About me:
I'm a native Southerner that lives with my wife (also a Southerner) and adopted
pup in Los Angeles. I have been living back and forth for over a decade in both
New York and LA working in the ad industry as a Creative Director. I was born in
Atlanta and grew up in Charlotte, NC. I have lived in Charleston, have a sister
(and of course tons of friends) that live there, and my wife is from Charleston (her
mom and sister live there. I went to the University of the South / Sewanee and
got a BA in Art History, and then went to the Portfolio Center in Atlanta and
graduated from their Design and Advertising program in 2006. Upon graduating, I
moved to New York to get a job as an art director at an ad agency. From there,
it's been a different ad agency in NY or LA about every 2-3 years. I am moving to
Nashville in a month because my wife and I really want to give Y'allsome a
decent chance of making it, and we need to be in the South to do that, as it will
give us a better chance to network, and of course our target lives there!!!
"Charlestrong" design back story:
This design was actually created in the middle of the night in a hotel room while I
was travelling for work. I couldn't sleep because I kept thinking about all that had
transpired, the sadness I felt for the victims, the senselessness of the act and
how Charleston as a city would respond. I also felt helpless and powerless as I
was not in Charleston, so this was my way of connecting to what was happening
and offering up my support from far away.
Anyway, I got up after tossing and turning for, went to my computer and started
designing and eventually sent it out on social media through my brand Y'allsome.
I actually did a few other rough designs before I landed on this one. Some of the
first one's roughly did were too much about what had happened,
sadness...basically, more of an interpretation of the event. I decided I wanted to
Y’ALLSOME | http://www.yallsome.com/charleston
do something that portrayed a positive message for the people of the city. A
message that offered hope and optimism that we could overcome this and not
allow it to tear us apart if we came together and exhibited the exact opposite of
that what the killer did, which is, if we showed love.
"Charlestrong" Design Explained:
The design itself includes a simplified representation of the Charleston skyline as
well as the Ravenel bridge.
The skyline is part of the overall image of a heart. The heart forms it's base, the
idea being that if Charleston built itself on love (or was built on love) it would
survive this, i.e. stay above water which it is in this design. Hence the words
"Hate will not sink a city that loves."
I also wanted to show the interesting coincidence that the word "Charleston"
could became "Charlestrong" - a unique take on the "Charleston Strong" by
simply adding the letters "R" and "G". As simply adding the word "strong" is
commonplace, this was one that could be unique to Charleston.
"Charlestrong" aftermath:
After posting the "Charlestrong" design at about 3:30AM, I managed to go to bed
for a few hours before having to get up for the workday. When I woke up, I just
starting seeing a stream of 'like's and messages from the Y'allsome social media
feeds which is not normal since we are so new and have a limited amount of
followers on our channels. Since then it's just been crazy. Not only have I seen
Y’ALLSOME | http://www.yallsome.com/charleston
people all over the internet share it, use it as their profile pics, etc., but I have
have been contacted by so many people saying how much they loved it and even
thanking me for capturing a certain sentiment. The craziest moment was when I
received an email from one of the track teammates of Sharonda ColemanSingleton (one of the victims) telling me how mush it meant to her and said it had
touched her. That blew me away and made me happy beyond belief. I truly can't
believe my little design had such a huge impact on people.
So, we now want to keep the momentum going and raise as much money as
possible for the victims and their families. We are going to begin selling stickers,
shirts and prints of the design on our website tommorrow and are giving 100% of
the profits to the Mother Emanuel Hope Fund. With the passion we've seen
behind the design, we are very hopeful we can raise a significant amount!
"Unity Bridge" Design:
The unity bridge was created the day of the planned march across the Ravenel
bridge in Charleston. Again, not being able to be in Charleston to participate had
an effect on me, and this design became my way of connecting to my friends and
family (and the city as a whole) who were there. I thought it would be a special,
monumentous occasion and from talking to folks, it was. In fact, it may be the
city's finest moment.
The design itself is pretty self-explanatory. I just simply wanted to show the idea
of people coming together at this landmark of Charleston. I mean what better
place to bring this idea to life than people actually walking from both sides to
meet in the middle to show unity. And obviously I represented it by the road of
the bridge being 2 outstretched arms coming from different directions, and
meeting in the middle to make the bridge itself. Without both arms, there is no
bridge, and their grip gives it strength. I actually began the design as a black and
Y’ALLSOME | http://www.yallsome.com/charleston
white arm and after discussing with my wife, that didn't feel right. This wasn't just
about African-Americans and Caucasians coming together, it's about
everyone....regardless of your race, religion, skin color, sexual-orientation, etc.
So, I chose grey because I wanted to emphasize it wasn't about race/color or any
of those things.
About my company - Y'allsome:
Less than a year ago my wife (Megan) and I started a Southern brand called
Y'allsome in our garage in LA. We had been living away from the South for over
a decade because of our careers and missed it. Y'allsome was a way for us to
express our love for our 'home', and a way to 'give back to it' in a socially
responsible manner, by promoting the use of Southern businesses and helping
foster kids whose cause we are passionate about. It consists of shirts, hats and
prints that we design. Every one is made in some part with a Southern business
and 15% of the net profits of every item sold goes to help Southern Foster kids
find permanent homes.
website: www.yallsome.com
instagram/facebook: @yallsomegoods
Y’ALLSOME | http://www.yallsome.com/charleston