and heard one of the stylist saying she needed some shirts asap. My customer gave the lady my information, the lady contacted me with what she wanted, I designed it, she approved, I made all 5 shirts, and she picked them up by 7 pm that night. Mind you, the lady contacted me around 11 am that morning. Just in that one day, my customer, whom I was already working on an order for, had 2 separate people needing shirts reach out to me and I was able to execute all 3 orders in that one day. Faithful and loyal customers are going to get the job done every time. They’re going to brag, boast, and recommend me to anybody that will listen. That comes from providing great customer service, communicating, and giving the customer something they can love and cherish for a very long time.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://upcrowndesignsllc.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/upcrowndesignsllc/?igsh=M2NtdjR4cW91djdj&utm_source=qr
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/UpcrownDesigns
• Other: https://www.tiktok.com/@upcrowncustomdesigns?_t=8ilMWA2d2EA&_r=1