Brain Love: A Great Conversation with Archie Clay III.

Excellence in blackness is a reoccurring theme on this platform, and each week we will highlight some phenomenally talented individuals who are making inspirational strides in their lanes. First up, the CEO of Brain Love, Archie Clay III. Hailing from Chattanooga, Tennessee, we caught up with Archie in his current state of transitioning from Co-founder and CEO of WEAR BRIMS to founder of his newest venture, Brain Love. Archie drops gem after gem in this interview, so take notes, and be inspired.

Hey Archie! Now, Brain Love is the second iteration. What was the first? 

The first was a luxury hat fedora company called WEAR Brims in 2016. The foundation of my journey into entrepreneurship. Which shaped my thought process around what it truly means to shape a company.  Unfortunately, my business partner and I essentially, parted ways after six years, for not being on the same page or having the same business and goals. 

This took my mind to a whole other level after being full-time for five years, and now, not knowing what's gonna come next. I put my heart and my soul into something that was really close to my heart. WEAR BRIMS was started with the foundation around my Grandmother. My Grandmother passed away from cancer when I was in my second year of college. 

It was built on her. It was built on the foundation of her principles of always pushing faith and always pushing confidence into me. That was a very, very close thing to me. That was my baby. We're brothers (my former business partner and I). It's my baby. So it was kind of hard to, um, realize that this is the ending chapter of this, this baby.

What would be your advice for someone that's about to go into a partnership, knowing what you know, what would be some key things to keep in mind?

First, understanding both sides, like what is your full goal and vision in doing this? Is this a passion project? Is this a project for you? Like, where do you envision it going? Because, essentially it starts off naturally as a passion project, but eventually it turns into a business. And essentially we forget (or don’t know) that a business takes more. 

Eventually you have to give your all and that doesn't mean just working more. You have to give 100 percent to that business if you want it to be a multi million dollar business. But I think naturally we're not taught that our businesses can be that.  That yes, our businesses can be multi conglomerates.

So I honestly think it's just really having those transparent conversations like, yeah, where do you really see this going? And if those visions don't align, It may not make the best sense. Because what normally happens is, visions change and honestly, that’s what you have to brace yourself for.

Like, hey, if this happens, what's the outcome? Right? And we didn't have that together in the beginning. Right? So it’s really about having a clear understanding on paper. So if you decide to leave or I don't want to go full time, we’ve already defined what happens.

Being very clear. And in the beginning, of course, that's a hard conversation to have, right? You don't see anything. You're not seeing what that looks like, but you will be thankful that you had that conversation in the first year so that you keep that from happening when y'all actually put all that time, money, and effort into it.

What do you think were some of the biggest challenges and how did that prepare you for this new chapter?

Man! I think it's a scale, like really understanding how to scale, how to really find the right customer.

A lot of times we don't really understand how to find the right customer.  I mean, what does that truly look like? What does it mean to build strategies? I think for us, we had to go from just being a brand doing pop-up shops, to building strategies. Changing and moving to the next level.

We went through many challenges like saying no, having the best of calls, them not really understanding our story, talking to different people, and talking to minorities. And those things helped our confidence. 

Last year, before I got into this new process, I completed three accelerator programs; The McKinsey Accelerator Program, The Shopify Accelerator Program, and The Shea Moisture Accelerator Program, because for me, learning as much as I can, even with a business background, helps me seperate business from entrepreneurship. They are two different things.

How do you have conversations with buyers? How do you have conversations with these bigger companies that you're trying to get your brand into? It's all this trial and error. My goal is for Brain Love to be bigger. So I’m taking the resources and skills that I learned from WEAR BRIMS and applying that to the new company. 

You mentioned leading with passion and emotion, please explain how you mesh the two together? 

I think that's a difficult one, right? For me, I'm a very emotional person. I think the emotion and passion stings me, but I like to categorize it right from a business perspective. As a CEO, my job is to lead and to grow my business and lead my team right with emotion and passion.

But at the same time, this is where my HR skills come into play as I still should be able to be professional in that regards. Right? Even when I'm holding my team accountable, I need to make sure that if I'm having a conversation with my team or I'm giving great feedback,  I start with a soft approach.

Because at the end of the day, that's just human nature, right? Not everybody can understand feedback or take feedback and rejection. That's a hard thing for people to take. So for me, I lead with my passion AND I lead with my emotion. Because I want my team to know this is what I love to do. 

With our company we want to change people's lives. Like, we want to change at least one person's life. Because a lot of times, especially with fashion, we'll get so caught up in just looking good, and the status quo, and the symbols, but it can be such bigger and so much more powerful because fashion changes people's lives.

Fashion is iconic alone.  But we only use it in a materialistic way. These brands are not really changing lives. When you think about Patagonia, Patagonia is really like changing the direction of how fashion is perceived.  They're impacting the community. They're impacting what they want to impact from a social standpoint.

Why don't we do that?  You know, like why not? So for me, I use both as a strength. Those are my powers. Like I'm a very passionate, passionate individual, especially something I believe in. But I'm very emotional. So I use both. 

Next up, Brain Love. Please explain the brand and the mission behind the brand. 

I mean, so Brain Love man, it's a thought process of evolution. 

We truly want everyone in the world to be better and to grow. But in order for individuals to do that, you need to understand that your faith and mindset play a major role in your evolution,  right?  

We love fashion and luxury and people look up to that. They want to wear the Gucci's, the Louis Vuittons, right? But we want to be a brand of that level, that stature, right? But we want to push this narrative that we need you as much as you need us. We can't do this without you. We need that community.

That's why brands like KITH do so well because the community is on them. But the difference is they don't have a social impact to them. They're not impacting anything. They're just selling product. Telling a story.  We want to do the same thing, but we want to impact. So that's why we have a social impact to mental health because we realize that it's interchangeable. 

Using our influence to change people's lives is something that's close to me. Positioning our influence and influence that we will have. Understanding that the world is ever changing, and we should change every day. Yeah. Pretty simple. I know. It's easier said than done, of course, because that was what we're doing all the time in order for us to get to where we want and the success.

God also plays a major role in that journey for Brain Love. We just want to create a different space of disruption within the fashion industry to parallel the fashion and materialistic side of things, but also the social impact of mental health and mental wellness and understanding these both of these things are together.

We want to be a voice for evolution and not just looking good. We look at Kobe and LeBron and all these amazing people that just hit all these accolades, but when you hear about their story, their greatness, they want to be great in every avenue.

So Let's be great in every avenue! Let's be a great husband, let's be a great spouse, a boyfriend, girlfriend, whatever you are, let's be great in every avenue. That's the, the mission of brain love and how we want to  impact and change. 

When we walk into the Brain Love section, what can we expect to see?

Man, just vibrant colors, man. We have this thought process of evolution. That's why we want to evolve with you. Right? And we want you to evolve with us. Right? Starting with three pieces, a very high quality t shirt that has a story in the back. It tells the collections call.

Love you. 

Because you have to love yourself before you cross that next phase in your life. So that the collection speaks, it gives that energy of light. When you look at the collection, you see us, like we're evolving,. We are going to be evolving from not just T-shirts and hoodies, but so much more.

We're just giving that first. We'll go from a sweater, and then open more doors to things that just make you feel good, and make you stand out. Got it. So we're super excited.  

Lastly, Tell me what success looks like for you?

Man. I think success is like, of course, getting to a point where we spend more time in our company where we can actually do more programming within the mental health space and within the wellness space from a company standpoint.

But honestly, it’s being creatively free. Being able to tell stories is where I want to be. I want to be able to tell impactful stories that changes people's thought processes.

Then there’s financial freedom, right? And honestly being able to create spaces for young people and individuals that need space to grow and evolve. A resource hub, where people can go in and find therapy, therapist, whatever they may need, anything they need to help them grow. Eventually we would love for it to be an app where it's a part of our own app.

How can people join the movement?

Man, please follow us. Brain love underscore official on all platforms. Please check us out. We have pieces there for everybody. And everyone can wear it. We just want everyone’s support. We want people to love what they order from us and to impact the mental health space. Thank You!

Be sure to check out Brain Love’s Website and Instagram. And you can keep up with Archie here.