Today we’d like to introduce you to Reneisha Pittman.
Reneisha, let’s start with your story. We’d love to hear how you got started and how the journey has been so far.
The road of Nothin But God is filled with twist and turns, pitfalls, rainbows, and potholes, to say the least. The name Nothin But God or NBG was given to me by the Lord around 2013/2014. During this period of my life, I was doing a lot of souls searching, at the time the Lord was in the process of drawing me out of lesbianism. Something I never thought possible hints the name “Nothin But God.” Some people’s transformation happen overnight… yeah that was not my story… at all, lol. I ran from God for awhile yet He always seemed to be behind every closed and open door.
Sometime later, a friend of mine (Hannah) invited me out to Lakewood for maybe the third or fourth time. This time I finally said yes, I mean why not she offered to drive, how could I say no to that. Long story short, I go to the service with her and during worship… well… let’s just say the spirit of God grab me by the collar and “sagging” pants. His love and mercy brought me to my knees. I could have been declared a puddle of tears right there on the floor, slip signs and all. I gain my composer and the preacher (Nick Nelson) walks out in skinny jeans and a tee. I was shocked! He began preaching about how God loves us all and no matter what we’ve done we can never be so far gone that God couldn’t save us. By the end of his message, I was practically stiff arming people to get to the altar. Something in me changed that night. Something only God could do, Nothin But God.
In the months to come, the Lord began working on this hardened heart of mine. And finally, I told God, ” I don’t want to be gay anymore, but these desires won’t leave!”. The thought of doing what I used to do began to become uncomfortable and I just wanted all of it to stop. I guess that was the “convection” and renewing of the Holy Ghost. At that moment of crying out to God, I heard in my heart, “You will marry a man.” And just like Sarah from the old testament, I laughed! I said, “Nah, Jesus, you and I are good, I’m good!” The idea of even marrying a man was incomprehensible to my heart and mind.
Over time, as the Lord continued working on me, my clothing and desires slowly began to change. I recall days I was dressed like a dude while looking at dudes like “Oh, he’s cute.” Then, questioning my own thought as if it didn’t come from my mind, lol. Some mornings, I’d walk out the house wearing feminine clothing, feeling on top of the world just to change back into basketball shorts by lunchtime. It was a tough process conflicting emotions and desires, it was as if two people were fighting for center stage in my life. It’s safe to say today that the feminine nature won! Or even better GOD WON!
Roughly two years fly by and it’s now 2017. I graduated from Prairie View A&M in December 2015 and filled for an LLC for the company in February 2016. The LLC for Nothin But God sat dormant after a few failed attempts at launching. During this time, I was really just trying to get my bearings. I had just finished college, moved in with a roommate and failed at launching my own business at least in my own eyes. Yet, God had a major shift up His sleeve. In February of 2017, I found myself in my room rushing to make what would later become the Nothin But God logo and hat. I felt this strong urge and sense that I needed to be at Lakewood Wednesday Night service (John Gray). I wrapped up making the very first Nothin But God logo hat! I loved it! After jumping around in my room for a while, I immediately began hurrying to piece together an outfit. Glaring at the time, I realized I AM GOING TO BE SO LATE! I thought to myself “WELP! Jeans, tee shirt, hat, and a jacket would have to do for tonight. I grabbed my bible and notebook and sprinted to my car.
After “safely” speeding to Lakewood, I enter the sanctuary and come to terms with the fact that I’ll have to sit in the “worst” seat in the house, lol. The section I ended up in practically faced the back of the pastors head. That was ok though because John Gray is always full of energy. As he preached, I took notes in my notebook. He mentions that we all should want “a love that will graduate.” Now, at this moment, I’m not thinking about a husband nor any other form of relationship. Yet, those words were so compelling that I decided to make note of it. “Lord, I would like a love that will graduate.” As the services come to a close, I began to gather my things to exit, when I hear this voice come from behind me, “Excuse me miss, but does the NBG on the back of your hat stand for NOTHIN BUT GOD?” I turned around to a young man smiling ear to ear with inquisitive eyes. I say, “Yep, it does!” He erupts into this joyish child-like jumping as he shoves the young man next to him saying, “SEE BRO I TOLD YOU!” I’m still a bit perplexed at this time. Who is this guy? How did he guess this? Why is he so excited? And maybe I should be getting the heck out of here, lol. He then asks me where did I get the hat, I tell him that I made and I own a company called Nothin But God, which causes another round of excitement.
By now, I’m standing and looking for the closest exit. He says “well wait can I talk to you about your company?” As I’m literally fixing my mouth to say no, the Holy Spirit nudges my heart and tells to say yes. So, I opted for the next best answer, “Can you walk and talk?” He looks at his cousin then back at me, he says, “I usually like to stay and pray afterwards, butttttt… yeah, I can walk and talk.” He grabs his things and begins to walk me to my car. As we’re walking, we are asking each other probing questions and by the time we reach my car we realized that we both graduated from Prairie View he played baseball while I played softball and we also had a very similar circle of friends… yet we had never met each other during our attendance. We were both blown away to say the least. To cut this story just a little short we ended up talking in that parking garage for roughly six hours! By the end of the night, he asked me for my number and had sealed the deal on a second date! The very next or same day might I add. Months past and soon he became my husband Michael Pittman II! It’s safe to say that the worst seat in the house was very well the BEST seat in the house for me. All in all, God made good on His word, I was married, and not just married, I was married to a MAN of God! Nothin But God could have done such a thing!
As seasons change and time passes, Michael and I are sitting in the parking lot of Barnes & Nobles. He’s listening to me as I pour out my heart about how I’ve had this LLC since 2016 and here it is, 2018 and nothing has happened. Maybe I’ve heard God wrong, maybe this isn’t for me. Shortly after, we enter B&N, I’m sitting down facing Michael and in the distance, I see books and magazines saying things like, BE WHO YOU ARE! YOU WERE MADE FOR MORE! Or TAKE THE ROAD LESS DRIVEN! As I sit there, the thought crosses my mind. “I am standing in my own way.” I look up at Michael and say, “baby am I standing in my own way?” He looks and me… straight in the eyes no sugar just spice and says, “YES!” I was pierced to the core by his direct and straightforwardness, there was no hesitation. At that moment, I realized maybe it is me. I began to tell him, “ I don’t want to be like anyone else I want to be me! I’M ME, I’M ME!” And it hits me like a lightning bolt from heaven I’M ME! I began to make a mock-up right there on the spot using an app on my phone. I showed Michael a couple and we both agreed upon the last one. As we slowly nodded at each other I had another daring idea. POST THE I’M ME MOCK-UP! I jumped on IG and posted a picture of the original Nothin But God hat and the mock-up of the I’M ME hat. And almost immediately, someone DM’d me to ORDER! I was blown away. My jaw was hanging all over the table. I took this as God’s way of saying, “I heard every tear that dropped in the car, and now it is time.” Over the days and weeks, orders began to come in!
A month or so later, I attend Michaels Panther Doing Business With Panthers meeting and meet Denise Henderson. She, in turn, asks me would I be interested in vending at Writer’s Block Live? I almost blow my top! Writer’s Block Live was one of the biggest events in Houston! Bringing in some of the greatest talents around the city and abroad, putting them in one power-packed lineup! HOW COULD I SAY NO TO THIS? This would be our very first pop up! I tell her yes with several emojis! I got the invite Saturday midday, the event was the VERY NEXT DAY! I rush out and buy materials on faith, she hadn’t told me whether we were for sure in or not but my spirit was telling me “Do this and you will sell out!” I grab the materials needed and rush back home to make as many hats as I possibly can, Nothin But God’s and I’M Me’s. That next day, I get the all clear. We go to event and SALE OUT just like God said, we would! People showed so much love it was unreal! Even a couple of well-known artist bought hats and put them on immediately! GOD HAD SHOWN UP AND SHOWN OUT!
On the coattails of that event, we continued to go to pop-ups around the city. Our following began to grow things were expanding. Hats and t-shirts were being sold, and I could see that God had not had me to buy the LLC for nothing! And if that isn’t enough to make you shout AMEN! Some months late, I call Lakewood to inquire about an event and ended up speaking with the bookstore manager. Someone I had asked to mentor me several months prior to all of this. She asked me to come in and pitch the product! We go the next week and pitch to the Lakewood Bookstore staff. They invited us to have an in-store pop-up. We host the pop up which showed that the products could do well with the crowd. Long story short they ended up PLACING NOTHIN BUT GOD IN THE BOOK STORE! Nothin but God is the only way things like this could have happened to us! We haven’t been doing this constantly for a year yet. It will make a year sometime in April 2019.
So, I say all of this to say Nothin But God could have pulled me out of that lifestyle, got me married… to a wonderful man and also running a Christian based company in roughly 5ish 6yrs. Note my degree is a Bachelors of Science, not Business. God can do anything, keep Him first and He will do the rest! As long as you move in faith when He opens the doors! Ask and it will be given to you, seek and ye shall find, knock and it shall be answered! God is good for His word!
We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc. – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
The road to this point has been anything but smooth. Finding vendors, learning to make products, quitting a full-time job and failing have all been apart of the journey. The one thing that I’ve learned that has carried me is something my husband told me, “Use what you have, where you are.” That one statement has gotten me through the toughest days. I’ve made light boxes from random in-home materials, distressed hats by hand, and made hats using a t-shirt press for months. (I still don’t know how I have done that, it’s truly Nothin But God!) It seems that the things we need are typically around us just waiting to be noticed. The barrier is in our minds and once we break that thing down the sky’s the limit and beyond.
Not that I’m an expert at this but everything I’m about to say I’ve experienced, so I guess my advice would be:
1. Keep God First! He knows the way. And His presence will make the hard, tear-filled days bearable.
2. Believe in yourself and your ideas. Even if no one sees or understands your vision keep believing! People laughed at some of the very ideas that people wear on their heads today. Let them laugh, don’t get mad just keep on growing!
3. Act on your ideas! There is no point in knowing gold is beneath the surface if you’re not going to dig for it!
4. Cry wipe your tears and keep working. No journey worth writing about is free of tears, stress, and failures. Failures are only apart of the process. I spent tons of money on horrible shirts that barely sold, some not at all.
5. THE WINS WILL COME! If you hang around.
6. Don’t quit your job too soon! If you do, it may result in many nights of noodles for dinner. Stress behind backed up bills. *Unless God said so!
7. Last but not least USE WHAT YOU HAVE WHERE YOU ARE! An when it’s time for the next thing it will show up along with the resources needed.
So, as you know, we’re impressed with Nothin But God – tell our readers more, for example, what you’re most proud of and what sets you apart from others.
Here at Nothin But God, we specialize in Urban Wear with a Godly message! We are known for your hats that carry a positive message. Things like Nothin But God, Prayed Up and I’M Me. I’m grateful that the Lord has prospered the company in the way He has in such a short amount of time. The thing that sets up apart I think is simple. We are Christians that understand that we don’t have to dress like nuns or wear shirts with rainbows and Jesus to rep Christ in a relative way.
Were there people and/or experiences you had in your childhood that you feel laid the foundation for your success?
There was a time period in middle school when I sold candy at school to make some extra cash, that experience taught me to hustle. Throughout my life, I’ve played sports, and that has taught me to persevere.
Pricing:
- Shirts are $10- $20
- Hats are $20
Contact Info:
- Website: www.NothinButGod.com
- Instagram: @NothinButGod_
Image Credit:
Reneisha Pittman, Michael Pittman & TreVoy Kelly
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