If you haven’t heard of Wale, you must be living under a rock. Wale is an entrepreneur on the Bryant University campus who is killing the game. He designs watches and sunglasses which are some of the hottest accessories on campus right now. His style is classy and cutting edge. We at Her Campus got the opportunity to sit down with him and ask a few questions.
HC: How old are you?
Wale: 21
HC: Where are you from?
W: I was born in Lagos, Nigeria but I live in Brockton MA
HC: What is your major?
W: Global Supply Chain Management major with a minor in legal studies
HC: Why did you choose Bryant?
W: I did PwC ACLI which is an accounting program for minority students after my junior year of high school and I just fell in love with the campus. It reminded me a lot of my boarding school so I was knew this was the place I meant to be, and I felt safe on the campus.
HC: What inspired you to start your own business?
W: My style blog, it really started with my style blog that I was having so much fun with. It is crazy because I had my style blog for 2-3 weeks and then I decided that I wanted to come out with my own product. A lot of people were talking about how they went to a store I talked about or they bought a pair of jeans that I was talking about. I wasn’t making money off of it and I knew it would take a while to get endorsement deals, so I decided to come ut with my own product. I believe in personal brands and a part of my personal brand is my watches, so I thought I might as well put my name on a watch and in the end that is where everything came from.
HC: Did your courses at Bryant help in guiding the way that you run your business?
W: My marketing course for sure for sure did. Even though I did not do well in that course at all, I used everything that I learned in that course I applied to my business when it first came out. The way I penetrated the market, the way I set my prices, and the way that I advertised usine. I Iearned every single last thing from my marketing class. Thank you to professor McKay-Nesbit!
HC: How do you keep up your work-life balance?
W: This is a tricky one. To be quite honest with you, obviously I am a student that is my first job. I am also an entrepreneur, I also have this business. It is really hard sometimes because I am also involved with some other things on campus. It is easy to plan things out, but keeping on task is difficult. I get the work done and go to my classes. If the work for class is not done on time I let my professors know that I got caught up in something and they’re typically understanding since they know I have my own business. There was one week when my watches were in customs and my professors we’re very understanding.
HC: Where do you run business operations out of?
W: My room! I also work in the study lounge in 17, on the fourth floor!
HC: Are you doing all of this work by yourself?
W: Yes I am. I am marketing, branding, coming up with new product ideas. People do help me here and there, one of my best friends Femi helps me manage my money. When I first started it was just to make money and continue with my style blog. When I realize I really wanted to pursue this I dropped my style blog. I was enjoying the style blog but preferred the business side of it. I just honestly though t I would be a “one-hit-wonder” and only do one batch and it would carry me through Christmas. I was still planning on doing my style blog and being an accounting major. I didn’t think it would be what it is today and it is still nowhere close to where I would like it to be. Actually, I started planning and setting goals at the beginning of the year. I do not plan on just being another watch company. The watches helped me get into the market and establish my brand but I would like to expand into other things.
HC: Is there any particular designers that inspire you?
W: Kylie Jenner and Kylie Cosmetics! Which is completely opposite of what I do. I use to plan and drop it like she did so I would plan for it being at a certain time on my website. But I found it emotionally stressful, so if I get the pictures done and the information up I will put it on the website. Also how she names her products after family members, I do the same with my watches. My watches are named after my family members while my sunglasses are named after my close friends.
HC: The name of your watches are really unique and beautiful, where did they come from?
W: They’re from my family, it started with my grandmother who passed away a year ago February 28th. Last year was very difficult for me, I was raised by my grandmother and my mother. My mom did better than her best to raise me as a mom but my grandmother took the part of a dad in my life. I never really lost anyone, when I lost my grandfather I was too young to really understand it. When I lost my grandmother it was a shift in the normal. It was hard for me to get past that. IT was hard for me because my world was turned upside down. I grieved a lot this past summer and through my grieving process and working close with God I wanted her legacy to carry on. After that, with new watches I decided to pick my family members for all of them.
HC: Which watch is your favorite?
W: This is so hard! I love all of them, they’re all my babies! I have a new one with a gold face, Atta, and it was my favorite one. Before I started to make my own watches, I wore a lot of Michael Kors metal banded watches and I just never thought I would be able to come out with a metal banded watch. My brand new watch is called Adote, is metal. When I got the sample in the mail and got it fitted to my wrist I was like “Yo, I made it”. It is black and I will be coming out with a silver one later on, but when I put it on I was like “this is me, this is classic Wale”.
HC: What is your favorite thing about being your own boss?
W: I get to do what I want to do. I get to put out designs that I want to. I get to do photo shoots that I want to do. It is my vision I get to be creative, in high school I took a lot of design classes. I took a lot of metaling classes and learned to make rings and pendants, shout out to my future wife I’m going to make your ring. I took clothing design so I learned to sketch and sew. I can be as creative as possible and do what I want to do. Sometimes I have to remember that there is a goal, there’s a vision, I can’t just jump into everything The vision for House of Wale is to embody me.
HC: What advice would you give a Bryant student who is looking to be their own boss?
W: Just do it. Honestly, just do it. You can plan as much as you want to, but you don’t have anything until you do it. My favorite entrepreneur said your ideas aren’t sh*t until you do them. Whatever your idea is just do it. Do it with sense and knowledge. I feel like a lot of people have a misconception that entre pre do things spur of the moment and jump into things. But we are actually really intelligent, we look at every side and angle. Once you put a service
HC: So your sunglasses launched and were sold out within 24 hours, how does such a positive response feel?
W: I feel blessed. I feel so incredibly blessed. I have to remind myself to be humble. I am so thankful for this business and this opportunity. When I look back a year ago I was not in this headspace, I was extremely sad. After what I went through last year I never thought I could produce good in the world. It is so crazy, when I go to the post office and I send and send. When the sunglasses came in I was almost was in tears. When I started the watches it was like “I want to put my name on a watch”, with the sunglasses I was shopping during winter break, planning on going to Miami for new sunglasses. As I was like wouldn’t it be crazy to have my name on a pair of sunglasses. I said it laughing in the middle of the store. Until they were physically in my hand with the logo I was like this would be crazy. I figured if I could do this, than I could do anything strategically.
HC: Where do you see House of Wale in the next 5 years?
W: I don’t even know. I would like to be doing casual oxford shirts similar to Vineyard Vines and Ralph Lauren. I would just like to wear my own brand from now on. Other than that I don’t know what the future holds. It has only been five months and I have so many watches already and plan on adding more. I have been able to do photo shoots which I never thought I would been able to do. MY social media following is at 1,400+ within four months. I never thought I would break even in 3 days. I didn’t think I would sell out of my latest watch within 24 hours, a lot of the things that have happened I never could have imagined. I know that I will be happy and doing what I love. I will have my name on products.
HC: Will there be any collaborations in the near future with fellow Bryant entrepreneurs, The Gratitude Guys?
W: I believe in supporting entrepreneur . Everybody talks about how they’re going to do something but never end up doing it. If you do it and put a product out I know all the work that went into it and I will buy your product. I know the stress behind it and breaking even. I know at night you think about how you want to do it but the truth behind it is money is like blood to the body, it keeps the business running. I will rep the Gratitude Guys and support them. Next photo shoot I am adding Simpson Spring to the shoot. I am all about support. I want people to ask my questions, I don’t want anyone to be shy to ask me questions. I wish I had someone like me when I was first starting out. Please ask me questions and I will help. I wish I had someone in my face telling me not to spend my money and things like this.
HC: If a Bryant student was looking to try on a product before they buy it, is that option available?
W: Yes! Ask me, DM me on Instagram and you can come try it on! Come try it on while I am still on campus
HC: Any shout outs?
W: My mom for sure. She is my biggest fan. It was funny, two months after I launched we were in church and everyone was talking about House of Wale and how proud they were of me, and she was like “I was about to discourage this boy and thank God I did not!” As I was ordering, my mom was like Wale oh my goodness! My mom is a business woman, so now if I sell out I am afraid to tell her because she will immediately ask when I plan on restocking. Over spring break every day my mom was asking me business questions whenever I got home. We went to Nordstrom and we were looking at glasses and when she picked them up she said, “These ain’t House of Wale though”. She will help me with pricing, she knows the vision. She brought the idea of the oxford to me. My best friend Femi, he is heaven sent. He manages my money and models for me, he is always there. I was going to name my sunglasses after my cousins and continue with the family names but when I looked around and thought of who was there it was Femi. I also want to shout out all of the girls in Hall 17 310 they’re my backbone. There are plenty of other people who have supported me through and through. I would also like to thank the Bryant community.