Every dollar donated during December will go directly toward paying students to produce stories like this one. Give now and ensure a brighter future for The Daily Orange.

For six months during her freshman year of high school, Alaysia Styles and her family were homeless.  The family lived off an Electronic Benefit Transfer budget of $400, and Styles questioned why her family didn’t possess what the white students in her community had. Her mom, Ra Russell, took those opportunities to remind Styles and her siblings that “they can manifest anything they want in life if they work for it, and everything happens for a reason, good and bad.” 

So in November 2020, Styles created her “MyOWN” clothing brand, which supports single-parent homes. The idea came about as she was concluding her playing career at the University of California, Berkeley when the pandemic, along with national Black Lives Matter protests, inspired Styles to figure out a way to help her community. Styles’ upbringing played a role in the creation of the brand, her mom said. 

“That’s where MyOWN came from,” Russell said. “Understanding your purpose. In her case, her struggle established her purpose.” 

Styles is now a commanding presence on the Syracuse women’s basketball team, with multicolored hair, tattoos and a tenacity that is difficult to ignore. She has helped lead the Orange to a 6-4 record that includes a win over No. 18 Ohio State. But off the court, Styles is found constantly incorporating new ideas for her clothing brand.

When Styles started her clothing brand, she had to find a way to differentiate her company from others. She grew up in San Diego with Russell, her younger brother Bryson and her older brother Rimani, who always felt Styles’ sense of the world was bigger than her surroundings. 

“The life that I was living didn’t seem out of the ordinary, because it was all I knew,” Styles said.

Maya Goosmann | Digital Design Director

After playing for three years at California, Styles transferred to Maryland, where her clothing brand took off. During her first three months with the Terrapins, Styles took advantage of her classes being exclusively online and began creating MyOWN content whenever she had time. From creating prototypes to figuring out what type of clothing material worked best or what writing font looked best on her clothes, Styles used the time to turn her idea into reality. Former Maryland teammate Zoe Young said Styles liked to show off the brand’s prototypes to fellow Terrapins. 

“I remember she brought it up in conversation in the locker room,” Young said. “When she showed us her designs, we were immediately excited because the idea and products were so dope.”

Then in March 2021, the MyOWN website officially launched. Styles purchased a Cricut machine to print her clothes, cutting the heat transfer vinyl by hand and printing phrases onto her clothing. She has already produced five different shirts and two sweatshirts, and she plans to come out with two more crewnecks and a hoodie.

 Such clothing items include phrases that are representative of her personal values like “In my own world” or “I define myself,” which speaks toward the perseverance and strength Styles has used to expand her own horizons and mindset. 

“I stay in my own space and world for the majority of the time, so I thought that would be a cool design for hoodies,” Styles said.

 The brand’s website includes a “message” section, nestled within the “how to enter” tab, allowing visitors to message Styles with their story and a request for any financial help they may need — a struggle Styles is very familiar with. She takes whatever revenue her company has made and recycles it back to the single-parent homes.

“I want to make the world a better place. I really want to make people feel better,” Styles said.

 After obtaining her master’s degree, Styles plans to learn how to sew clothing and move to Los Angeles. She also aspires to become a filmmaker who creates documentaries and Hollywood films about self-expression and solo-storytelling, while still pursuing MyOWN on the side.

“I know that there’s a flip side to the grind,” Styles said. “I want to see the other side of the mountain, and I promise that I will.”

Published on December 8, 2021 at 10:55 pm

Contact Irie: irharris@syr.edu