Meet Kimya Rainge: Educator

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

Hi Kimya, what role has risk played in your life or career?
With a background in consumer foods, fashion, TV/film, and music dating back to the early nineties, I was recruited into fashion by then ultra-popular urban entrepreneur, April Walker of Walker Wear.  When I think about the definition of risk and looked it up, Investopedia states risk is the chance of something happening that is negative or the potential consequences of an unwanted event. All the risk that I have encountered in my life have actually been positive and opened doors for me leading to growth in my career. As an intrapreneur, I launched brands created by entrepreneurs and introduced products to people all over the world. Through entrepreneurship and leadership, I have learned to use risks as motivation to succeed and reach my goals . I had the opportunity to witness first hand the evolution of Hip Hop and Streetwear lifestyle in the 90’s become a profitably and dominant industry. If there were no risks in life, there would be no growth. Currently, as a high school marketing teacher, I encourage students to take risks in order to experience life to help determine his or her future career path. 

Can you give our readers an introduction to your business? Maybe you can share a bit about what you do and what sets you apart from others?
Kimya Rainge is a marketing and sales driven INTERPRENEUR who loves to build relationships and launch new brands. She is an exception to the rule, a game changer and history maker whose passion revolves around helping young entrepreneurs rise. Kimya possess more than 20 years of progressive experience in the marketing and sales field. As an account executive at Russell Stoves Candies, she embarked upon an exciting career in customer service, sales and marketing. As a pioneer in the urban fashion world working alongside of Russell Simmons of Phat Farm, Sean” Puffy” Combs of Sean John, and later, Dao-Yi Chow of Public School, she tackled the industry being one of only a few African American women. Kimya has an excellent track record of establishing new business and exceeding sales goals. Currently, Kimya teaches the Marketing Management pathway at Mountain View High School, a Gwinnett County school. The classes that fall within the pathway include: Marketing Principles, where students learn the concepts of Marketing; Marketing and Entrepreneurship, where students create their own businesses and write a business plan; and Marketing Management, where students run a School Based Enterprise, Bear Necessities. The story began in May 1992 when she graduated from the University of Massachusetts with a B.A. in Communications. In August, Kimya received her first job with Russell Stover’s Candies. During her time with this company, she traveled throughout New England and Up State New York where she serviced accounts such as CVS, Walgreens, Hallmark Specialty Stores, Hospital gift shops and Topps and Wegmans grocery store chains. This opportunity instilled her foundation and love for sales, not knowing that she was being shown her future career path. Kimya left this company as an organized and independent team player who began using her entrepreneurial skills to open new accounts, increase profits for current accounts and receive a promotion within six months of working with the company. After living in Buffalo, NY for a few months, she realized that she wanted to expand her footprint and relocate to Brooklyn, NY. When she decided to transition to NYC, she didn’t realize she was on her way to becoming one of the many innovators of Urban Fashion which we now call Street Wear. Teaming up with April Walker, a fashion icon, it was decided to launch Walker Wear on their own, independently but with the financial and production resources of companies such as G-III and USA Classic. Working besides April Walker taught me how to grind hard and never look back in order to surpass your goals. In January, Kimya moved to Los Angeles, CA to support the Walker Wear team. From visiting production facilities to working on videos, she didn’t expect to experience an earthquake on Martin Luther King’s birthday. This was her welcome to LA. Though this experience was scary, it taught her that life brings unforeseen and you need to be prepared for them when they do occur. During this time, Walker Wear was hired to style Aaliyah’s first photo shoot for the record label and her first video production, “Back and Forth”. Nicole Walker and I were the key stylists working alongside of R. Kelly and Aaliyah’s management team to make it work. Of course, our vision was different than being proposed but we had to give the client what they wanted. Most importantly, we knew Aaliyah was going to be a star. We put our fear behind us and went on the video set prepared to do our best. In 1996, Kimya had the opportunity to bring Shaquille O’Neal’s clothing line, TWIsM (The World Is Mine), to market. During this time, she learned the importance of effective ways to increase profits with the creation of branded shops within the retail store and co-branding support with Reebok. A skill taught to her by Jeff Tweedy. Through this experience, she also participated in focus groups at Pepsi to support the “Pepsi Stuff” campaign. What Kimya learned from this experience is the world is yours for the taking. In 1997, Kimya became the Sales Manager of the juniors line at Mecca USA and expanded her knowledge for brand development. She pioneered urban, streetwear women’s product in the world and made a place for it in the Menswear stores. The Mecca USA juniors product line was launched in Tony’s Sports-Chicago, Dr. Jay’s-NYC, The Buckle, Nordstrom and Footaction-nationwide. This effort opened up entire floors and stores dedicated to women’s products in Dr. Jay’s, Jimmie Jazz, Footlocker, Footaction and Hibbett Sports. Most importantly, Kimya worked hard to get the denim fit right, incorporated key styles like fitted dresses and watched the demand for urban women’s products increase. Through her marketing efforts, products were placed on Brandy of Moesha, Destiny’s Child, In Living Single and The Parkers, to name a few, to showcase the new juniors line in the 90’s. What Kimya learned from this adventure is never give up if what you are going after does not exist. In 2000, Kimya decided it was time to leave NYC and heading to Atlanta, GA. Kimya’s passion for launching brands and making them familiar to their market mix continued when she began working at ENYCE and later at ECKO Unlimited. Her specialty included national and international sales, including department, chain and specialty stores. Kimya had the chance to launch G-Unit by 50 Cent in the US Southeast Market, which also included the Caribbean Islands and Puerto Rico. Kimya also had the fortune to mentor a junior salesperson, Davida Edwards, who came under my tutelage to sell the G-Unit’s Ladies line to retailers like Hibbett Sports, Walter’s and City Gear. Davida began working as an intern and today has held positions with Carter’s as an account executive and Savannah College of Art and Design as an Associate Director of Fundraising. This involvement showed me that with passion comes profits. In 2005, Kimya decided to be her own boss and Dream Sales LLC was born. For five years, Kimya managed her own sales company and learned new markets: footwear, headwear, accessories, licensed products and golf. International News, the owners of Mecca USA, financed a ladies golf line and Kimya placed the product in select Macy’s locations within the Southeast Region of the US. Through building relationships along with product placement, Kimya launched the New Era apparel line and Tradition, a HBCU apparel line. A lesson learned during this experience was take the chance to learn something new. In 2010, Kimya transitioned into education after receiving her Masters of Arts in Education degree from Ashford University, now The University of Arizona Global Campus. Now as a wife and mother, she realized that you could have it all based on your stepping stones in life. It was her time to give back. Kimya has been a Marketing teacher since 2014, she has been an integral part of millennials’ career exploration. She supports emerging student leaders as a DECA Advisor. As director of the School Based Enterprise, Kimya supports students learning retail, merchandising and design. She has learned that success is a habit. In 2018, I was awarded Teacher of the Year for South Gwinnett High School in Snellville, GA. This award recognized my efforts in the classroom and my passion to prepare students for their future career path.

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 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?
April Walker of Walker Wear aboubleu2k@gmail.com.
Cedric King, Fashion Designer and Author, www.thefashionhustle.com.
D.L. Warfield, Creator of the @AmericanFlagRemix
Creative Director for @goldfinger_cs

Instagram: @kimya413
Linkedin: linkedin.com/in/kimya-rainge-06540a161
Facebook: Kimya Rainge

Image Credits
My individual pictures were shot by one of my high school students, Josue Majano Perdomo.