Episode 190: Building Community Through Merch with Nesha Logan of Village Print Studio

Welcome to Skucast, the podcast for entrepreneurs in the promotional products industry. Skucast shines a light on our industry's best work, features maverick personalities, and discusses what's really involved in running a modern promotional products business. Skucast is the official podcast of Common Skew. We love to discover new voices in this business. I find that those who are new to the business have as much to teach us or more as those who have been in it for years because they bring a fresh vision and vitality and a very unique perspective. Today I'm joined by Nisha Logan. Nisha is the founder of the Village Print Studio, boutique brand merchandising and creative studio located in South Chicago, helping businesses build community through beautiful branded merchandise. As a small business owner, Nisha's goal is to make it easy for Black-owned and women-owned businesses to create, launch, and leverage new products that connect deeply with their target audience. Inspired by the saying, it takes a village to raise a child, the Village Print Studio strives to collaborate with business owners and creatives who are working to shift the paradigm through their business endeavors. Hi friends, I'm Bobby LeHew, the Chief Content Officer at Common Skew. One quick note, last week we launched pre-registration for Skew Camp, a signature event for our industry. If you're new to Common Skew or the SkewCast, first, welcome. I'm so glad you're here. Second, Skew Camp is a boot camp experience for entrepreneurs. It's fun, inspirational, challenging, but also an event that brings together the brightest in the business to share with each other and learn. We've hosted Skew Camps in New Orleans and Pittsburgh and Palm Springs, and September 27th, November 29th through the 30th, we are returning to the original location in Palm Springs with not just a reboot, but a fresh and original vision. We're doing things a little different this year. Since SkuCamp sells out so quickly, you can go to skucamp.com if you want to learn more and pre-register. Now, there's no cost to pre-register. There is a cost for the event. Pre-registering simply adds you to the list to be notified 24 hours before tickets are made open to the public. This will give you a chance to secure your seat before they sell out. SKU Camp is considered by many one of the most enriching learning experiences in their entrepreneurial career, and I hope, I really hope to see you there. You can learn more at skucamp.com. This episode is brought to you by CommonSKU, the work-from-anywhere platform that powers your connected workflow, enabling you to process more orders and dramatically grow your sales. To learn more or to begin your free trial now, visit commonsku.com. Now here's my conversation with the wonderful Nisha Logan.

Nisha, welcome. I'm so glad you're here. I've been a fan of yours since I first glimpsed your Instagram. And for folks, so that folks can find you, it's the Village Print Studio. One of the things I noticed right away was you had this beautiful emphasis on community and it was a main tenet of what you do. It wasn't like an, oh, by the way, it was like an important part of it. You're passionate about inspiring Black-owned and women-owned businesses. Tell me about the why. Why are you passionate about that?

Absolutely. So thank you for having me. Community has always been a mainstay in my life since I was a child. I've grown up around in predominantly Black neighborhoods, and I have a family full of women. My grandmother and my aunt actually owned an ice cream parlor in Chicago in the '50s, and They were successful at running it for a very long time until they decided to sell it. They had farther here and then they also had nationwide distribution of their ice cream. And so that entrepreneurial spirit and just seeing women just go out and get it and do it and, and create legacy for their family was something that was ingrained in me from very young. And I I had the privilege of seeing the fruits of their labor and what building something from the ground up really created for them and for, for, for our family.

That had to be inspiring, particularly for that time period.

Yeah, absolutely.

How did you get started in this business?

It's, it's so funny. I often tell friends that, you know, you have to follow your breadcrumbs, right? You have to follow the things that you're interested in and lean into those passions. And, um, I was always very— I have a marketing background, particularly in marketing and social media content creating and all of those things. But I also find that there is a lot of value in merchandise. I think that there is a lot of value in merchandise as a marketing piece, but beyond that, I think that it's an opportunity to tell a story. And so I've always— I'm a storyteller at heart, and so I've always been interested in creating apparel and creating pieces that that tell a story and that connect us all, that's like that connecting piece for all of us. And so I started out by just making apparel, not with the intention of having a clothing line or anything like that, but I had some ideas I wanted to get out and was hoping other people would kind of like them too. And they did. That's kind of how I got started. I was creating things that I wanted to see, And then that kind of snowballed into doing that for other people as well and doing that for people who had businesses like my father, who, you know, were creatives or whatever the case that had something that they wanted to say, wanted to see, wanted to get out. And in addition to promoting their business and telling their brand story and all those different types of things.

A true artist and designer. You have a very— you have a beautiful design eye following your Instagram feed and some of the things that you produce. So knowing that you have something, a message, a design, you can see in your mind, you want to produce that in the world. That's how a lot of folks build beautiful merch and beautiful art. What's been the biggest lesson so far in your journey, in your entrepreneurial journey? Is there one or two that's been key to you?

There have been so many lessons. I think stepping out, though I, you know, though I come from a background of entrepreneurs and it's always, I think, scary doing it yourself. And so I think that I've suffered or I've dealt with— I won't say suffered, but I've dealt with a lot of imposter syndrome. And just do it. You're here, you're doing it, you can do it, you are doing it. So do it.

Tell us about some of your favorite clients that you do projects for, have done projects for. Do you have a few favorite campaigns?

Yeah, I have a few. I actually was working with a hairstylist here in the Chicago area who wanted to create merchandise around her brand, her, her, her artistry as a stylist. And so we created some really fun statement tees and some really great hats that when people go out and see her brand, they connected— when they go out and they see her merchandise, they connected with her brand. So, you know, her thing was, I want everybody in my, you know, in my merchandise. And we played around with a couple different ideas, but we wanted to think of beyond just putting a logo on a t-shirt or a hoodie or a hat or whatever. And so we came up with some really fun sayings that would look great on t-shirts and would also resonate with her target audience and her clientele. So that was a great— that was a great client to work with. And another client we're working with now is an art house for women of color creatives. And the vibe of that brand is very minimalistic, kind of luxe, luxury with a lot of like earth tones and just very elegant and very clean. And so I'm seeing these really nice terracotta long sleeve shirts with like embossed lettering in addition to a really nice like soft vegan leather notebook with an embossed type of print on it that just really speaks further to her brand and is really kind of on par for what her— what the art house for women of color creatives actually stands for. And so I think the funnest part for me is really talking with a client and finding out about their clientele, their consumer base, or their audience and what their brand really is and how can we create some really nice merch that speaks to that, that is not so far off par that you're like, this doesn't even seem like it fits with this person's brand, but it's just very on point and very clean and invokes an emotion when the client actually gets it and they open it and they see it or they purchase it or however they're planning to distribute it.

I, I'm smiling a little bit because it takes some of us years to learn what you just said in terms of, um, getting to the heart of a brand's essence and things that you love like design, but you also really love making a statement with these pieces, like making sure that that statement is not only made but declared and understood within the context of the brand. One of the things I love on Instagram, you said vibe check, 'Right on the inside as well as on the outside,' which is like a really great way to sum up making sure that whatever we're wearing, whatever we produce on behalf of a brand, needs to reflect what's going on on the inside. Can you, can you want to share a few thoughts on that?

Yeah, absolutely. You know, from a branding standpoint, you're absolutely right. Vibe check is about making sure the vibe is right, making sure that if you're a fun quirky type of brand that we have some really fun quirky type of merchandise, right? Or if you're like the brand that I mentioned, the Art House for Women of Color Creatives, if you're very luxe, earth tone, really minimalistic, that we have merchandise for you that represents that and that reflects that. But then the other side of that is that a lot of my clientele are entrepreneurs, they are women-owned businesses, businesses, they are small-owned businesses, and as someone sitting in that seat also, I can empathize with the mental health, the mental health or the mental fortitude that's needed to be someone that is running a business. Because a lot of times, especially when you think about businesses or small businesses or Black-owned businesses, you're directly— when you support those businesses, you're directly supporting those people. These aren't, you know, people in big corporations that have a ton of people working. These are, you know, small teams of people, and that can take a toll on your mental health and your physical health and all of those things. And so, you know, I want to make sure that I'm letting my clientele know that we understand, we get it. And just as important as it is to make your sales and to create these beautiful campaigns and do all these other things, it's also equally as important to do a vibe check on yourself and make sure that you're, you know, you're aligned within yourself so that you can continue to produce at the level that you're creating. Success for you.

Yeah, that's a great— that's really good encouragement because you'll be a better creative person for it if you do that. What advice would you give? I love your branding. I love the messaging. I love everything about your design. As I mentioned before, you know, you're talking to an audience full of entrepreneurs who are doing exactly what you're doing, all in their own unique way as well. What advice would you give to those? Because you've established a unique voice and a unique identity. What advice would you share with them about establishing their own unique voice and identity? Because one of the things that you have done very well is that you've distinguished your brand from many others. And I think that's a critical part of our marketing moving forward. What advice would you have?

I think that my— the advice that I would give is whether you're working with small businesses or niche markets like myself, or if you are— you kind of have your your net cast really wide. Just as much as we consider the essence of the clients that we're working with, their brands, I think that it's just as important to consider that for ourselves and speak to our clients from that, from that place. I think that, you know, one thing I truly believe is that when you are honest in your pursuits, that shines through. So if you yourself, if you, you know, if you're a brand and you have a business, you're in this industry and you have a business and you're kind of quirky yourself and you like to do fun things, let that shine through, you know, and just, you know, be yourself. That would be my number one advice is to be yourself.

Another why of yours is your beautiful son Onyx. We'd love to share not just the entrepreneurial side, but everything, the holistic part of business. Onyx must have been the inspiration behind the Mommy and Me designs. You've created some other interesting direct-to-consumer designs. What inspires your artistic eye? Obviously, you gather inspiration from everywhere.

Yeah, I absolutely do. You hit it right on the head. I do gather inspiration from everywhere. Onyx is a huge influence. Influence in the building of the Village Print Studio. I actually launched the business 3 months after he was born in the middle of a pandemic, which is crazy, but we did it this year. And, um, and it's been a ride. It's been a ride. It's been a lot of learning, a lot of things as a new mother and entrepreneur. But my business, or my design, I What inspires me is everything from everywhere. I, you know, am a stickler about telling our stories and I think that for me, me personally, and I find a lot of women-owned businesses and Black-owned businesses, as I mentioned before, a lot of what they're doing or what we're doing is building these businesses to leave legacy for our families, to create generational wealth, to spread positivity, to show other people that it can be done. And so I like to create designs and create merchandise that reflects those things, you know, outside of what we do for other people or what we, you know, what we create for other people. So those are some of the messages that I like to spread and that, that really resonate with me and that I hope resonate with other people when they see the Village Print Studio or purchase something from us or whatever the case may be. Is that, you know, those are our kind of three tenets. We're working to build generational wealth, create a lasting legacy for our families, and live in a more positive uplifting way.

You also have, as I mentioned earlier, you approach the merchandise business with a strong sense of community. Where does that come from?

Uh, the community comes— I think it's so, it's so, I think it's so layered for me. Um, the Village Print Studio, um, just in the name, the village is— when you think about a village, you think about people working together to be sustainable, right? And so again, my focus and my clientele are a lot of creatives and entrepreneurs. That's my village in that sense, right? But then also being an entrepreneur and being a new mom and, you know, having a whole, you know, a whole host of personal things in personal life, I have a village around me that supports supports me day to day, in and out. And so the village really reflects those two things. It reflects my experience and my, my, where I stand as an entrepreneur and as a mom. But then it also is a reflection of the community and the people that I work with. Because when we, I believe very much that we are all very interconnected and that we all need each other. You know, we live in a world or we live in a society that really drives home independence. And I think that we've seen over the last year with the pandemic that we do actually need each other. We do actually need to connect. We do actually need to, you know, we need each other. And that's just that, full stop. And so you can't have that, you can't have that need without having a community around to support that.

Yeah. How have you seen merchandise really help build that community connection?

I think that merchandise— I actually have a funny story about that. So one of the first merchandise pieces that I created, or two of them actually, were— one of them was a red or a cream-colored hoodie with message. It was a statement piece and it said manifest on the front and then on the back it said the true power is within you. And then I had a crewneck that said all things align in due time. And I got messages from people who had purchased those items from me and they're like, you'll never believe I was out at a store or I was out at a restaurant restaurant and someone saw it and they, you know, stopped me and said something to me and said, thank you so much, you know, for— when I see this, that means that's the sign that I needed, or, you know, that's the encouragement that I needed, or whatever the case may be. But I've had several different incidents or or scenarios where people have had on merch and people have seen them and really resonated with the messaging that they saw the person who had on, you know, the merch. It really resonated with them. I think in that moment, you know, maybe these people never cross each other's paths again, right? But they cross each other's paths at that moment and Whatever needed to happen in that moment happened because of a hoodie or a sweatshirt or whatever. Something that spoke to you and it's like, what? But it, it, it, that's the power that merchandise has.

You know, you're, you're so far advanced. It took some of, so many of us years to understand that merchandise has, is a beautiful opportunity to create an emotional connection and to cement an emotional bond with folks. And that's a great example of that. I'm really curious, as you looked at our industry, I mean, you're new, fairly new to the business. You're not new to business, but you're new to this business. And you stepped into the industry. My guess is you probably stepped into it and went, this looks like a fun business, looks cool business. And you get into it and you realize it's much bigger than you probably thought when you stepped into it. Maybe. What are your thoughts when you look at the industry industry? I love an outsider's perspective because they typically come into the industry with such a different perspective and such a creative perspective. What do you see in the industry that you want to change or perhaps do differently? And you're, you're probably doing it right now.

Um, that's a great question. I— you're absolutely right, I did not realize that the industry was anywhere as large as it actually is. And I was, I was totally blown away. I was, I will tell you, I was completely blown away because it just started as, as we're seeing, you know, more people get into business, they need things, they need items, they need, you know, promotional items, branded merchandise. And it's a completely new demographic, I think, that has been, has historically been privy to the promotional products industry and the way that it actually operates. And so I would love to see— I would love to see a better user experience across the board for people seeking promotional products that may not be your large corporations or they may not be your large universities. Or things like that where there isn't such a kind of barrier to them being able to access promotional products. Because I, you know, I know a lot of people will go overseas to do, you know, to do their, get their merchandise through, you know, Alibaba or AliExpress or whatever the case may be, and it's because they don't know that it exists, the promotional products industry exists as it does. And so creating more opportunity for people who are starting out, who are interested in, in, in having branded merchandise, to know that this is something that exists, and then making those things accessible through better websites and, you know, just more information and just a ton of different things.

You already touched on this a little bit, but who are the mentors in your life? Who's made the most impact?

Um, I have been blessed to have been surrounded or be surrounded by, um, a ton of really knowledgeable people just working in their purpose. Um, they, you know, they might not necessarily have, you know, multimillion-dollar businesses or anything like that, but I'm very inspired when I see people working and walking in their purpose. One of my biggest inspirations actually is my dad. He was a heavy— or is a heavy equipment operator by trade, and he retired. He had the opportunity to retire early, and he He completely created a whole new life for himself. He went back to school and he became a massage therapist and he ran marathons and triathlons. He actually did the swim to Alcatraz and the Golden Gate swim and just started his own massage therapy business working with endurance athletes. And so he's one of my biggest inspirations because he lets me know that if you can think it, you can do it. You know, he, he'll— he's the type of person that'll say, I'm thinking about doing XYZ, and then you talk to him, you know, a month later and he's like, yeah, I got my scuba equipment. I'm, you know, I'm, I'm going down, you know, I'm going down to the Caribbean. And it's like We literally just talked about this and he's like, yeah, that was me letting you know that I'm going to do it. Not, you know, and so he, he is a huge inspiration to me. Let me know, like, if you can think it, you can do it. And you know, there's nothing to be scared about in doing that and you can pivot and change at any time. And that's okay.

That's amazing. I love that. You have such a wonderful heritage. You have such a great legacy of folks that have inspired you. If you were sitting across from Nisha before she got started, I'm curious, what advice would you give to her now?

The same advice that my dad would give to me. Just do it. Just do it. Kind of along the brand, along the lines of Nike. I am a person who likes to overthink. It's not always the best thing, but I am a person who will think a thing into the ground, flip it around, and look at it in a bunch of different ways. And I think that there is a lot to be said by, you know, having strategy and having thought and planning, yes, but also feeling into a thing and using your intuitive instincts to do the things that you're interested in. I mentioned following those breadcrumbs earlier, and I think that when we we really lean into those things and really follow those breadcrumbs that we've left for ourselves or that people have left behind for us, we really are able to create something beautiful. So the thing that I would tell myself would be to lean into your intuition. You know already, it's just a matter of taking what you know and applying it.

Yeah, I love that. What's in your future? You look at this industry, you've had this season here where you started the business. What do you see when you look into the future?

I'll be honest with you. I want to build Village Print Studio up to be a place where that is accessible for anyone for branded merchandise. Right. But then I'm also very— I am an artist at heart and I'm also very, very interested interested in creating bridges between technological product design, branded merchandise, and live experiences, and how all of those things can work together to tell a really beautiful story and create a very immersive experience for clients, customers, users, how— whatever you would like to refers to them as, but allowing people to have just a cross-functional experience for whatever story or whatever thing that we're trying to tell. But that's something that has really been in my, in my kind of line of focus right now is how do, how do I bridge all those gaps to be able to create something that is, is, is really immersive and uses all of the things that I am knowledgeable about, um, to, to really connect with someone else.

Well, I'm inspired by your vision, your creative vision and your inspirational thinking and just the harmony of what you're trying to create and build. And I'm so glad you joined me to talk on the Skucast today.

Thank you so much for having me, Bobby. I truly, truly appreciate it.

Thanks so much for tuning in to this episode of Skucast. Be sure to keep up with our latest content by subscribing to Skucast on iTunes or to our blog at community.comonsku.com. Until next time, friends, thanks so much for listening.