When Lamarr came to my school for a student leadership conference I wasn't quite sure what to expect. I had been to leadership conferences in the past and enjoyed them but I hadn't heard of Lamarr Womble. When I first saw him with his bow tie in the halls I was excited to hear him speak. When he started talking about passion I made an immediate personal connection. I had been passionate about business and owning a business from a young age and have read over and over how important it is. Lamarr delivered this message in a much stronger way. His own passion got me fired up about my personal passions. His talk of following your dreams really gave me that spark to renew my passion for my business, a clothing company. I learned that no matter what other people say, I should follow my dreams and do whatever it takes to succeed in something I love. I knew that I could be a leader by setting an example for others and following my own dreams.
I recently started an apparel and accessories company in Central Square, NY to follow my dreams like Lamarr spoke about. The company name, Ax and Rye, comes from the owner names, Alex and Rhys. Sitting in a high school Biology class, we jokingly scrambled our names to confuse our teachers, but the name stuck with us. Next class we decided to brand it and give it greater meaning. The company meaning was created as hard work (Ax) leading to success (Rye) because chopping down trees is hard work and many people end a successful day with a meal, often including bread. We then decided that clothing was the best way to promote hard work among high school students. Since then we have balanced challenging coursework and running a business to follow our dreams. With over $1,000 in sales since October we intend to focus hard and grow the business over summer. Visit axandrye.com or find @axandrye on twitter for more pictures and information!
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