We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Teddy Monclaire a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Teddy , looking forward to learning from your journey. You’ve got an amazing story and before we dive into that, let’s start with an important building block. Where do you get your work ethic from?
Get my work ethic from my parents. From watching them as I was a kid hood multiple jobs to provide for me and my siblings with a won’t stop can’t stop attitude. My mother has multiple degrees in various subjects, she has work extremely hard to be where she is at today. Endless nights of studying and writing papers while working two jobs, one full-time and a part-time to still be able to provide and have activities and sports lined up for each child.
Let’s take a small detour – maybe you can share a bit about yourself before we dive back into some of the other questions we had for you?
I come from a big family of talented individuals, each person in my family has their own skill and craft. Starting young I use to draw alot and showed an early interest in art and fashion. From early shows such as ‘Fresh Prince of Bel-Air’ and Martin Lawrence’s ‘Martin’ drove my fashion sense incredibly. With the constant appearance of Jordan’s and different Nike sneaker variations. As well as brands such as Polo, Enyce, Coogi, and Tommy Hilfiger. All the early exposures helped lead me into my fashion sense and how I design my apparel. 2016, is the birth year of AURA Nation, standing for (As U Recognize Accomplishments) represents achievements and staying motivated and driven to accomplish all goals set forth. When I first started out doing clothing I was very hands on with distressing and hand painting each item to give it that personable feel for each client. As my creativity began to grow with my brand I began to explore different avenues with clothing such as T-shirts, sweatsuits, patches, pins, and winter hats. Around this time I was still in college so I use to always put my brand into the schools fashion show to show new releases I’ve came up with and the custom work I do on my apparel as well. After graduating the new adult life grind mixed with aspiring designer I stayed vigilant with ways to stay relevant and to keep working on pieces, I began to make personal pieces mainly for myself to “pop-out” in. I wanted to establish AURA is not just a clothing brand but a way of life.
If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?
The three skills I would say was needed for my journey was creativity, attention to detail, and communication. The reason for creativity being a skill that was needed for my journey because you need to have an eye for art and design, need to be optimistic and want to make articles of clothing people have not seen before and want to obtain due to how much it stands out and how it’s a new idea that has yet to been made. For the skill paying attention to detail I feel as an Artist or designer you need to pay attention to detail because when you’re getting your merch there can be errors that may need to be revisited. There could be design flaws that may need adjustments or even down to just designing your own garment you need to know the specific specs for each design so the detail comes out flawless when you receive samples. Lastly, having optimism, being optimistic really helped me get through a lot of obstacles it allowed me to put my brand and merch in rooms of people of all walks of life. It allowed me to not turn down opportunities that had a great turn around at the end. I would advise any up and coming designers to never give up, know your worth, and pursue every opportunity that aligns with your passion. Also, do not give up on your dreams the road will be bumpy but there’s going to be a reward at the end of the journey.
Alright so to wrap up, who deserves credit for helping you overcome challenges or build some of the essential skills you’ve needed?
I would say my CFO has been a great help with assisting me with challenges I have overcame. My CFO a life long best-friend of 20 years, I signed on back in 2020 has been there since day one. He’s helped with a lot of understanding banks and marketing tactics that has helped our business grow.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://auranation.myshopify.com/?fbclid=PAZXh0bgNhZW0CMTEAAabxIqHZWE-e7zlKr_LmLSPMurWIdVJPF8VfPGqkj-hyXqbnlIPA_sd96l4_aem_698rCUREFnHtKQBx6eFCXw
- Instagram: Aura_Nation
- Facebook: AURA_Nation
so if you or someone you know deserves recognition please let us know here.
