How it all started
For those of you that don’t know me, my name is Rich Rose and together with my wife Angela, we are the co-founders of True Royalty Clothing. In May of 2009 I was let go from my football operations job with The Oakland Raiders, a position I had held for over five years. It was a job that I thoroughly enjoyed and one that I thought I would do for the remainder of my working career.
For any of you that have been let go or lost a job, it can be a very difficult and depressing experience. After all, to pour your heart and soul into anything and then have it snatched from you, is to say the least, a very humbling experience.
While I admit it was depressing to lose my job in the NFL, what plagued me the most was the question, “what am I going to do with myself?” All I had ever known or thought I wanted, was to work in the National Football League. Now here I was, 30 years old trying to figure out what I was going to do for a living. Needless to say, it was not a fun place to be.
And then in a blink of an eye, everything changed. While shopping for my niece one day, my wife and I ventured into a very popular children’s clothing store. As we walked around the store and looked at frilly designs and t-shirts with cute sayings, one shirt stuck out. It had a tiara on it and underneath it had the word “royalty”.
After purchasing a couple of items we walked out of the store and headed towards the car. However, for some reason, I couldn’t get that “royalty” t-shirt out of my head. I was like a zombie walking and talking to myself as we got closer to the vehicle. I found it odd that a company would just put a tiara on a shirt and say that a child is automatically deemed to be of “royalty”. This led me to the more important question, “what is true royalty?”
And at that moment it hit me. True Royalty is about being yourself. It’s about liking the person you are having the self-confidence to put yourself out there. It’s about having the belief that if or when you fail at something, you have the confidence to try again or try something different. In the end, the only thing that can hold you down, is yourself!
While it may be cliché, the truth is that you can achieve anything as long as you believe you can. It was from this belief that True Royalty Clothing was born. We wanted to create a clothing line with a meaning, and more importantly, we wanted to deliver this message to children, whom we believe are the foundation of society. If True Royalty Clothing was going to have an impact, then this is where we had to start!
In a nutshell there you have it! In future posts, we look forward to discussing all sorts of topics. Most importantly, we want this to be a place where we all can engage one another. Whether that involves providing useful tips or discussing personal experiences, this should be a place to learn, laugh, and love.
Til the next time,
Rich & Angela
In addition, we wanted to introduce you to the newest member of True Royalty. Our first child, Brandon Michael Rose was born in June and came out weighing 8lbs and 9oz. He doesn’t know it yet, but he will be forced into the labor market at an early age. Look for Brandon to be modeling True Royalty Clothing very shortly!
