378. Renzo Diaz - Where’d U Get That Hat?

0:00I'll get I'm going to go to an office in the back. I'm just setting up for the next round. Renzo right now is in the steering right now. Amazing hats. These are the right now we are doing the Tonitas hats that blew up last summer and end of in the fall last year after is our mandami word and bad bunny word. It's just 51 year old Caribbean social club here in Williamsburg. Right now I'm at arena embroidery not losing the back working on a project. Let's go. But yeah, here I'll I'll take us to the back. Word, word, word. Wait, so after congrats on the Super Bowl last night, everyone won. Congrats to everybody. Congrats to everybody. And wait, so business has been booming since

1:03a second. Yeah. Yeah, well, we, where'd you get that hat we were working with the Caribbean social club on this hat. And we had made them available for the summer. And then we hunted off like a week after the bad bunny thing happened in coordination with them. But then after a while, it seems like everyone was just going up to Tonita and asking about the hats. And after a few months, because we wanted to put out more designs for them, do different hats with them and also lead up to another hat for their annual anniversary black party. So we were switching gears and then we just kind of agreed to make it available again last weekend. And we did a sort of, we went the media route to to announce it with Rameskla.

2:10And it was the first time we've ever done that. We had no press before that. And when I say we, I talk about myself, but also my partner on this particular project, Antigarcia, just strategizing and also we got help from my friend Ella, just pointed us in the right direction, gave us some, she was an amazing journalist, publicist. And in coordination with Tonita, announced it and it blew up and it just so happened that that bunny had won a Grammy. Everyone associates his hat with bad bunny because he shouted her out on this album. And then the Super Bowl happened and everything else was just kind of like, it just, we just wanted people to know that they can get it again if they wanted it. So it's the best announcement we can ask for. Dude, that's amazing. That's, uh, congrats on all your success so far. I just like, remember how I first learned about you and it was through friend of guest to the show, Cream Rama, you dropped his hats. And then I was like,

3:14yo, who, who, who's this guy? Who the hell is Rameskla? And then I was like, and I was like, this is sick. And I saw the hats that you guys did for the pre-order. And I was like, oh yeah, definitely. I got to keep them back in my mind. I have Renzo on the show. And then, and then so when that happened, I thought, okay, okay. Like, you know, hats are making this amazing, it never left. It was like coming through. And then I was like, yo, who, like, let's get, let's get to the bottom of this. Where does Renzo come from? And then, and then I was like, oh, arena embroidery. Let's go. And then I don't know if you're still cooking out of arena. Yeah. Well, actually on that, we, so for, for a couple of probably, well, I've been working for arena embroidery for about two years now. I moved to Manhattan after being out of the city. 2023 in June. And then in July 2023, I started working for arena. They, I, I knew about them

4:24for years or a couple of years, because they did a hat for Frank Ocean. The dream core, my gala hat. And I just had been following them. And I was doing, you know, hats out of my apartment for Etsy at the time. And it was just like simple novelty hats with phrases on them. Just on Etsy. And then when I got to the city, I got blessed. I went to one of their pop books with Yvesu. And I met Riley. I met the gang. And then like the following week I started working at the shop with my Etsy as a resident. No, dude, that's crazy. I know, because Etsy is all a slop right now. And I thought was was so crazy. And like bots. And like I have a lot of items that are just doing some wild ass shit with Etsy, which is crazy. And, and trying to like sell some shit up there. But like, I don't know if that's like job shipping era. And then so

5:27it's so cool to see that like, yeah, there's a lot of people that are making hats that say like different kinds of phrases. And then there's other like independent hack companies like, you know, writing slogans from like, or, or quotes from different movies and like logos from different movies. And then I'm just like, okay, like, let's, let's get to the core of this. How did this happen so fast? And it's really cool that that's, that's how you linked up with arena. And then the writing's on the wall. Like everything's coming into place. And then for the Super Bowl, last time, where'd you, where'd you go for the Super Bowl? Yeah. So actually, I, I, with a few friends, we went to the Cafe Gold Model Watch Party. And we, yeah, shout out. We actually, where'd you get that hat actually did Cafe Gold Model's hats to for their one year anniversary. And that was truly, truly a blessing, you know, got, got put on to Manolo from Donita's side,

6:33because he came to Donita's and also my friend Lino linked me up with C. So they were both looking to make hats Manolo and C simultaneously. And we just all sat down together at Cafe Gold at their Domino table. We were just kind of like, strategizing what a good hat would be for this event. And it just, I mean, they have such a great logo. It ended up just, they had an idea of what they wanted already. I just kind of like pushed it in the right direction and then worked on the production for that in time for their, for their event. And it was a smash. Everybody loves the hat. It still gets referred, especially, especially like in the downtown and like the restaurant scene. It gets referred a lot to in New York. And I'm super, super happy that it did so well. And those guys are super cool. And the whole Cafe Gold Model team is killing it. They're crushing for sure. Are you now known as the Hat Guy?

7:36Yes, particular moment. Yeah, I mean, I guess my, yeah, my company's always been where you get that hat. And I've always, I'm from transitioning to only doing Etsy to, I came to New York to make cooler hats or to make a cooler brand, I guess, in, you know, as a broad stroke. And yeah, like, that's what it is. But, but hats are not my passion. I always like to say that, like, hats are not my passion. It's just a cool vehicle to be able to, to, to, to be a part of these moments and to interact with so many people. And also just to see people interact and, you know, hats are just kind of like where I landed. Even from the Etsy side, I would have like a lot of stories that people would get back to me on for any like silly hat, you know, stories about people being on their deathbed, people having like their first children, like weddings. And,

8:43you know, obviously, also like a bunch of relationship things. Oh, I got this for my boyfriend. I got this for my girlfriend. Oh, actually, can I cancel this one? My boyfriend dumped me or my girlfriend, whatever. And it's really cool. Like, that's kind of like what kept me going because it, you know, it's, for me, it's very silly. Um, and I wanted to keep it that way because it was kind of like a protest to, you know, corporate America in a sense, because I was, I was working at a bank out of college and in tech. And I kind of, I just didn't, it wasn't for me. It was in New York, too, it wasn't near Times Square. But I was just like, if I can make money a different way, I'd much prefer that, which is a blessing. It's, uh, how do you call it? Uh, I forget the word time. I'm really touched. Yeah, because you've been up all night. So I mean, that's all like gas right now. Fumes,

9:44I must say, but that's so crazy that you started off at a, at a bank, especially in Times Square. I don't even know. Yeah, yeah. I was doing IT. I was doing IT for, for, for, um, for traders, for, uh, trade floor. So it was super like everything is the crisis. You know, if I watched the industry a little bit and I was like, that's, that was my job, but whenever something went wrong, which was all the time, my team was responsible for trying to fix it. And it's always a big deal. Like everyone's always losing millions of dollars. And I was like, all right. Like you can't be losing millions of dollars all the time. Like it can't be always be millions of dollars. But that's just how it was always framed. I was like, okay, well, dude, I love that industry is triggering and the plot thickens seriously right now.

10:45In Renzo, you watch it. Diaz is live. Of course. Okay, okay. I need to actually sit down. Oh, dude, now I'm not going to, now when I watch, like, I got to catch up on, obviously this episode has passed, but this Super Bowl took over. Um, wow, now I'm going to be thinking of giving like, yo, do you know what these people do after they go to hats? Basically, yeah, basically, basically, I mean, I wasn't getting those bonuses. I wasn't getting those bonuses that the traders were getting. That's for sure. Maybe that would have changed the game. Yeah. Oh, man. Oh, I'm getting too far.

11:47It's down to the wire, it's down to the wire, it's down to the wire, it's down to the wire, it's down to the wire, it's down to the wire, it's down to the wire, it's down to the wire. Hey, everyone, this is where many hats presented by Desar and Matt Tsar with your host, Rashad Ross. So you can find all our episodes and all platforms and at wheremanyhats.com, where many hats is made possible by listeners like you. Thank you. Renzo Diaz is the founder of where'd you get that hat? Renzo has embroidered hats that have been on domes such as Bad Bunny, J Balvin, Mayor Zoran, Mamdani, and Karim Rama. Perfect for wheremanyhats. Please welcome Renzo Diaz to wheremanyhats. Oh, wow. Oh, wow. Also, shout out to Lucas for connecting me to Karim. That was really cool. As a Karim is really cool. He's always been super cool. Dude, everyone that you've blessed so far or just like all the hats that have been going out to,

12:52it seems like it's just only cool people. Yeah, I mean, I hope so, then. I hope so. But I mean, on Etsy, it's like thousands of people, so I'm sure some of them aren't that cool. Aren't cool. But especially when this is just you get. Yeah, that's what it is, that's what it is. That's so that's so crazy that your whole life just turned from like corporate America to now in the stew with like the arena dudes, but also just like opening your life to a whole different world. And especially with the Super Bowl last night, that was incredible just to watch Bad Bunny do this thing, but also the fact that like everyone, like if you're just in culture, you know, like all the different things that happened at the halftime show. Like, for an example,

13:55I go out to LA several times a year and I go to Villas Tacos like all the time, like almost every day when the dance and they had Villas Tacos on the halftime show. Oh, wow. When he was like dropping the ball off to like, yeah, to a taco stand. And I was like, holy shit, that's Villas Tacos. And then I try to get off, you know, the sweet lady that you did the half or she was there. Yeah, that was crazy. I don't know if you saw, I posted a video on my story. I was at the watch party at the Cafe Gormada watch party, which was, it was so many people. And, you know, the big screens were only reserved for the show. And when the game was on, we had a little screen in the back if you wanted to watch football. But, you know, it was music, and it was music and the show and food and drinks. It felt like I was at a concert and when

14:58Tonita appeared on the screen. And there's a lot of cross, you know, people who go to Tonita, Cafe Gormada, there's a lot of like, you know, people go to those two places. When she appeared on screen, it was like insane. People were cheering so hard. And I, and from doing the hats, like, and from being there, like a lot, I go there a lot since I moved. It's just, you, you hear about the stories that her, her community giving back for 50 plus years, even more, you know, that's just like the age of the physical place, Korean and social club. You know, she's making food every day for people, you know, if someone needs help, she, like, finds a way to help them in the community. And this is for over decades, you know, this is before Williamsburg, before Domino Park got renovated, this before, you know, all the

16:00murals are actually ads on the walls. So, you know, it's, it's really cool. For now, it's in these moments, especially, you know, that bunny shouting her out on the, on the album and visiting a lot of Latinos, and a lot of people in general really identify with that bunny. And in turn, they see her as kind of like, you know, the elder of the community, who's, you know, always tried to have people's back, no matter what. So that's, you know, that's where I felt like those cheers were coming from. And, you know, that's, it's super special, especially being able to contribute like a little bit to that felt cool as well. Oh yeah, that felt, that felt great. How did they reach out to, like, it has this all-being connections base? I mean, I know you said about, like, the cream hat and then, maybe,

17:01not too sure about the cafe, but like, yeah, after that, you would just go to the cafe, that's your spot. Yeah, no, I mean, I live in the, like, between Midtown and Lower. So, yeah, I go to the cafe whenever I can. I wish it was closer. I'd go every day. But, I mean, I was a fan of Cafe 2 before anything. I would go and check it out and get a coffee. And, you know, it's just a vibe. And their parties too were super lit in the summers. And that's before anything. But with Donita, it was a little different because it's her 50th anniversary coming up. It was, it was 20, it was two years. Last year? No, two summers ago was her 50th anniversary. By that time, like, I had made such a close-knit group of friends through that place.

18:02And we would just go a lot there and, you know, as a mixed group of people from different countries. And, you know, some people grew up on the block too. Like, Rodney and Robert, they grew up on the block. And, you know, friends from Italy, from, you know, from West Virginia, Mexico. Like, we were just a close group of friends. We would go every day. I meet a lot of people there. Basically, it felt like a regular, even though, like, I wasn't there every single day. But there are people that go every day. And those are the socials as they, as they call it. And when the 50th anniversary was about to come up, Geo from La Heistat puts that on too. And he's her rep too. I was trying to see, like, if we can make a hat for her. We being, you know, where'd you get that hat? And then I was able to get Ricardo and Abby from Secret Football Club, what I play soccer with. And Rocco from Arena, to be like, you know, can we make this hat possible?

19:07And, you know, we came up with this idea. They, they all contributed like out of their own pockets to like 50 hats, this design commemorative. And Geo was like, you know, yeah, of course, you can do it, you know, and we were planning on giving it out, giving it to them. And they're like, you know, just give it out. Like, we're trying to get it to her people. And it was just 50 hats for the 50th anniversary. It gave it out. And it was, that's how it started. This, um, this like red, white and blue hat mesh. And it was cool. And it was well received. But then by the time the second, like the 51st anniversary, this is the first hat, by the way. Oh, that's different. This is the first one. And we put the arena logo on the side. Um, but you see the domino is got the five zero for 50. Donitas. Um, yeah, this is the first one.

20:10And it was, we just wanted to make a good hat. We saw a lot of people, or I saw a lot of people, you know, with iconic hats who haven't, you know, haven't been in the city for as long. Um, and they were, they're hats were everywhere. And I was like, Oh, but, you know, this place has been here for decades. And they don't have that. And I'm, and I'm hat brain. So I'm like, they should have a, they should have a hat like that too. So it was all like in, in, in search of that. And, you know, it, and I'm glad like people resonated with it. Yeah, because you guys can't come in out with other designs too, after that, correct for them. Mm hmm. And then it even like after looking at that first design, the evolution of that hat, it just came to be. It's like, dude, yeah, how compounding works for all you finance pros out there. Yeah. Yeah. No, I got lucky by

21:11the second summer. You know, I, I linked up with my friend Anna Garcia. She's Puerto Rican. Um, and she introduced me to this two wonderful, uh, graphic artists and Nana Yala and, and Claudia Rubin. They're Puerto Rican. One of them lives in San Juan and Claudia lives in, um, and I live in San Juan and Claudia lives in, in New York. Um, super talented and, and it was, the idea was like, okay, let's make another hat. But then I saw their work and I was like, wait, let's make two hats with both of them. And we did and, and those are the, the hats that kind of like went crazy, um, over time. And then a lot of people really resonated with the big green donitas embroidery, um, hat, and that went crazy too on its own. But, uh, and we had, and, you know, everything that followed that, which was the mayor award on the same day of the, of the

22:12festival. And, uh, a lot of people just wanted them and that bunny wore it. I got, I got it to Jay, Jay Balvin immediately when I handed it to Jay Balvin. He was like, you're not gonna see us and he put it on. It was like his album release party. He was like, that says, and he put it on for the album release party. I was like, wow. That's so sick. Um, that fast. That was like, I was like, that's amazing. And, and then in the winter, we made a hat with, um, Nanit Garcia, who designed the, um, bad bunny residency poster. And all of the elements for, from that poster were used for all the, the packaging for the bad bunny related things. So that was really huge. And that was like the special rings hat with, um, with the, her, like, Jonita's iconic rings and she, uh, did calligraphy on the back for Caribbean social

23:12club. So for, that was a really special part working with, um, these artists on these hats, uh, to show, to, to go further on the storytelling. And these are people who have had like experience with going to Donita too and being Puerto Ricans. So they, they brought, you know, their identity to the, to the project with Donita as the, as the subject. And this is the hat that Nanit designed, uh, sick. So it's cool. Yeah, we, we, we just, we wanted to build it out as much as we could. Um, and we got lucky because, you know, not, we didn't have any press or anything. It was like a lot of word of mouth and, and things like that. And we also partnered with this store in, in Puerto Rico, Andrés from, uh, proofs concept store. Uh, he, he was holding the hats during the residency and a lot of, a lot of Puerto Ricans and people visiting Puerto Rico during the

24:13residency would stop by and, and he was, he was holding the hats there. Um, you guys have been cooking that up so fast. It's kind of amazing. I mean, I think that there's obviously time in between, but it's been, it's been, it's been going in a chose. Thank you. Thank you. Yeah. Um, yeah. I mean, it's, it's, it's just, I guess it's the hat effect, you know, you know, you were, you were, you were many hats. Oh, that's a hat effect. Let's go. Wait. So, okay, like, let's bring it back a bit. Um, and because I love that you mentioned that you just, like coming into Manhattan and like this, like, short time period or, I mean, how are you phrase it in the past like a couple of years? Yeah. Life after. But, um, let's go back. Uh, where, where did you grow up and like your background and also have you been to Puerto Rico to the,

25:15the shop that, um, that you worked with and just like, yeah, yeah. Let's, let's do it. So yeah, I mean, I was born in Peru. Uh, I was born in Peru. Um, and, but I grew up in Long Island, New York, uh, parents split. We, uh, I was happening around like school districts and stuff within Long Island and then Maryland and then West Virginia for a long time and went back to New York for work, moved to DC for a little bit, went back to West Virginia, came back to New York. Um, my, my family lives in New York and West Virginia, so it's just around there. Uh, so, so, but I think that kind of like that, that, uh, exposed me to a lot of people. So I feel like that got me to not be, uh, shy about being new to somewhere.

26:16Um, and I had a, I had a great time and I'm, I'm really especially happy about my, well, obviously, you know, being a Peruvian and, and also going back all the time, my family over there. Um, and, and spending, uh, time hanging out with them and then coming back. That's like a big context, um, being an immigrant, but also like an immigrant as a child. So it doesn't even feel that way, but you, you, you leave, you come back. Not a lot of people have that experience overall, but switching school districts, you, I was with people who had very similar way of how I came up, like basically the same thing. And then if you switch to another one, nobody having that experience and the identity is very different. And, you know, you kind of like, oh, okay, you learn how to code switch. Like that was the biggest thing. I mean, I'm, maybe you have experience

27:20with that too. I'm not sure. For sure. Definitely. Yeah. I know, I know the, the mayor and, and, and interviews, he, he, at least he, he talked about or got criticized for it, but it's like, it's something that a lot of, uh, people resonate with in this country because you, you do it, you do it a lot. You learn how to do it. Yeah. It's like, it's like, I do think, yeah, it's like you have your one, your, your personality towards our homies and everyone, like that's like in your inner circle, but that when you like meet strangers and stuff, like, kind of like, you tweak it a little bit, but you, it's like, not necessarily showing your true colors, but more so like, yeah, uh, I mean, like, you're still who you are. And like, there are some personalities that do come out, but you're not like, given, like, showing them all your cards. Yeah. I see it kind of like, you, you meet someone and you want to connect with them

28:29or communicate with them in a way that they will understand the best. And I, that's kind of how I see it where it's like, uh, so you, it's like a language, but, you know, let me speak your language for a bit. So, you know, we, we can, we can better, you know, have this interaction go smoother. Uh, you know, there's moments where I, if I'm saying a, an English word to my mom, I have to put on my Spanish accent. So she understands what I'm saying. Like, I can't say, I don't know. I'm going to make something up. Like, I can't say, uh, oh, the, the door knob, as she's like, what? And I'm like, uh, the door knob or something like that. I don't know. I just like, Oh, okay. It's just kind of like that. I don't know. Uh, right, right. So yeah, but I, that's kind of like the, the thing when I tell the story about like why I moved around a lot, I think I'm just like, you know, that I'm a super social person. And I, I, I connect with a lot of

29:34people. Um, and I'm just like, why? And I think it's because of that, like being able to move around a lot and interact with, you know, kids and, and people who are not only just not my culture, but like, I guess now I'm part of their culture of just being there. So it's like, you know, now I, now I have to like fit in into that. And then, you know, so that, that's kind of like, yeah, a big, yeah, was it, was it? I mean, it's not, not everything's like, this is really easy. But was it, was it smooth growing up and like, easing in, um, or like, did you have to just like, figure it out, just like, go with the flow? Yeah. I mean, for me, I would like to say it was easy. Maybe it, maybe it wasn't. But I, I didn't have like a lot of hangups about fitting in or meeting people. Luckily, um, luckily, I was very blessed to not have, uh, those,

30:40those problems. But I mean, it doesn't mean like that bullying didn't happen or anything like that. But, you know, at some point like, you know, you, you, you, you have like, like, people, you move around a lot and be like, I've seen tougher bullies in there. This isn't really like anything. So it's fine. And yeah. Yeah. So I didn't have issues in that regard. But, but yeah, I mean, it was cool. I don't know. I love West Virginia. One thing that I do like to say, like, I love West Virginia. People have like a misconception about it in the North or like around the country. But, uh, in my experience, the people were so nice, um, some of the nicest people I've ever met. And, uh, it was super cool growing up there. Totally, totally. When was the last time you went back to Peru? To Peru? Yeah, it was like about two years ago, I think. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, right before, like the year before I moved to New York, so maybe three years ago.

31:45Um, Peru's house. I mean, it's always been hot, but like, dude, so many people are like, trying to go like, have you been? Uh, uh, I've, I want to go so bad. I mean, Peru, dude, absolutely. Like unbelievable, rich, like everything, everything about, um, Peru is like, just like, uh, I've been, uh, saying that I've been wanting to do like a South America, like, uh, like a Latin America, like world tour with where many had so bad, it's been in the season for so long. But, um, yeah, I feel like if I'm gonna do, if I'm gonna do South America, I'm gonna have to take like three months off, honestly. I can't do this whole like two week thing. No, no, no, no, no, no. I just like, especially like now, I feel like now is like the perfect time. Yeah. I mean, I mean, yeah. I mean, as long as the weather's nice, I think you can, you can go

32:49anytime. It's just hard because I feel like we, we got to fucking work for our time off in the US or, or make it a work trip, make it a work trip. Do you think that you've been, like, you're, uh, you've been working a lot, uh, like the long hours. So when you're cooking, where'd you get that hat? Are you doing, I mean, you're currently at the daytime, but are you pulling in some like late night shifts? Like, yeah, yeah. I mean, uh, I recently, I, so I started, um, this new role here, uh, at arena, um, in partnership, basically with, with arena embroidery, where, uh, I co-manage the shop along with Nalu Yata. Um, and I have my, I have where'd you get that hat here too, um, both on the, on the Etsy side, but also like on the other production for other, um, friends and clients, uh, to do, to because we share the same workflow. So,

33:52so this transition has been particularly hard because, uh, it's my first time running a shop in this size, even though I have help and, um, you know, there's a lot of components, payroll, or, or, you know, yeah, payroll projects, uh, different level of clients is, is, is another one, but, and the, the amount of people and the different types of asks, because with arena, it's not just hats. Arena is a very, uh, like a high brand, high fashion brand, focus, art, um, quality embroidery shop, where'd you get that hat? It is very hat-based, but we use embroidery a lot for what we do. So it kind of, it's into it. Um, so that's, you know, it has been challenging. So just making sure things don't break in terms of like, organizational has been,

34:54like, a new, a new thing for me. So I have been pulling those, those nice, to make up for it. You haven't. Yeah, yeah. So I'm the, I think it's funny that the post put out. It's like, it was only the post. And then, like, one, and one, like, uh, I guess new, uh, TV news, about the, uh, the Zoran jacket putting up the Zoran jacket. And the post made it so negative. I was like, dude, bro, like, uh, I was wondering, dude, I knew, I knew as it smelled arena all over that jacket, which was amazing. But I was wondering, I was like, did Renzer do the, the city of New York? Like, who did the, like, the embroidery? Yeah. So, so yeah, I mean, I mean, the, that's definitely the arena's project. Um, I, I helped manage it. Nalu, uh, did the physical hits on it. Um, and it was, it's also one of those projects

35:59that you get that gets so much attention. And it is the, the, the, the person wearing it, the mayor wearing it that made it so popular. But it also helped us galvanize something that arena has been working toward its whole lifespan, which is, you know, these projects that are, you know, high profile clients, uh, we do it right. And we, you know, we do it for you. And, uh, we understand kind of like the moment you are in. So that was like a cool project to get. But then, um, it was cool to, to, to get all the press around it because we were able to, to communicate what we do. Um, and I, I particularly felt super, super happy because I'm in this new role. And this is like one of the first things that happened. And, and now it's like, it's, there's also a lot of brand new things that the shop hasn't, um, face, which is, you know, when it comes to press and like, uh, interacting with and communicating, uh, what we do in presenting

37:05ourselves. And luckily, also, like, we had another project that the mayor was also involved with. So it got in that press cycle a little bit too. Um, but yeah, I mean, it's fun. It's fun. And we still get to do what we always been doing, which is just embroidery every day. Yeah. It's just so funny that like, it's only been two months into the new year. And it's just like going, only going up, you know? Yeah. Yeah. I mean, it, it, it was a rough, uh, month, uh, like for a lot of people in our industries, January is a really slow month. And in this kind of new situation, it, um, it, it, it, it's particularly like what's going to happen. But, you know, the, the universe, the universe, and also the, I guess, just trust that, you know, things will, will come back was, was basically what we were looking forward with. And we, we couldn't have asked

38:09for a better, um, situation. I feel that like the kids just need to know, uh, us just talking about the universe so much. And it's not just for like, hoopdies and shit, like being like, yo, it will, like, because like you always hear the old heads, right? Back like, even, I mean, like at the Caribbean social club, they probably have been dropping gems like this for eight, like years. And like us kids, we just like, yeah, yeah, whatever, right? Yeah. And then you add, when you're in it, you actually get it. And you're like, damn, my ancestors were totally right. Yeah, yeah. No, you're right. And, you know, off, off that point, like, even with the hat, I get messages, that are like, oh, like back in the, back in the day, like, because it's a fiddler old thing, it's like, I used to go there all the time. My parents used to go there. I'm like, whoa, okay, like, you know, this is, this is nothing new. This is just like the moment where, uh, the world is finding out

39:14about it. Um, so, so yeah, exactly like with the Zoraan jacket, with Donita, it's like for the Donita Caribbean social sides, like, nothing new. The world is finding out that this place is very special and it has been doing the same thing for a long time. Um, also arena for years has been putting out quality work and this, uh, at this capacity for a long time. But, you know, now, now in this new media landscape, things kind of catch fire like that and we are adapting things. We're adapting. Did you think that was there an in-between moment between your one job in Times Square and then, like, you pull in, uh, these shifts on Etsy and you just thought, like, something's got to come out of this. I got to get myself out of this. Well, it was like, because I was under a two-year contract, so for two years, I remember every launch break, I was just like, watching YouTube videos on how

40:18to sell stuff online and a lot of that, a lot of that shit was scams and I was just like, or, or just shit that was like, like, learning how to do Facebook ads and dropshipping and, you know, I, I just, it was like the thing that started ranking a lot on my YouTube. So I just, munch break, super quick. Oh, what's up? Oh, I had to, you know, build a shop in three days. Let me see that. And like, every day, it was kind of like learning about that. And then when the, I luckily, like, I got the pandemic hit, the pandemic hit as soon as my contract was expiring. So, so I, you know, I didn't quit and I didn't get fired, but nothing was renewed. So I was just like, free agent. I was like, we'll see. Pandemic hit city shuts down. I'm actually in Brooklyn at the time. And I'm just like, what do I do? So I'm trying like a bunch of stuff. I, uh, with my friend Maro

41:18from back home in West Virginia, we like, we start, we try to start a brand called Dia Dose, which is just like a combination of, of our names, but we thought it sounded cool. So we were trying to do stuff like that. And, um, uh, it was just experimenting and I got this embroidery machine. And I started working experimenting on that. And then it was kind of like the question of, okay, how do I make money now? Because, you know, we're making like, I'm like, some money here with the brand, but I don't have a job. Like, it's not as regular. Like, we're living, I'm living in the city. So I have to like afford it. Um, can I try? I mean, I'm just going to go back to the easiest thing in my mind, which is like, okay, I'm going to sell stuff on Etsy. And, you know, I, the video said I was watching on the lunch breaks for the past two years. That's when it kind of just like clicked where it's like, oh, Etsy's a marketplace. It has its product, like its, um,

42:22target audience. And people are doing drop shipping on Etsy. But why don't I just cut the drop shipping, which is like drop shipping is like, you just make the listing. Somebody else makes it and fulfills it and ships it or makes it and fulfills it. And that's it. Like the idea is that, oh, it's easy money, whatever. But I couldn't afford to do that because I couldn't afford to take like that risk. And also, like, it was a little harder. So my idea was like, let me try the drop shipping marketing model, which is, you know, you, you, you put out several product listings and you see what people like. And, um, you know, you just give the, as many options as you want. So I gave a lot of color options. Um, and then I would just make a lot of quotes and just put them up. And on the first listing that I had, um, it was like,

43:26take talk at the time was, you know, coming out with gems. So I just, I just used one of the popular ones, which was like a mech the stallion lyric, um, hot girl shit. And I was like, let me just try it because this is Etsy. So this is like very women, like, this is very women, very meme, like internet focused. And like in 20 minutes is sold. I was like, okay, I got to do more. Like 20 minutes after the first listing, I was like, okay, like this is it. And I didn't realize at the time and retrospect, um, a lot of people were just online buying stuff. So it, the, the chances at the time were very high for people to buy something off you on Etsy. That is so true. I, I was wondering about that right now, you know, and it's like the time that we're in currently, people aren't buying. Yeah. And then, but if they, not as much, but like, if they truly, like you have to sell something that they truly believe in, because like right now,

44:27I've been telling a lot of my homies. I've just been like, I, this is just my take on culture right now. It's more so like, I think that less is more. And so I think that like, right now, um, I've always lived a minimalist life. But like if you, like the more minimal things that you have, the richer that you are, that's just my theory. But like, you don't have to also like buy everything that's out there. But like the pandemic really taught us to be like, yeah, let's get this shit because we're about to go on. Yeah, there was a lot. Yeah, there's a lot of pandemic mentality that, you know, I, I got, maybe I'm blacked out for my own psyche. And just like collective psyche, I don't even, I don't even remember at the time how much what it looked like at the time. But, you know, I mean, we're on the podcast right now. pandemics boosted the podcast games so hard. And that was a very noticeable thing.

45:33And I'm, I don't know for better for it. But, you know, it's, it's something, it's the culture and us. It's, it's the culture now. But I also think that like, you know, when you started where did you get that hat? And you, you're just like, the thing is, I didn't know about your previous designs. Like, like, that's a thing. It's like, when you, when someone starts something, usually it starts off with like these gimmicky things that you just like, don't see, like no one, no one sees. And when you came out of the woodwork, I was like, damn, these hats are fired. This guy literally just, it's like, the designs are like insane. So like, what, like, obviously, you have a connection of like amazing illustrators and design friends. And then I was like, okay, this guy is cooking up these embroideries. Like, the embroidery is beautiful. But I'm like, go, this guy, like literally bust down the door, swing in, cool-aid man style.

46:33Like, this is, this is like how we're going to come out, swing in. And I was just like, okay, I'm, I'm gonna follow along. And then one moment, like, I, I follow it. And I was just like, okay, I'm gonna put that on ice. One day I wake up on my for you page. I see Renzo. I don't even know his name at the time. And he's just singing. I'm, you know, what, I'm like a bird. Oh yeah, nearly for time. It's deep, if you think about it, with my mentality at the time. But, um, it, so, because now everything makes sense because when you did that, like, I was like, yeah, he's on to something. And then halfway through, he's dropping, you know, like an update of where you get that hat. And I was like, wait a second. This dude has studied the game. Dude, no, but you know what? It's, it's like, I think, you know, I, I, you know, we're talking about

47:34the universe. But I, and I also want to say stuff that's also useful for anyone trying to, like, do their own thing. Um, it, it, it's really, it's really, um, I don't know. There's a lot to say, but, uh, that the, there's a lot of risk, obviously, um, to, to, to doing things that, like, you, you know, you, you feel strongly about, I, I definitely lead into my strengths, which is a lot of it is like, interacting, obviously, like, partying, being social, uh, and I love, loving to meet people. Also, like, soccer, um, right now I'm maxed out on who I follow on Instagram because I, I treated Instagram kind of like the Instagram follow, like a bookmark. Like, I'm going to save this for later. So I can't, like, follow people. I have to unfollow other people to, to be able to follow new people that I meet. Um, and, you know, like I said, before hats aren't my passion, but what is my passion is interacting with people. And I really

48:38use the hat as like, uh, a, a means of a way to do that. Um, another, uh, uh, great, uh, a friend, uh, who is in the embroidery game, uh, broke it down his name is Sandro. He was like, you know, there's, there's the business of embroidery. And then there's people who do business with embroidery. And I think I, you know, I, I really, right now I'm kind of doing both with arena and, uh, with where'd you get that hat? There's like, do we're doing the, those two things very much simultaneously. Um, but a lot of the success, if you would call it or a lot of the big things that I do, uh, we're all just a product of friends and like building like a connection, not even toward like a business goal, but like genuinely just like, if you're connecting with somebody, uh, through soccer, like a lot of it, like a lot of my big collaborators are people

49:39who I play soccer with. It's, it's secret football club, which, uh, you may or may not know, uh, Austin and Ricardo started that, yeah, uh, Robbie from Bull Kid Lucas, uh, from scenes, like those guys, uh, definitely put me onto a lot of projects and also arena embroidery with their, you know, and look studio with their big network of designers and, and people like that. And it just came from just like, you know, being, being a person, I leaned in on that on like, okay, when I want to start doing what I want to do, like, these are just the people that, like that I'm turning to because they're, they're there and they're cool and, um, you know, you never want to, they were like, quote on some video. I don't even remember who said it at this point. Unfortunately, but it was like, you know, you, you can always like reach across the table whenever you want to do stuff. You don't have to look for it anywhere. Like everything you have is kind of, they're already, if you, uh, are creative enough to see it. And, and, and, and you know, we're all, I think we're all creative enough to see like, you know, if we want to do something, we, you know,

50:42we have the tools there, hopefully. Um, and definitely not super commend anyone who, uh, does it when it's like, there's a lot more barriers up for them. So, uh, that's kind of like the big thing. Oh, that one, that one cuts the, that last part, everyone needs to hear that one. If you're just, uh, starting off down with like, I wouldn't say an unfair advantage, but more so, or just in a way where like you think, man, she couldn't get it anywhere. But it's like, take that, take that and then just turn it into something. And yeah, I mean, it's like, you know, never, there's moments where I've been, you know, in, in my terms, broke, but, you know, broke, a lot of people throw that around, you know, broken the sense of like, I'm in the city and rent is due. And like, that's a lot of money. So it's like, you know, I might, I might be met with

51:44suit, like, the hard times in this context. And, you know, people, you know, I put out the bad signal, I use Instagram a lot. And then, or text people and they're like, yeah, like, for sure, let's, let's do something. And people find a way. And that's, that's like, you know, if you can be that to someone else, that's super special. Um, 100%, 100%. And definitely a lot of people have been that for me. Oh, yeah. Me as well. I think it's really cool that you mentioned partying as almost a skill. I don't know. I was the put it. I was like, damn, that's pretty damn good. I mean, it's just last night, you know, if you were out and you were watching bad money, I'm sure there was a connection made. Yeah. I mean, those are the people I was hanging

52:47out with and, you know, my, my friends and, uh, and, and then new, new people who I, like, was meeting or have seen maybe somewhere else. And I guess that's just how connections build up. If you want to put it back in the, uh, in the finance, uh, the relationship compounds. Oh, damn. Yo, Renzo, hats off to you and everything that you do for some, just are where many hats are solutions. Obviously, where many hats has to collaborate with where'd you get that hat? Yeah. Wait, where did, so where many hats? Like, that's cool as hell. Like we, we should have met early sooner. I mean, better late than never. But this is like the perfect time. I mean, I'm trying to figure out what the hat would be with like, honestly, one of those, like, surprise me, like, mystery type hats. I would just like, give you guys free range, honestly, because like, you guys have been crushing. And honestly, I would just, just say yes to whatever

53:52you guys put out. But yeah, where'd that come from? I mean, I think it's like everything that you mentioned, you know, it's like, just, you had to be there. Got it. Got it. I mean, it's cool. Yeah. It's like, you had to, you had to also just like, I mean, yeah, like, when I was broke, I mean, that word being thrown out is so funny. But like, yeah, that era of just like, how that found me, I was just like, okay, I guess I'm going to use it. But I was also thinking today, I was like, when I got that, that title or whatever, the title for this podcast, I just had that in my back pocket for years and did nothing with it. So I had no idea. And then here it is, turns into this. But the hat that we would come up with, you know what? I think, I think it, yeah, man, we should tell it. We don't have a hybrid over yet. We'll,

54:54we'll let the people think about it. But I would love to collaborate. I would love to collaborate. And thank you so much for bringing me on. I think this is my first podcast. I believe, yeah, that I've been on this side for. So thank you for being the first and the most appropriate one. The most appropriate one, that's all there is. Of course, of course, um, Renzo, where's the place you like to go hang your hat? Actually, yeah. So where, um, where you like to go to get ideas or a place, you know, after you've completed a hat to get like to just like put your kick your feet up or wherever. Yeah. I mean, it's to hang, yeah, I mean, it's always, it's always been family and friends like wherever, wherever they are, to begin or to start,

55:58like it always starts with family and friends. And it's, that's the, that's the thing I value most in life. That's, that's wonderful. But with with your family and friends, where do you, where do you guys like to go? Oh, well, um, you just, you just want to be with them. And well, it's like everyone's everywhere now. Like, but you know, third spaces are the thing anymore. But we do hang, we do hang it. Whenever we play soccer, soccer, uh, and coffee is usually a great place. Uh, there's a cool place. Um, uh, passion fruit coffee, we drink coffee there with the, with the soccer homies. Um, and family always like at, at their place, like, uh, my mom's or my dad's, my grandparents, those are the places. Um, and I, it can't, it can't be one because I honestly, I barely, I made my room after I left my room. Um, um, uh, after I moved all my gear out of my bedroom to here, I don't hang out there at all.

57:06That's what's up. That's, uh, yeah. Um, that's wonderful. If you were to get a chest tattoo quote, what would it be? Um, um, chest tattoo. I mean, uh, quote, I mean, I, so a big thing with me, I'm pretty forgetful, honestly. Um, and I don't know. Yeah, it might be the phones. It might, I always thought it was like, but ever since I was a kid, it was just like very scatter brain. Um, and there was always this like, fear about dimension Alzheimer's that was coming from, uh, my mom's side, especially I guess, like maybe like that side, uh, suffering from it a little bit, but, um, so, so I would put, um, on my chest, I would put, remember, that's, that's, that's one word short and simple. Honestly, I do the same too. So, yeah,

58:10remember, remember is a good one. Yeah, remember, and I, you know, a lot of, a lot of the times I take a lot of pictures and videos when I'm out. Um, and it's easy to just post them after you got them, but, um, yeah, I, I do it because I forget a lot. I do it because I know I'm like, not gonna remember the moment and those things are like the, the, the triggers. Um, like that bunny says, should have, should have taken more photo. Um, I've been doing that forever. That's good. Do, do you, are you trying to get better at remembering names? Can you, are you good at names? I'm not good at names, but I think, I think it's because I keep saying, I'm not good at names, you know, like the more you say, you're not good at remembering names, you just, you just don't care. And it sucks for me. It's not, it's not actually good because sometimes I feel super bad. I just met someone. I asked her name twice three times. I'm like, shit.

59:15That happened to you. Oh, that happens to me all the time. So that's why I was, I always asked to see like, what are people's methods of like remembering names for some arteries? Oh, really? Yeah. And I wonder if it's like a gene, yeah. And I wonder if it's like a gene thing or like, what is, what is like, how, how did, I don't know, my other family members do it to remember, but that is also a thing that I can't seem to like pin down, but I do want to get better at names. But that is a great point of you saying that like when we say something, if we kind of move, like, wait, do you remember faces? I'm, I, dude, I'm great at faces. Yo, faces, I'm, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, not maybe not, yeah, because I, I kind of sucks at remembering faces, but I'm like, face ID, I'm like, I'm like, oh, shit, I know that face. I know that face. I just

1:00:16don't know what, what it's called. I don't know what that face is called. Yo, that's fucking hilarious. That's so good. Yo, I mean, but if I ever see you, uh, definitely, um, definitely going to pull it. Yeah, are you? Are you? Are you? Are you? Yeah. I'm in New York. I'm in your city. That's okay. Well, let's, yeah, we'll come through the shop now. Well, definitely come through the shop. Um, thank you so much, Renzo, for coming on where many hats. It was great to have you plugged. Plug your, your plug. Oh, well, uh, for you, we're going to, like, Donita's hats, uh, clothes, the sales clothes this one day, like at the end of the day. Um, and then we're going to switch gears and work with them on another hat. Um, arena embroidery top dog, uh, shout out to the mayor's office for, um, getting us to do the hat. We're looking forward, um,

1:01:19to, to explaining the story more. Uh, what else? Uh, yeah, shout out to all the creative and all the workers in the US, um, area, and everywhere, you know, the class consciousness hopefully is growing a little more and, uh, we can take things to a place that is better for all of us. Um, collectively, I know it's really hard, especially for me when it's like we're trapped in this, in this, um, in this cycle where we, we got to work extremely hard for basic means. So, I think that's kind of like the number one thing I want people to, uh, keep in mind and, you know, there's always community organizers or, or maybe you can become one as well, um, to push, uh, things to be better in your community. And hopefully that grows into more, um, a bigger movement.

1:02:21A bigger movement. Ransome. This was wonderful. And, um, yeah, let's, let's get this collaboration going. Look at you. All of positivity. It seems like positivity. You know, underneath all this positivity, there's a lot of anxiety. So, all right, all right. That's so good. Till next time, this is where many hats presented by Tissar and I'm Rashad. Peace. Peace.