WHO IS ELEVATE?

Born and raised on the southeast side of Detroit, 48214 — the youngest of my siblings. I was a shy, quiet kid who loved sports, raised in a nondenominational Christian church where Christ has always been the center of my life. I’m not perfect, but I’m working — and God gets all the praise and glory. Philippians 4:13 has been my anchor: I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.

 

I went to my local neighborhood schools and graduated from Detroit Southeastern High School of Technology and Law, top 3% in the city, highest GPA among the males in my school. That’s where I found electronics circuits — and honestly, I wasn’t even allowed to use electronics much growing up. My mom only let my older siblings touch that stuff until I got older, so I came into it behind. But that class set the course for what became my path: pursuing a bachelor’s in electrical engineering.

 

The Struggle Nobody Sees

 

That path wasn’t easy. I felt dumb and unprepared more times than I can count. My teacher, Ms. Gatlin, used to tell us: success is what happens when preparation meets hard work and opportunity. I wasn’t ready. I retook so many classes it felt wrong — but when I finally passed, it felt amazing.

 

What I realized was the problem was never the material. It was the mindset I’d built: do just enough to pass. That mindset doesn’t work. English, physics, and chemistry are what finally set me straight — and by the time I turned it around, I’d fallen behind and spent a lot more money than I planned to.

 

After finally passing physics, I needed a break. A teacher at WCCCD told me about an aviation program paying $90-100K+ with a two-year degree. At first I felt like going to community college was lowering my standards, since I’d already started at a university. I fought myself on it — but eventually gave in and entered the Associate’s in Electronics Engineering Technology program instead.

 

It turned out to be harder than advertised. My teachers ran it like a university, and I had a target on my back because I already knew a lot of what they were teaching — until the material got harder towards the end, but I did it. Long story short: once I changed my habits, my environment, my mindset, and how I studied, I finished with a 3.87 GPA. Listening to Eric Thomas along the way pushed me to go above and beyond, not just get by.

 

Growing up, it was always clothes and shoes. My mom couldn’t afford to buy me the things my friends had, and growing up in the 90s and into 2004, there were so many popular brands I wanted a piece of. When I didn’t have nice or new regular clothes, I only got to wear my good clothes on Sundays. So if you ever see me dressed sharp on a Sunday and not really during the week — now you know why. That’s part of where the drive for Elevate came from. I’d wanted to start a clothing line since high school — I just didn’t know how, and I didn’t have the money. It took nearly a year of debating before I finally found the courage to start Elevate Clothing LLC.

 

I tried other names first. None of them stuck. “Elevate” kept coming to mind until I stopped fighting it.

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Elevate represents growth, resilience, faith, motivation, love, freedom from chains, and positivity. I make clothing for everyone — even knowing not everyone will connect with it. You can wear Elevate to work, to church, to the club, chilling on the block, lounging at home, or working on your car. It doesn’t matter where — Elevate is universal, especially for the people on the grind, trying to make growth a habit and hard work a habit.

 

Elevate. Execute. Exceed.

 

Elevation requires separation. It’s a must if you want to get where you’re trying to go.