Meet Ceiphers & Rachel Olweya | Small Business Owners & Change Makers

We had the good fortune of connecting with Ceiphers & Rachel Olweya and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Ceiphers & Rachel, putting aside the decision to work for yourself, what other decisions were critical to your success?
We have built a business that is fashioned to make a difference. Ultimately, this created an opportunity for our customers and supporters to be the heroes in our story while we serve as their sidekick. Our job as the sidekick is to identify the needs within our community, come up with the solution and present it to the true heroes: our customers. Thanks to them, we are able to grow our business while growing our impact. We have been able to donate to our international community in Kenya and our local community in Phoenix, Arizona because of our customers. Donations to Nyaburi Integrated Primary School in Kenya have allowed students to be empowered to focus on their education by providing school supplies, backpacks, shoes and other necessary materials. Thanks to the support of our local community, we have been able to expand our philanthropic efforts and serve local nonprofit organizations such as OCJ Kids (www.ocjkids.org), The Service Dog Fund (www.servicedogfund.com) and now the Maricopa Chapter of the NAACP. In summary, the single most important decision that has contributed to our success is giving our customers the opportunity to make a difference through fashion.

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
Fashion is a form of expression that has allowed us to creatively tell a story with each product. We incorporate authentic African fabric into our Limited Edition Collections as accent pieces for everyday American wear. Each of these pieces are named in Swahili as a way to share our culture. Our customer can learn something new with their purchase while giving back at the same time. Below is an example of how we incorporate creativity in to products made with our Jua Fabric: Dreamy sunsets are highly captivating, whether a sunset over the African Savannah or in your own cozy backyard. Phoenix boasts some of the most vivid, pull-over-on-the-side-of-a-road-to-take-a-picture sunsets. With royal purple accents, bold patches of orange and shimmering gold and yellow strokes, you can’t help but take in it’s beauty. That is why this piece earned the name Jua, pronounced “joo-ah” and meaning “Sun” in Swahili.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
We would give them an exclusive hands-on tour of our showroom. This would give them an opportunity to see how we make our products. The best part is that they would walk away with a unique item that they had a hand in creating. Once they have their accessory or apparel from Ceiphers Clothing, its time to hit the town. We would take them to some of our affiliate restaurants like Maggiano’s Little Italy to enjoy some of the best Italian food in town, Maggiano’s has served as a venue sponsor for our events over the years so they will always have a spot in our heart.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
Shout out to everyone who has supported us in our last 5 years of business. Our 5 year anniversary is actually coming up on September 17, 2020 and we would not be where we are today without our customers, mentors and supporters. As a thank you, we are currently gifting free shipping on all orders with promocode 5YEARS at www.ceiphersclothing.com.

Website: www.ceiphersclothing.com
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