Ricki Brazil of Ricki Brazil has been setting and resetting the bar in the fashion industry and in a world of trends, Ricki Brazil manages to stay unique & in style. Growing up in the inner city of Grand Rapids, Michigan, Ricki Brazil never saw himself as a future fashion empire, but life has its own way of steering you in the direction of your destiny and greatness.

The women’s clothing line has been seen on celebrities and stars like Eva Marcille, Tamar Braxton, Draya Michelle, Amber Rose, and Khloe Kardashian to name a few as well as being featured in publications like The Huffington Post, Black Enterprise, and Rolling Out. Turning Ricki Brazil into a nationally and internationally recognized brand has taken a lot of passion as well as strategy from Brazil and his team and he’s not new to the business realm of the industry. As a member of Floyd Mayweather’s Money Team (TMT), Brazil has has been a man of different trades and a wearer of many hats for some time and he is extending his experience and knowledge to the next set of leaders and entrepreneurs.

I caught up with Ricki Brazil and spoke about his inspirations for Ricki Brazil, advice to future and beginning entrepreneurs, his roll within TMT, and what’s next for his clothing line.

Dev Gillespie: I read in an interview that your inspiration for Ricki Brazil comes from traveling the world. Which country or place have you visited whose culture has influenced your designs the most?

Ricki Brazil: I’ve traveled all around the world. I’ve been to Tokyo, Johannesburg in South Africa, London, Paris, to name a few places, but I love all of the cultures. Being a black man, visiting Africa was the best place that I’ve ever been. As far as fashion and different ideas I come up with, I liked Paris. I do business with people in the UK and London so London would be my favorite place because I go there more often and I do business with different people there.

Dev Gillespie: What is it like at a day to day with Ricki Brazil? How involved are you with the process of everything?

Ricki Brazil: In the beginning I was involved a lot more with the picking of the fabrics and things of that nature, but as we’ve grown, I’ve kind of moved away from it and I have people doing that now. As far as the designs I’m more present on that, just being hand in hand, people have to get my approval first before anything goes out. And we just try to be different, but stay on the same path as what’s hot. We just try to put our own spin and twist to it to be different from everyone else

Dev Gillespie: How did you get started with Ricki Brazil?

Ricki Brazil: It wasn’t like I was into fashion growing up, I’m a big sports guy. I tended to sports more growing up, but as you get older you want to be someone and I let the sports dream go. As I got older I had to focus on what I needed to do to provide for my family and I chose the fashion route. It was me having a business partner that knew the vision and the business. With us putting our minds together we came up with Ricki Brazil. The name came from of course my real government name. Everyone always said it was a catchy name or a nice name or it seemed like I could go places with that name so it was a no brainer when I started the company to use my own name.

Dev Gillespie: Ricki Brazil is known for having in style & unique clothing, but you also stay away from trends and boutique style clothing, so do you have any classic fashion designers that inspire you?

Ricki Brazil: Not to knock boutiques at all, but we’re not a boutique. We do our own thing, we design our own clothes, we don’t buy and resell. We do the whole process. Every step you have to take to make a clothing item, that’s what we do. We’re a fashion brand. We definitely keep a pulse of what’s going on around the world, we want to be recognized around the world and not just America or your local city. We want to be worldwide so we look to the world to see what’s going on and put our twist to it and our own design to it. Me personally, I like Ralph Lauren. That’s what I wear a lot of.

Dev Gillespie: Have you ever thought of doing a men’s line for Ricki Brazil?

Ricki Brazil: I’ve thought of it and a lot of people have asked me about it, but right now I’m just kind of focused on building the women’s brand and once I get to where I want to be with that, in the future I would do a men’s line, but I don’t want to start a men’s line and I haven’t perfected the women’s line yet.

Dev Gillespie: When young entrepreneurs are looking to start a clothing brand what should be the main thing they focus on to begin with?

Ricki Brazil: The first thing I would tell them is trademark their name or their business. People don’t really understand too much what that means. Ricki Brazil is my real name, but I still have to trademark my own name. I tell everybody before you do anything, do that. Always know what’s going on around you, what’s hot right now, what’s trendy, all that, but you have to stay focused on the things you like and not be like everyone else because when you get caught up with being like everyone, you’re not different. It’s like when you say ‘Why should I buy this and it looks just like this’ or things like that. Stay focused, stay hungry, stay in your own lane, and do you. In the beginning it’s going to be tough, you don’t think it’s working, you don’t think people like what you’re doing, but just keeping going. Once you keep going and keep driving and pushing yourself, the hard work will pay off. Once I started putting my time and money into it, I just got into it deeper and deeper into it. Once you start doing that especially, after you put your money into something, trust me you’re going to get focused.

Dev Gillespie: You have a lot of different beautiful models and celebrity models as well. How do you decide who you want to see in your clothes or representing the brand?

Ricki Brazil: That’s a tough one. A lot of people comment on the body type of the models, in the sense that they have a certain type of body, but the clothes can fit everyone. We’ve been talking about getting different sized models. As far as the models, we just go for the look. I just give people what they want to see so when they see it, they see the clothes. We have been showing customers who bought clothes and when they wear them out or post on their IG, we repost it on our IG stories and let them know the clothes are for everybody and not just the models that help sell the clothes.

Dev Gillespie: As entrepreneurs I think we’ve all had that trial & error moment where you had a challenge that you know not to do again as a business. What was that moment for you?

Ricki Brazil: Coming in fresh it’s like everybody can help you do this and can help you do that, you get caught up with people taking advantage of you because you really don’t know too much because you’re new in the game so you’re listening to people and spending money. Sometimes it costs to learn a lesson as a part of the game. It cost me to learn not to do this or that the next time. It’s like with anything, it’s going to cost to learn, but as long as you don’t keep bumping your head and making the same mistakes twice and three times, you’ll be fine. The challenge is just trusting people and making sure people do what they say they’re going to do. Another challenge has been you can come out with something and next thing you know you see someone knock it off for a cheaper price and that’s so challenging. So many cease and decease letters have gone out, but in fashion it’s kind of hard because you can’t really sue people, it’s a weird game, but you have to keep going.

Dev Gillespie: What is your role within TMT and with Floyd Mayweather to keep things running smoothly on the business side?

Ricki Brazil: I was booking all of his appearances and things along those lines, but that just changed over the last two years. He has a gentleman’s club, Girl Collection, and I basically oversee that with him while he travels and does all of the things he does. So my day to day life is between Vegas and LA. Floyd and I grew up together and I’ve been knowing him since I was 12, so I think that kind of speaks for itself.

Dev Gillespie: What do you have planned for the Fall/Winter for Ricki Brazil and upcoming 2019?

Ricki Brazil: We’re actually having a photo shoot this week to bring out all the Fall/Winter items. We’re gearing up for Fashion Week in February in New York 2019.