Today we’d like to introduce you to David Gonzalez.
Hi David, please kick things off for us with an introduction to yourself and your story.
My name is David Gonzalez, I’m born and raised in Oak Cliff. I grew up going to Kiest Park Christian Academy and Day Care, I went to Sunset, and graduated from Molina. I live in Oak Cliff still with my wife Grace in her childhood home along with our 2 kids Zach, 16, and Caleb, 12. I’ve had cancer 3 times ( Hodgkin’s Lymphoma), Oh, and, I got hit by a car when I was 16. Ever since I was in high school I wanted to start a clothing company. The style of clothes I wanted to do changed over the years as I got older. It all changed when I noticed that people who weren’t from Oak Cliff were selling items with Oak Cliff on it. It just bothered me a little bit thinking they were making money off us and not even worrying about our little city. My wife told me to start a company for Oak Cliff people. So, we did. We always knew we would give money back to cancer seeing that I’ve had cancer 3x. We decided that we can’t just talk about people who don’t give back to our community and not give back ourselves. We decided to not only give to cancer research but we would also give back to Oak Cliff. We rotate between 3 non-profits that we give 10% of everything each month.
We named the company That’s my Hood Co. LLC because we didn’t want to just do Oak Cliff. We want to do as many hoods as we can nationwide. We know people are proud of where they come from and want to represent for their hoods. We also want to give back to their communities too. For example If we make “Chicago” we would love to find a nonprofit in their city to give 10% of Chicago sales to them.
Now a year later we love what we have started and want to move forward with new cities and hopefully quit our “9-5” jobs and do this full time
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
It’s been smooth for the most part. We get customers that get mad at us that we aren’t putting their hood on clothing but we just explain to them that we will get there. We promise we have more cities coming.
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
I work at UT southwestern in the cafeteria. That’s my day job but this business will soon be my career. I’m just here to have fun and give back. I try to make our customer service as top-notch as if we were a billion-dollar company. Every customer has the potential to ruin or make your company. So we try to make sure our customers have good quality products, and make sure we fix anything we may mess upon.
Is there any advice you’d like to share with our readers who might just be starting out?
I feel like I’m just starting but just to be reminded that it’s not easy. Keep people in your circle that has the same goals as you. Get advice from as many successful business owners as you can. Shoot for the sky and don’t sell yourself short. Know your worth, and know your product well, because it’s your name and product that people will remember.
Contact Info:
- Email: thatsmyhoodco@gmail.com
- Website: Thatsmyhoodco.com
- Instagram: @thatsmyhoodco
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Thatsmyhoodco/
Image Credits
Lomas photos
