Today we’d like to introduce you to Duke Terry.
Hi Duke, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstories.
Briefly about me. I was born in Brooklyn, NY. My family relocated to GA when I was a teenager. Took me a while to get adjusted but I definitely consider Atl my second home. My friends and I from college started STEM. There were 6 of us total. Just all in our group chat that we use daily. My friend Jonathan Purdie had just ordered a super bowl shirt for the Carolina Panthers. He said this shirt is dope and we should start doing our own shirts etc. I lightbulb went off and everyone bought in immediately. I found myself doing research until almost 2 am that night. I laughed because my other homeboy William Pearl and I had discussed this same idea once before while still in college. Being Business Majors, Purdie and I had some type of knowledge in getting us started but didn’t know anything about fashion. Brainstorming ideas and looking for a name we came across STEM- STRIVE TO EARN MORE. It all meant something different to us individually, wasn’t just an earning income type of thing. When coming up with the official logo, I sat there and said (to myself) when I think of the word STEM, I think of trees and branches. The stem or roots is the beginning of it all. The “T” in STEM was stylized into a Tree to tie the meaning together. The reason why the tree is half full is visually representing “branching” off or striving to do more or new growth in general.
We started back in 2016 and just hit our 5-year mark July 1st. We are currently looking to expand our product line etc.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Absolutely not, lol. I wish I could say it was. I’ve always known nothing in life comes easy but this has been a journey for sure. Ups and downs, highs and lows, but I’ve enjoyed the entire process and learned a lot on the fly. Late nights and early mornings to say the least. I’m pretty much running this entirely by myself so it can often be overwhelming some days. Having to design, update website, fulfill orders, etc. can be draining if not organized properly. One pain point I’ll never forget was when we first started. We wanted to do an Alumni shirt for our school’s homecoming. It was great until it wasn’t lol. The vendor we used at the time waited last minute to complete our shirts. They shirts completed faded after 1 wash and we had to replace/ refund multiple orders. Needless to say, we never worked with them after that.
As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
I work a full-time job during the day in the logistics field. My job deals with brokering loads and helping customers find trucks to move their shipments from point A to point B. Pretty fast-paced environment.
Have you learned any interesting or important lessons due to the Covid-19 Crisis?
Life is really short and we sometimes take things for granted. Call and check up on your loved ones. During COVID and being quarantined, since we couldn’t be together my family/friends would join a big zoom call. We would throw a “virtual party” and keep ourselves entertained by any means. It brought us closer and we made time together, more than we would if things were “normal”. In addition, I found myself reading more and looking into more business ventures. Being in quarantine made me become more in-tune with my mental health as well.
Contact Info:
- Email: contactus@stemclothinggroup.com
- Website: www.stemclothinggroup.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/stemclothinggroup/?hl=en
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/category/Clothing–Brand-/STEM-Clothing-Group-1060546154036848/
Image Credits
Jay Harris