Today we’d like to introduce you to Jamal Romeo.
Jamal, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
After the emergence of the idea, I had no idea how I was going to materialize it. All I knew was I wanted to make socks. At the time, I was in school & driving for lyft. I would randomly ask some of my friends on campus if they knew anyone that made socks and I would ask all of my lyft passengers the same question. It took about a month but finally one of my lyft passengers said yes. We exchange information & he connected me with a guy from South Carolina that inadvertently connected me with a company based on the west coast & from there the process began (mock-ups, samples).
After receiving the mockups & samples I was super excited, only to be taken down a notch after realizing they had minimum requirements in regards to quantity, size, color, style. This made the endeavor more expensive than I initially thought. Thankfully this was around the time we got our refund check, so I used that to lunch the company and made my first purchase of socks for 2k. This was September 2018 between now & then I learned a lot, I lost a lot, gained a lot. You know, sunny days and rainy days.
Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
In a world full of trouble and problems, the journey to the top rarely ever is smooth and mines is no exception. I believe the path is made up of small challenges & if they are left unattended collectively they turn out to be a big challenge. For me all my challenges have a common denominator, money! But I’m relatively young and I’m healthy and my family is healthy, so I can’t complain, just have to figure it out and make more money.
Stated above is my typical state of mind but currently we have an anomaly. As a world we are currently dealing with the coronavirus. This is definitely a challenging time for everyone. My business has been on pause for about two weeks now and this is expected to continue for at least another few months and who knows how long it will be before things get back to normal. I am not an established business, so this is definitely not good but its also not the time to panic either. I feel like this is an opportunity to hone in on the things that we as a company can be doing better. Come up with new ideas, pivot a little, and prepare for the future in hopes that everything will get back to normal sooner than later.
Alright – so let’s talk business. Tell us about A&R (actuality&reality) – what should we know?
We started off as a sock company and to date we are still solely a sock company but we are working on expanding into various products. Mainly we make athletic socks but we also do business socks as well. Varying in length from no show to knee-high.
What distinguishes us from other companies is our mission of expounding consciousness through product & symbolization. A&R distinguishes between the meaning of actuality & reality. These words are often misconstrued. Actuality is facts and Reality is perception. In society, reality is often manipulated and taken as facts. This hinders the connection of people, especially those of different ethic and racial backgrounds. Blacks bare the burden of this the most because of all the pretenses stemming from a patriarchal white society. We want to tell the story of our actuality with African symbols, African history & prominent black figures. The purpose is to make our actuality & reality synonymous.
Any shoutouts? Who else deserves credit in this story – who has played a meaningful role?
The heart and pulse of any business is the people that support it. So many people have purchased, shared, and inspired us to be better. Special shoutout out my moms and my family, they have really supported me like no other. Big up to my brother Jermaine and cousin von, they have been there every step of the journey. Actually I don’t know why I’m shouting them out cause they are A&R.
Pricing:
- PRICES VARY FROM $12- $20
Contact Info:
- Website: actualityreality.com
- Phone: 6782668905
- Email: romeo@actualityreality.com
- Instagram: actuality.reality
- Facebook: actuality&reality
Image Credit:
@just.ford
@shotbysed
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