Meet Matthew!
Age: 18
Nickname: Capo
Favorite Color: Blue
Year: Freshman
Major: Entrepreneurship
Hometown: Wrentham, MA
High school: King Phillip Regional High School
High school activities: DECA, a nationally business based organization that develops a business plan and competes against other schools. Matt was the State President of Massachusetts DECA and his team placed in the top 3 percent in Nationals.
Hobbies: Dancing and graphic design
Bryant Involvement: Student Ambassador, Ultimate Frisbee, and works for the marketing team for intramural sports.
HC: Why Bryant?
MC: I really felt as if I could socially connect with people and make friends with everybody at a small school like Bryant.
HC: Name three words to describe yourself.
MC: Open-minded, approachable, and distinguished.
HC: If you could have lunch with a celebrity, who and where would it be?
MC: Will Smith on the set of the Fresh Prince of Bell-Air. He is such a cool guy and I would love to hear about his start up in his career.
HC: Since you’re majoring in Entrepreneurship, you must have an interest in owning your own business, correct? When did that drive start?
MC: Yes. I actually have a company (clothing line) with my buddies and I hope to do more in the future. I am an equal mix of my parents. I get my personable side from my dad, who is in sales. I get my business drive from my mom, who is an entrepreneur.
HC: How did you get started with developing a clothing line?
MC: It all started when I had a gym membership to AnyTime Fitness and there was a huge 6’5 guy in there that I would always see around but never talk to. And I talked to everybody in my gym. Finally, one night, I had a conversation with him and we sat there and talked for two hours. I don’t know why. It just happened. I was talking about my leadership positions in DECA and he was talking about his business ideas. His name was Gregory Silva, a 28 year-old from Attleboro, MA.
HC: How did you and Greg come up with Random Idea Apparel?
MC: Throughout our initial conversation regarding business and dreams, he kept mentioning his brother, Joshua Silva. So, we all met up at Panera the next day and they pitched me the idea of Radom Idea Apparel and the whole clothing line they wanted to start. We started jotting down a ton of ideas and plans for the business and it basically took off from there.
HC: Can you explain the title of your business?
MC: Sure. So, our random idea or random dream during that time was to have a successful business. We wanted to pursue our random idea, which is the name of the company. Our business represented that motive- pursing your random dreams, your random ideas in life whatever they are-pursue it.
HC: What does your product look like?
MC: Every piece of clothing or object we sold had a logo on it. We have “this is my moment” shirts, the “RIA” for Random Idea Apparel, “RIAlize” to remind people that they can achieve any goal in your life.
Visit the Random Idea Apparel website here!