Today we’d like to introduce you to Priscilla Barnes.
Priscilla, please share your story with us. How did you get to where you are today?
I was born and raised in the small border town of Del Rio, TX before moving to San Antonio to attend University of the Incarnate Word, where I was a honor student, cheerleader, and employee at restaurants/retail stores to purchase books and supplies. After graduating and being accepted into graduate school at UIW, I was hired to coach the UIW cheer squad while earning my MBA. In the fall of my graduating year, I earned a spot on the San Antonio Spurs Silver Dancers team where I entertained NBA fans for three seasons. After finishing my MBA, I started a career in the pharmaceutical industry where I’ve worked for the past 17 years, but my love for group fitness started 23 years ago while at UIW. I’ve been an instructor at Lifetime Athletic Club for the last 10 year instructing dance, cycle, and barre. Due to a career opportunity five years ago, I uprooted my family and moved to the Cinco Ranch area in West Houston. I live in a house of fitness junkies as my husband is a part-time cycle instructor, my son plays football, and my daughter Rayna (The inspiration behind Rayn Sportswear) is involved in competitive cheer with the Woodlands Elite Dance Company-Katy.
Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
The road has never been smooth early on, but as the years have passed, I’ve been able to get things in order which now makes life easier to manage. From a business standpoint, the biggest obstacle was trying to figure out when was the best time to start a business, what type of business to start and how to start it. Me and my daughter have always talked about starting a business and one day while shopping at the industry leader of fitness clothes, I wondered why do we pay these astronomical prices for fitness clothing. I started doing research and was put in contact with a marketing company that walked me through the process of starting a clothing line.
The challenge then was how will we compete in a saturated industry:
– Do we compete with our pricing structure?
– Do I compete with the industry leaders head to head where it would take years of marketing dollars and promotions to get the word out? or
– Do we make everything affordable then compete with quality and affordability?
We chose to compete with unheard of pricing, great quality, and fashion-forward clothing.
Alright – so let’s talk business. Tell us about Rayn Sportswear – what should we know?
Rayn Sportswear is an online store that specializes in affordable women’s fitness clothing while doing the occasional pop-up shop in and around the Houston area. In the short time that we’ve been open, we have received outstanding reviews and recommendations due to our affordability, quality, and stand out designs. There’s one thing to be affordable, but another to offer outstanding quality and a look that women are excited to be seen in.
We are most proud of being able to give women what they want and need out of the workout clothes. As a woman, I know that if I look good, I feel good, and it’s not even about the workout as my cute Rayn Sportswear outfit will cause me to burn an extra 200 calories (Haha) 🙂
Is there a characteristic or quality that you feel is essential to success?
I feel that my personality and wanting to assist people from all walks of life is the characteristic that is the most important to the early success of the company. As I’m in sales with my day job, you quickly realize that people buy from people they like and as a small start-up, a lot of my current customers are people that I know personally that are spreading the word like wildfire. People wouldn’t recommend, share or promote someone they didn’t like or feel has bad character.
Pricing:
- $49.99 – All Workout Sets – Top & Pants
- $29.99 – All Workout Pants
Contact Info:
- Website: www.raynsportswear.com
- Email: [email protected]
- Instagram: instagram.com/raynsportswear
- Facebook: facebook.com/raynsportswear
- Twitter: twitter.com/raynsportswear
- Other: pinterest.com/raynsportswear
Image Credit:
Joen C Photography
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