Meet Caprece Thomas: Lit Squad Apparel Founder

We had the good fortune of connecting with Caprece Thomas and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Caprece, can you tell us more about your background and the role it’s played in shaping who you are today?
I’m from Saint Petersburg, Florida, born and raised! If you’ve never heard of it, it’s around 30 minutes from Tampa but please don’t call us Tampa we’re our own person 🙂 . I love where I’m from though, I always say that being from Saint Pete made me into the woman I am today. The community that I’m from was predominantly African-American, and I saw people from all walks of life. I honestly didn’t realize until college how much being from Saint Pete prepared me for the real world. It not only gave me a hustlers’ mentality, but it also ignited a spark in me wanting to see black people succeed past what society deems as our norm. Now that I’m older, I also know that my parents are definitely the reason I’m so passionate about the things I am today. Growing up, I always watched my parents do community service, not even realizing it was community service. It was just what they did. Because of that, I’ve always had a passion for giving back. My house at home is literally like an African-American art and history museum so I think seeing black excellence since I was young subconsciously made me so passionate about seeing people succeed, black people in particular. I’m honestly really proud of where I’m from, and I wouldn’t want to be from anywhere else.

Alright, so for those in our community who might not be familiar with your business, can you tell us more?
So my business is called Lit Squad Apparel, and lit is actually an acronym for lawyer in training. I’m currently in law school, and I realized I wasn’t aware of any brands that I could rep it with. Being in law school is hard and honestly an accomplishment within itself, and I felt like we deserved to show that off. So, I created Lit Squad! Aside from being a law student, I’m most proud of the fact that I actually went through with starting this business. As I said earlier, my girlfriend and I moved to Atlanta with literally nothing. Recently we were homeless for almost a year and during that time we focused on nothing more than getting ourselves right, even though there were other things I wanted to do. I got to the point where I wanted to drop out of law school. I didn’t, obviously, and now a business has blossomed from my decision to persevere. I’m pretty proud of how this all came together. As far as how I got to where I am business-wise, I’d have to say my alma mater helped me with that. I attended Howard University, and my degree is actually in business marketing. Because of my background in business, it was easy for me to come up with different ways to market my company. I’m still nowhere near my goal since the company was just launched mid-October, but so far I’m excited about the feedback I’ve received and what’s to come. The funny thing is, even though I just started this business I’ve already learned so many valuable lessons. When I first started it, I just knew my family and friends would jump at the opportunity to support me because I’m so huge on supporting others and their businesses. I quickly learned though that that wasn’t the case. A few friends and family members purchased things, but nowhere near the amount that I thought would. Hindsight though, that forced me to start reaching out to strangers and stepping outside of my comfort zone to be sure my business got the exposure it needed. I also learned a lesson about pricing very early on and had to adjust accordingly. I’m honestly just glad I’m learning and adapting, because I know that’ll help my brand succeed in the long run. When it comes to my brand, I want the world to know that it exists lol, but also that people in law school deserve to be recognized. When it comes to me, I want the world to know that nothing will stop me from not only succeeding, but making sure those around me do as well, and I will make a difference one day, very soon.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
So since we’re still in a pandemic my friend and I are going to be social distancing from everyone else, but we can still have some fun! First, I’m huge on food, particularly breakfast. One of my favorite breakfast places in Atlanta is Atlanta Breakfast Club, and it’s black-owned! We’re gonna go ahead and get that to-go. I’d make sure to bring my friend downtown so we can ride birds while site-seeing, and I would take them to ride the horse and carriages downtown as well, because how common is that? I’d have to take them to the Flying Biscuit because that’s where I used to work, and I’d also take them to Wingnuts because my girlfriend and I ate there faithfully when we first moved here!

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
I definitely couldn’t tell my story without mentioning my girlfriend! We live together in Atlanta and we have a three year old son. I’m not going to go too deep into our story because it’s a lot lol, but we moved here with nothing and more than struggled for a couple years. We recently got to a better place, but throughout it all we motivated each other, and encouraged one another to accomplish our goals. So, I definitely want to not only recognize her, but thank her for staying down with me through it all.

Website: Www.litsquad.net
Instagram: @litsquadapparel