Many students at Athens Drive strive to align their purpose, and Anthony Yancey-Pollard has done just that. Anthony, better known as “A.Y.P.”, created his clothing brand “A.Y.P. brand” (Align Your Purpose) in 2021 to express and share his creativity and passion for entrepreneurship.
“I started my brand after wearing a shirt with my initials on it that I made to be unique at school and people said they liked it, and I thought I can definitely make something out of this,” said Anthony Yancey-Pollard, senior.
Anthony wanting to be individualized and unique was the start of his brand, because it started with his initials he wanted to find a deeper meaning so people weren’t just walking around wearing his initials.
“I didn’t want people to rock my name I wanted them to rock something with a purpose behind it so I thought ‘A.Y.P.’ then align your purpose came together because of it being a purpose brand,” said Yancey-Pollard
After starting his brand, he went to social media to promote it. Other notable ways he promotes his brand is by talking about it in class and wearing it around.
“I heard about ‘A.Y.P.’ from the good man A.Y.P. himself,” said Preston Holmes, freshman.
With Yancey-Pollard’s business, starting in high school he is soon graduating, and he has a lot of plans for the future.
“I’m going to business classes, and I want to continue growing my brand and make it into something bigger. If not I want to continue making and growing businesses,” said Yancey-Pollard.
As A.Y.P. inspires everyone to align their purpose Anthony aligned a future for himself with his motivation and determination to his brand. With him being in high school, it’s easier for him to expose people to his brand and gain support from students and staff.
“I bought one of his sweatshirts and I wear it around school, and I try to support him in anything he does. He is a future entrepreneur and I see him making something bigger than what he has now,” said Brian Nunnally, substitute teacher.
From bookbags to shirts Yancey-Pollard creates designs for each product on the website, some of his most popular designs are ‘Secret Admirer’ and ‘A.Y.P. align your purpose,’ with all of his time focused on his brand he creates new designs frequently. His newest design is called ‘Metamorphosis A.Y.P.’ which is set to drop soon.
“Shop aypbrand.com,” said Yancey-Pollard.
