WASHINGTON COUNTY, Ga. — Every Thursday morning in November, we're spotlighting everyday people in the community who wake up with a smile and a purpose to make a difference, in our series called "Sunrisers."
Some say the right outfit can determine your mood, and one Washington County teen believes fashion and mindsets go hand in hand.
He's now working to make an impact in his neighborhood by selling motivational shirts.
Kyler Ross is in the process of opening his own storefront in downtown Sandersville. It’s a boutique where he sells shirts sporting his brand, 'Offseazon.'
“It's a season of preparation to be the best you can be,” Kyler explains.
His brand started with the name on Instagram, and he started making shirts in September 2018.
“He was coming in every day kind of taking a nap, and I was like you're 17,” Kendra Ross, Kyler’s mother said. “Those machines are collecting dust. You can either put that to work, or you can get a job.”
He chose the machines.
“I made like 10 shirts, and I sold every single one of them I made, and ever since then it's been like a blur,” Kyler said.
He says at times he makes up to 40 shirts a day. Business boomed so much that he opened his own online store just months after his high school graduation in May.
“I feel truly blessed, I didn't even see this," Kyler said.
Now, he wants his brand and the name ‘Offseazon’ to transcend clothing.
“Let it be your motivation or what you've been through,” he said.
Kyler now takes that same message into the community. He speaks at different events and at organizations like The Boys and Girls Club.
"He is very reserved. To hear him speaking now, that really makes me proud, because I didn't know he had it in him," Kendra said.
Next, Kyler says he wants to go to college and major in business and fashion design.
Join us next Thursday morning, November 21 at 6 a.m. to see which person from Central Georgia we highlight next.
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