Here we go! Thank you thank you thank you for stopping in. By now you’ve probably seen our first shirt…the Jaguars/Jacksonville/ (old!!) Kanye Graduation album mashup. It’s been a long time coming but here’s the story behind it. I’ll do my best to keep it quick.
My story
I’ll start with my story. I quit my job in February. After 8 years being in commercial real estate, “I packed it up and brought it back to the crib.”
See what I did there? Lol…but really, I traded 8 years of a “successful” career to become Mrs. Doubtfire for our family. The money was good but I hated that shit. Was it the work or the people? Probably both…all anybody cares about is ROI ROI, what’s the ROI. Buildings, people…whats the ROI?! Deuces. Shout out to my sugar mama, who on top of taking over as income producer, penned the art for this shirt. She got range!
Follow @emilyyiart on Insta!!
Okay I’ll get back on track, excuse my ADHD. In the midst of “retirement” (lolz!) I was overwhelmed by thoughts of what’s next. I peeped at jobs in sports, jobs with the Jaguars, etc. But I was trapped between Emily reminding me that stay at home dilf is a full time job, and an itch I’ve always had…launching a clothing company. I’ve always loved drip. Didn’t matter what accessory, trend, style, era…If it was hot I wanted it! Hats, shades, kicks. In every arena too. Basketball court? All the headbands and socks. Football field? Peep this visor and every armband you can imagine...
“I always had a passion for flashin, before I had it I close my eyes and imagine…”.
So I nervously shared the idea with my closest friends and confidants. Fears of rejection were drowned with overwhelming encouragement and prayers. That’s all this people pleaser needed. After 8 years of losing my soul to professional bs’ing, I traded in the paychecks for the things I love most…family, community, and diversity. And out of that Jiā Co was launched!! I’m free now - chasing dreams and drawing the map how I think it should look!! I guess we can say I’m finally graduating…Better late than never lolol.
“You can still be who you wish you is…it ain’t happen yet, and that’s what intuition is…”
Our Jaguars
My favorite part, our fookin Jaguars!! Our team that rallies the whole city - beaches, Southside, Northside, Westside, Mandarin, Outeast, black, yellow, brown, white, young, old, republican, democrat…don’t matter. Because on Sunday’s, we’re all one big teal family!! Makes me feel all warm inside…or maybe that’s the tequila from the tailgate lol.
This has been a long time coming. I’ve been telling my closest friends, “we’ve waited our whole lives for this.” I don’t mean to downplay the start we had to this whole NFL thing. HALL OF FAMER Tony Boselli, Mark Brunnell, soon to be HALL OF FAMER Freddy T, Donavin Darius, Kevin Hardy, Tony Brackens, Aaron Beasley, Jimmy Smith, Keenan McCardell (Thunder and Lightning!), MJD…as my man ET would say, “COME ON SOMEBODY!!”
These guys will always be legends for laying the foundation. We’ve had our flashes in the pan. But this..sustained success seems…realistic? We’ve got the two main ingredients…Quarterback and Head Coach. Trev and Dougie, bless em!! The supporting cast of pass catchers and ball carriers. The obvious improvement of the o line in year 1 under Doug. Young homegrown athletic talent flying around on defense.
Shout out to one of our favorites, Andre Cisco!!
The professionalism. The grind. The stand up personalities (this one’s big for me cause they give my 6 year old son role models to look up to). And the camaraderie?! Hype me up!! I think there were still question marks last year. Is Trev ready to take the next step? Is Dougie ready after a year away? Those questions were answered. This year? GRADUATION YEAR - See ya’ll in Vegas in February!!
"This is the story of a CHAMPION!”
Beloved Bold City of the South
Four Seasons. Lemon Bar/Seahorse Oceanfront Inn (which as of writing this, Shad Khan has officially closed on this). A new sports entertainment district. UF satellite campus. Apartment developments on what seems like every road in Jacksonville. Big Boi and Lupe Fiasco on the lineup for Taco and Tequila festival?! Our city is about to take off whether we’re ready or not!! Can’t wait to watch it all unfold. (Check out The Jaxson https://www.thejaxsonmag.com/ for all the latest and greatest projects happening around town. You’ll learn some great history about our city along the way!)
Growth is fun but let’s also make sure our community grows the right way. As my brother Travis Williams says, “gentrification is not a bad thing, displacement is.” Check out the good work he and his team are doing at Lift Jax (https://www.liftjax.org/) to preserve a historic community and give the neighborhood a voice in the growth.
Wheels up Duval!!
“In two years Dwayne wade became Dwayne wade”
(Old!!)Kanye/Graduation
Sorry Swifties. But old Kanye gave me room to dream. And the Graduation album? Eric Dunn and ET said it best - ICONIC!! I listened to the album on repeat throughout college - probably higher than 75% chance that if you saw me walking around campus with my Beats on, this album was on. To tie it all together, this album gave a young brother hope in an oftentimes scary world. Years later it's given me courage to step up, step out, and chase dreams!! And be okay with who I am…and who I’m not! The coolest part is waking up and not hating the day ahead of me, yearning for Friday. Doors have opened to meeting some really cool people in town that share a similar vision. I still yearn for the Jordan’s I’ve been eyeing for months, but I’ll trade those in for the extra time I get with my kids now. And maybe I’ll be able to hit add to cart once ya’ll cop these shirts!! LOL!! But in all seriousness, the support has been unreal and invigorating. I appreciate each and every one of you for being a part of this story.
“Everything I’m not made me everything I am!”
If anybody’s actually reading through this (hi mom! lol), I hope that you relentlessly pursue your dreams and don’t let outside noise box you in!!
Thank you for being a part of the Jiā Co Fam!! Please join us in our mission to Embrace Family, Build Community, and Celebrate Diversity.
All Love!! Hope to see ya’ll soon!
