Name: Tommy Yanez
Year: Junior
Major: Marketing
Minor: Chinese
Her Campus: What do you want to do with marketing?
Tommy Yanez: The dream is when I’m 50 to own a little restaurant on a beach in some exotic country, like Brazil or Thailand. Have my beautiful family helping out and to go paddle boarding and watch the sunset every day after work.
HC: What kind of food would you serve?
TY: I don’t really care if it’s hamburgers or french-polynesian or whatever. I want my wife to be an amazing chef so I can work on the hospitality aspect of it. Those are the skills I have, and I want it to be a kind of Mr. and Mrs. Smith deal: we both use our talents to kick butt.
HC: Do you work in the restaurant industry now?
TY: I have worked in the restaurant industry forever. First as a dishwasher at a Chinese restaurant where I worked up to delivery boy. Then I used to host bar back in a Brazilian restaurant. I like to interact with people. A desk job would kill me.
HC: Is there anything else you do besides the restaurant gig?
TY: I started my own custom men’s clothing line called Ampersand (find it here www.ampersanddsy.com). We do accessibly priced high quality men’s clothing that is tailored to your body. Right now we do suits, pants, shirts, and overcoats.
HC: What makes you different? Why Ampersand?
TY: Everyone comes in different shapes and sizes and clothing off the rack doesn’t fit a lot of people. I’m a short guy with broad shoulders, so clothing off the rack just doesn’t work. When I have custom clothes I feel more confident. It’s just a better way to buy clothing and I think college students are going to start wanting that. We provide a really great service for guys to look professional at competitive prices: $220 for suits and $45 for shirts. A normal price for custom suit isn’t under $1000.
HC: Where do you want to take this business?
TY: I want to see an Ampersand representative at every college campus. The future of clothing is custom. For example, I’m working on getting this guy hHisherman an overcoat. Most people get brown or black, but he fell in love with this pink fabric we have. He’s kind of a tall, intense looking dude, but I love that he has found this pink fabric he can be so excited about: something that embodies his personality.
HC: Are you going to make women’s clothing soon?
TY: We just started to make women’s overcoats and I’m really excited. I want to provide young women with a proper coat to wear this winter. In a few months we want to expand to dresses and skirts, but you can order button up shirts and pants now in your own colors.
HC: You get to pick your own colors?!
TY: We have hundreds of colors and patterns. It’s so cool. I could flip through for hours.
Photo Credits: provided by the cutie