Christina Bright Newark Girls Rock

As a small business, change is a good thing when your perspective allows you to see the opportunities and growth in those changes. Your ability to pivot and acclimate can make or break you. I knew this from the start of my career, but it didn’t mean there wouldn’t be risks and challenges that I would have to face head-on. Rising Tide Capital has worked beside me all the way to support Rep Your Hoodie wherever possible and my personal career as an entrepreneur.

My small business has made a significant impact both in my family and in my community. Being a single mother and raising an 8-year-old little boy while building a successful business takes a lot of sacrifices.. I believe watching me has given him an entrepreneurial spirit. It’s really awesome to see him really understand that his ideas matter and that he can make them come to life as long as he is willing to do the work.

Trying to support myself as a business owner and the Newark community is a tough balancing act. I’ve always worked alone too, so I’ve had to divide my attention to every part of Rep Your Hoodie. RTC has allowed me to strategize and think about scaling my business up. It took me from thinking in the creative realm ( which I’m naturally great at) to shifting gears and thinking about my bottom line and what I need to do to get there so that I can continue to grow and create freely.

With help from my partners and sponsors, I think we’ve made a huge impact on our community. Our partnerships have also led the path to new and unique opportunities to give back. Being born and raised in Newark, and having a product that promotes Newark Girls, every time I sell a piece, I’m promoting my city and the place that made me who I am while encouraging that same community to be proud of who they are and where they are from.

As a lifestyle brand, I see myself collaborating with other brands on concepts and designs. I want to turn Newark Girls Rock into a community mentoring program where all funds will be used to help Newark Girls. That’s one of the reasons I’ve also looked into hiring employees for Rep Your Hoodie. There’s only so much that one person can handle — another lesson I learned at RTC. While it’s an unfamiliar change, I feel that it can help with both the customer’s convenience and my own. While I consider a decent amount of my efforts at Rep Your Hoodie to be solo work, I consider Rising Tide a vital part of the equation.

I’m extremely humbled and proud to be a business owner. Just in my work alone, I’m always promoting my city. I live here, I work here, I shop here. I know so many people here, that it makes me proud to make them proud.