We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Toriann Ray. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Toriann below.
Alright, Toriann thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. How did you come up with the idea for your business?
How i came up with TRAVI is by simply just wanting easier travel. Out of all the trips I’ve taken i have always packed so heavy without realizing the havoc it was causing on my comfort as i navigate through different spaces. Especially when i realize that I’ve overpacked and most of the items i brought didn’t even make it out the suitcase and just wasted space was irritating. Even though my suitcase was stuffed, so was my mind and that just wasn’t going to work for every trip, so i thought to myself “if only there was a cute luggage that only allowed you take just what you need?” So my mind first set on mini luggage and while there were hundreds of options to choose from they didn’t speak to me. So i decided to take matters into my own hands and create TRAVI. I had to completely change the design in order to change the vibe of light carry. Then with the simple opposite structure of what this industry is designed to be i created TRAVI. I knew this was a worthwhile endeavor because my simple adjustment not only differentiates me but TRAVI also gives off soft travel, light carry, no stress, and over all luxury travel. I have always loved clothing and just overall pieces that just stand out so i figured why not make luggage stand out more often? What got me the most excited about inventing TRAVI is my solution to the overpacking problem and the realization that I don’t need so much in order to travel all i need is just enough to last me my duration of my trip and the lighter i carry the more free my mind is from keeping up with so much. Plus when my trip is over im no longer dealing with stuffing a bag all over again. Its the light carry, stress free and fashion forward travel that TRAVI brings, its amazing.
Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.
My name is Toriann Ray and I am 25 years old and I am an entrepreneur. I love puppies, shopping, girl maintenance, and most importantly traveling and business. I am a small travel content creator while also growing my luggage brand named TRAVI. How I got into my industry is by realizing that there is a problem in the industry of what I love to do. Overpacking is a huge problem when it comes the travel industry and my creation is here to solve exactly that problem. My background has always been business ever sense I was a little girl I had always had a natural entrepreneurial mindset. I knew this because when I was in high school I seen a problem with how nasty the food was that we had for lunch so I decided to just go for it and start selling chips, candy and drinks out of a adidas duffel bag and priced everything for $1. No I wasn’t popular, no I didn’t have a whole lotta friends and no I wasn’t known but none of that mattered because I just went in out the blue and started opening my bag and walking up to everybody I could see and letting them know I’m selling and when I did that everything went BOOM! The girl that wasn’t known was suddenly the “candy lady” lol I was making like $200 a day off selling and I would always sell out. My little hustle got so big to the point where I had 3 other people selling for me because they would always skip their classes and go to each lunch for some strange reason so I saw that as a good opportunity to scale. My selling snacks had got so big to the point that people would know others were selling as well and thought I stopped selling when the whole time it was me lol. It felt so good being in class and my cashapp just going off all day without having to do anything. Afterwards at the end of the day each person who sold for me that day I would pay them $20 each. So I knew then what I would do in life later on. Making $700 to $900 a week in high school selling snacks really did one on me, business was my calling. What I think sets me part from others is my drive and dedication to any and everything I create. When I present anything I give it my all and put real effort and solutions to peoples problems, and to flip it and make money makes perfect sense to me. I love being different and standing out from the rest of the world. I’m not really into bandwagons and trends because I’m too much of a creative to follow a crowd. I feel like my business TRAVI solves the overpacking problem and introduces light carry and soft travel. TRAVI’S vibe and how it makes people feel is way different from every other luggage that you’ll see while traveling. What I am most proud of is GOD and how he’s guided me and trusted me. By allowing me to work in my purpose and he’s always here leading me and showing me just what life can be like if I stay consistent. Leaning on him, keeping him first in everything and putting my faith, my business, my trust, my decisions, my life, my work, and my all in him is paying off. GOD is just everything and he is great and I’m happier about growing with him every day. I am beyond blessed and I have nobody to thank but GOD in all of this. Thank you GOD, I love you. What I want people to take away from my business is there is a whole different way to move in life when traveling and it’s soft, luxurious and light.
What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?
A lesson that I had to unlearn is launching without demand. I used to have a hair extensions company and my excited was bigger than my audience. I created a logo and name and a photoshoot and just launched as soon as I had a look. Marketing was gone she was never even in the room lol. So I had to learn to build demand find a problem, solve it and show how it’s solved and get eyes before you launch . I launched then begged instead of actually selling a person on what I had to offer. Lesson learned though.
Are there any books, videos or other content that you feel have meaningfully impacted your thinking?
Yes there is one book that I am currently reading called Marketing Made Simple by Donald Miller with Dr. J.J Peterson. This book has taught me so much about business and just how simple it can be. They dropping free gems in this book and I suggest others that are starting out use like me to read this book and apply the instructions they give to their businesses. It’s changed the way i do business and also how i want my business to resonate with others that come across it. The goal is to convince the masses that they need your product to make their lives easier.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://Traviglobal.com
- Instagram: @travi.global
- Facebook: Travi Luggage
- Other: tiktok: @traviglobal
Pinterest: @travi
Image Credits
Creative Director & Images shot by Mariah Ray