Rachel Brooks has worked on many sides of the table in the product and business world. Her story is an inspiring tale of hard work and determination, all while following her passions along the way. Another great example of how to live out your 7 Days Theory. Read below to learn a little more about Rachel and her awesome new company Citizen Made.

What is Citizen Made?

Citizen Made is the platform for brands that make and sell custom products. Our software allows for visual product customization for just about any product category. You can think of us as NikeID style technology—- for anybody.

 

What is your background? What was your path like?

I’ve worked in just about every aspect of the business of making and marketing products. From working with an industrial design studio early on, to buying for a major retailer, to working in advertising to create the campaigns that reach the masses. I’ve even managed a menswear label where I designed products, sourced manufacturers, and set up supply chains.

When it comes to the business of products, it feels like I’ve done just about everything.

 

When did you start Citizen Made? and why? Tell us the story.

I started working on Citizen Made in the fall of 2011, while managing a small line of customizable menswear products in Chicago. While working on the label, I had the chance to work with customers in person, at trunk shows, with buyers in-store, and more. People loved mixing and matching textiles with silhouettes, and we uniquely could provide this to them. The tough part was extending this experience to the bulk of our customers, which accessed and engaged with the company online.

Before Citizen Made became a company in its own right, it started as a solution for the clothing label I was working on. As more designers and producers expressed interest in having access to the tools as well, we had to find a way to make it accessible across product types. This is when Citizen Made began to take shape as a platform.

 

When creating a new company what are some things you go through or what are some of your thought processes like?

On your path, it is important to find other people to believe in what your doing and to invest in your concept and ideas with you. Whether you are building a product line or building software, you have to find ways to get people to buy into your vision. Early on, this is pretty difficult because you have little to show for. So getting past the very early days, and once you have a foundation to build upon, things only get bigger, faster.

 

Talk about your company culture and how that plays a part of your company?

Early on with a startup, there are so few people, so the people you hire and your tone for the company looking forward. Our team is primarily made of creative people who happen to use technology as a platform for their craft. With that being said, our company places a lot of emphasis on design, creation, simplicity, and usability.

Additionally, we have 2 women founders, which is rare. While we don’t intentionally allow this to drive the culture of our company, as women in leadership, we are exceedingly intentional in our hiring process. We know what our business needs, we know what will make the collective better, and we relentlessly seek people who bring expertise to the table that will make the business and our work environment better every day.

 

Do you have some words of wisdom?

If you have an idea, regardless of how hard things seem, you can do it.

However, when it comes time to start working on a new venture, make smart decisions on when to make it a full time effort. I meet with a lot of early stage entrepreneurs who are grappling with when to leave their full time position to focus on their company. There is no formula, but I do suggest having a plan versus a leap of faith.

Also, be exceedingly generous with your time, and gracious with others’. You cannot achieve great things without the help of others. Go out of your way to demonstrate that you appreciate others’ efforts to help you, and be sure to pay the favor forward to others that come behind you.

 

What is the one thing that you have learned through your journey that you would like to share with our viewers?

Participate in the community that you wish to serve. This makes everything easier, from finding clients or traction, to sourcing team members, to even just being legitimized among your peers. Being an active and positive participant goes a long way.

 

What is the future outlook of your company Citizen Made?

We provide ecommerce tools to all brands and makers that want to sell custom products online. To date, we’ve been a great resource for smaller business looking for affordable but powerful tools. Our software is improving and becoming more scalable, which means we are now able to appropriately serve enterprise sized clients. This is a new horizon for us, and we’re really excited to begin working with clients that we know and love.

Looking forward, we’ll continue to work further back into the supply chain, eventually looking to create digital infrastructure across the manufacturing industry.

Thanks again Rachel!! what’s the best way for people to reach out to you?

On twitter 

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