We had the good fortune of connecting with Rhesa Teesdale and we’ve shared our conversation below.
Hi Rhesa, can you walk us through the thought-process of starting your business?
I always knew I wanted to start my own business from my freshman year of high school, I just never knew what I wanted to build my business around. My parents suggested that I start a brand that focuses on Bible verses because I grew up in a Christain household, but I really did not know when to start. It was not until my senior year of high school that I knew I wanted to go to college for business, so I started to think about what kind of business I wanted to start. One of my close friends suggested that I start a clothing brand because I took fashion seriously and I always came to school in my best outfits. At that moment, I realized that I wanted to create a fashionable business and spread a strong message about positivity, motivation, and inspiration, more specifically through Bile verses and motivational quotes. My close friend and I immediately got to work and what came to be was Prophet | Envoy.
Please tell us more about your business. We’d love to hear what sets you apart from others, what you are most proud of or excited about. How did you get to where you are today business-wise. Was it easy? If not, how did you overcome the challenges? What are the lessons you’ve learned along the way. What do you want the world to know about you or your brand and story?
Prophet | Envoy is an urban streetwear business that focuses on ultimately spreading positive messages through urban-styled clothing! We specialize in picking meaningful quotes/verses to be depicted on the clothing as well as giving extremely high-quality products to our customers from our personalized manufacturers in Pakistan and Italy. Prophet | Envoy works toward making sure that all our products can be fully customizable to the customer’s preference. We have made over 30+ custom products for our customers and have many more to come!
It has been a very challenging, but rewarding experience to say the least. At first, most people were not aware of the message of the brand, so they weren’t engaged with the brand as much. There were instances where were sold out in a matter of hours and other times where our inventory would not move for weeks at a time. These rough patches allowed me to reflect on how to move forward with the brand in a smarter way to maximize profits and preserve the message, allowing the brand to grow!
Although it has been an extremely challenging road having to balance the business with school and other outside commitments, I have learned to be more resilient and hungry to the ultimate goal of making this clothing brand a household name, not only in the US, but internationally as well!
Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
The absolute best places in Boston to check out are the Seaport area, Downtown Boston, and Back Bay. My personal favorite is most likely the Seaport area because Seaport has many nice places to eat such as Ocean Prime and The Barking Crab are the best places to check out. It is also really nice to stroll by the sea or take a cruise on one of the Boston Harbor Cruises! There are also fun things like an escape room, Boston duck tours, go-kart racing, arcades, and much more fun hang-out spots all around the city that’ll make your week worthwhile!
Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
I dedicate a lot of my success and my shoutout to my father, Ian Teesdale. He is an entrepreneur and the CEO of IDR Construction, a home renovation company based in Boston, MA. In times where I thought about closing up the business, he always gave me words of encouragement and reassurance so that I would continue to grow as a business as well as ideas for new designs and new marketing strategies to get the brand in front of more customers. I’d also like to shout out the co-founder of Prophet | Envoy, Jorge Pena, for helping to create the foundation of the brand. Honorable mentions go to my family & friends for supporting the brand with encouragement and purchasing products.
Website: prophetenvoy.com
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/prophetenvoy/
Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rhesa-teesdale-43201a167/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/prophetenvoy?lang=en
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/prophetenvoy/
Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCRRbyOzge5b16O-htQopFNw
Other: Tiktok: https://www.tiktok.com/@iconic.ceo?lang=en
Image Credits
Photo creds: Preston Whelchel (@6whel on Instagram)
