Meet D. Ni’Cole Gibson | Fashion Stylist & Creative Apparel Strategist

We had the good fortune of connecting with D. Ni’Cole Gibson and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi D. Ni’Cole, we’d love to hear more about how you thought about starting your own business?
In all honesty, starting my business actually came easy. I’m a creative individual. I can spend hours in my thoughts thinking of catchy and fashionably phrases to place on the tees that I sell. Back in 2017, I knew that I wanted to have business for myself because finding a decent job in Atlanta was becoming impossible. I had the passion and needed the money to get started. I prayed about it and asked my aunt for the start-up money. Slowly, I was able to develop a system for myself that worked in order for me to offer quality apparel at an affordable price and give my customer base great customer service that I learned from working in retail. Combining that with trial and error, SBDNC Apparel is turning 5 this year! I’m blessed to have my business and to be able to have the creativity to crank out whatever I design (within reason) that I see fit.

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
Designing t-shirts is considered art, to me. Being a wardrobe stylist is considered art, to me. It’s my way of sending love and positive light into the world through the creative abilities that come natural to me. My gifts were given to me by God. The Creator decided long before I was born that I would be creative and have the ability to be loud with that creativity. What better way to be creative, loud, spontaneous, and free than to wear it on a shirt for the world to see.

I set me a part from everyone. Simply me. The personality, creativity, mindset, and life understanding is what sets me a part and I’m grateful to be a unicorn. However, let me be honest, I wasn’t always so comfortable being comfortable in my weirdness. For starters, to be Black, plus size, loud (as far as the volume in which my words are projected and my behaviors), and have the funkiness of a bold personality isn’t always easily digested by people, especially people that believe Black women/girls should act a certain way and behave in a certain manner. After getting in my 30s, I decided that I didn’t want to see myself from the lenses of other people. I wanted to define my own future, idea of self worth, and allow myself to just be. Adding that with a consistent therapist and therapy session, tapping into my greatness and creativity, and being “okay” with being De’Shundra (whoever that was for me), I began to live. Not just breathe, wakeup, and be in a routine; but, actually live and enjoy the life that I’ve been given as a gift.

I’m most proud that I decided to not give up. Having a t-shirt boutique with creative sayings, one can run into a number of problems. There’s always people stealing your ideas and selling your stolen ideas without a care in this world. You have to keep going. There’s always someone wanting to speak negative about your business for whatever reason. You have to keep going. You have to consider hiring a lawyer and get into trademarks and copyrights. You learn that your business needs a team of people who can assist you along the way because you can’t do everything by yourself. You begin to understand that your customer base is your tribe, and how you treat them, is how they’ll treat you back. You can’t just look at your customers like dollar signs. You have to look at them as people who willingly choose to shop with your brand and their experience with you can make or break your business in the long run. However, in the same breathe, as a business owner you don’t have to take abuse from any customer. You earn the right to serve people correctly, and if someone chooses to just be difficult, send them on their way with a smile. These are some of the things I’ve learned along with way and I’m proud that I told my anxiety and depression that their opinions, for me. Me being able to be a successful business owner with a successful business is my privilege in this world. That’s a fact!

Before jumping into becoming a business owner, I worked in retail for 10 years. The customer service that I learned while working at AT&T is what inspired me to create my own customer service model and make sure to treat all of my customers with respect and high regard. The way I fold my apparel for packaging is what I learned from working at Academy Sports and Outdoors. The way I package the apparel to be shipped to customers is what I saw preparing orders at Nordstrom. The email prompts that I use for every customer inquiry is what I learned working at AllConnect in Atlanta. Each place of employment prepared me to be the business owner that people get the opportunity to see today. That’s why I am big on telling small business owners to never look down on their humble beginnings. Every thing works together for the bigger purpose.

Having a business presents challenges and triumphs. What I’ve learned over the years is to not let any feeling dictate how I see my business. Whether I’m having a good financial month, or not so good financial month. Whether I’m getting great customer feedback, or not so great customer feedback. It shouldn’t change how I feel about the business and the purpose that I have with the business. Frustration, happiness, the burn-out, excitement, and every emotion felt with being a business owner is like riding a rollercoaster. You don’t demand the ride stop midway just because you’re uncomfortable or fearful. You keep riding until the end and once you get off the ride, you realize that you’re still in one piece, can talk about the ride and your experience riding the ride, and have what it takes to ride another ride. It’s all an experience. I want to see my experience to a physical store, then a warehouse and being placed in stores like Target, Nordstrom, Saks, or maybe a collaboration with Nike, then to become multi-million dollar status, and then to sponsor other small businesses around the world. I have big plans for my brand.

I want the world to know that SBDNC (Style by D. Ni’Cole™) Apparel™ is a brand for anyone who loves being fabulous, stylish, and comfortable. As a company, we don’t discriminate, and we want to see people looking good in our apparel!

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
The city of Atlanta is becoming the city that never sleeps. People love visiting Atlanta, especially people who’ve never been. If my best friend visited Atlanta for a day, we’d start the day at brunch. I’d take her to the Atlanta Breakfast Club and suggest their peach cobbler French toast (they’re so damn good), and then we’d visit some dope places around the city. For starters, we’d visit the APEX Museum and the Trap Music Museum. There’s something about Black culture that just fills the air with excitement and when you’re in front of it, it reminds you of an upbeat tempo song that makes you want to dance and smile from ear to ear. After the museum, we’d rest and freshen up before going to dinner at Negril’s Restaurant or Rock Steady Restaurant. Caribbean food is so good, and restaurants like these serve up flavor and delicious taste like none other! After a nice meal, we’d either visit Fellaship Cigar Lounge for a night cap and experience the vibes of a classy environment, good drinks, and cigars OR we’d go to Suite Lounge for a few drinks and good music, and possibly some sophisticated-ratchet behavior at Magic City!

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
I want to give a SHOUTOUT to the people that have been aligned to join my journey. For starters, I want to thank my Aunt Marilyn. When I created the idea of SBDNC Apparel, she believed in my business plan and decided to invest in that plan. Next in line is her sister, my aunt Sherry. Over the years, my aunt Sherry hasn’t received the credit that she deserves but if it wasn’t for her, I wouldn’t have moved to Atlanta. She encouraged my idea to relocate from Mississippi and gave me the opportunity to live with her to pursue my dream, along with some tough love. To seal the family shoutout is my mother. She’s the ultimate business consultant, supporter, and personality that keeps me going. She’s never owned a business in her life but her wisdom and knowledge does allow me to see owning a business from a different perspective outside of my own. Having that kind of love and support is priceless. I’m forever indebted to those sisters for their belief in me and my dreams.

Last, but not least my supporters and SBDNC Apparel shoppers. I am incredibly blessed to have the kind of supporters that I have. Tami Roman Youngblood gave me my first television appearance when she displayed my infamous Red Lipstick And A T-Shirt™ design on Basketball Wives and since then, women and men from all over the world have purchased from SBDNC Apparel and have shown my business love, support, and dedication. That type of energy is incredible and I’m forever grateful to be able to experience that and make it to 5 years.

ersonalDNiColeGib

Website: https://sbdncapparel.com

Instagram: @sbdncapparel

Facebook: @sbdncapparel.com

Image Credits
Aisha A Visuals