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(InthekNOwla) -- NEW ORLEANS | Welcome back to InthekNOwla.com's Entrepreneur Spotlight! We showcase the up and coming local talent that New Orleans has to offer and talk with these local professionals about their business ventures, goals, and aspirations. This time around we sat down with artist and entrepreneur, Ayo Scott of NOYO Designs, a locally owned and operated clothing line.
Ayo is a true product of a New Orleans upbringing. His father John T. Scott, a nationally recognized artist, art professor, and recipient of the prestigious McArthur Genius Award, was one of his greatest influences. As Ayo recalled his experiences growing up, he said, "I grew up immersed in the art scene. I've been called a studio rat because I was always around while my father was working. I casted bronze with him when I was only 6. He taught me all kinds of stuff like how to make paper out of blue jeans. He would write me letters on blue jean paper when I was in grad school. He would recycle anything and often he taught classes on how to make tools. He would walk into the classroom, dump out the garbage can and start with that. Growing up around him had a really big influence on me. He didn't try to make me into an artist, but rather he gave me the opportunities and experiences to grow into my own."
 By the time Ayo was ten years old, he had seen and experienced many different places, people, and cultures as a result of traveling with his father. These experiences helped him to remain very open-minded and free-spirited.
"I remember we would jump in the car and drive to various places for him to go install a piece he had completed. When I was like 12, we installed a piece in front of the Smithsonian in Washington, D.C. I was up on the scaffold with him tightening bolts and stuff as a little kid. He told me that this was an opportunity that I may never get again in life and that I should be a part of it. All of those things really played a big part in my development."
"As I said, he never pushed me to become an artist. He supported me with everything that I did and knowing you have someone behind you in no matter what you decide to do is a really big factor. The city itself was another of my greatest inspirations. As much as I traveled with my parents and as much as I enjoyed it, I always enjoyed coming back home more. There's so much here that you can't experience anywhere else. There's something about the city that's so magical to me. Something that's lurking right below the surface; it's almost metaphoric. It's really not like this anywhere else and it's crazy cause when you grow up around it, you think the world is like this, but it's not."
While in college, Ayo began doing some freelance graphic work, however, he became frustrated with the lack of creative expression that some clients wanted him to adhere to. Wanting more freedom, Ayo decided to try his hand at his own business venture.
"I had started to make a name for myself as a half way decent artist while doing design work, but the problem that I kept running into was close-minded people wanting me to do exactly what they wanted even though I had clearer ideas about how to communicate their products visually. A lot of brands that I spent a lot of time on and put a lot of energy into never came to fruition because their ideas weren't well thought out or they just refused to take advice from others.  After a while, I was like, 'I'm doing all this work for other people and it's paying my bills, but there's absolutely no reason that I shouldn't be doing this for myself.'"
"Because of my love for New Orleans, I had gotten a tattoo of a fleur de lis with roots coming out of it in the middle of my chest and after the storm I wanted to do something to help the city and thought that it would be a great idea for a brand. In college, a few friends and I came up with a small t-shirt hustle called UNEO (Unlike N E Other). Out of a small investment, we made a decent profit and I was only hustling them out of my bookbag. So I decided that if I could do it then, I could definitely do it now on a much larger scale. I thought it would be a good way to bring some attention to New Orleans, get some money raised, and do some good in the city. The first shirt I came up with read 'Show What it Means to Miss New Orleans.' I was about to get those shirts printed and I thought to myself, 'Man I got this great tattoo that says so much in itself. So I decided that I wanted to do that instead. I was patient and took my time to build the brand instead of just printing one t-shirt. And that's what started the idea for NOYO."
However, before Ayo was able to develop his brand fully, his father took ill. As he spent time at the hospital with his father, he worked diligently on NOYO, the name itself a play on words. Ayo explained, "Throughout my life I have been called 'Yo' for short by family and friends and New Orleans has always been affectionally known as 'the NO.' So I combined them and came up with NOYO Designs. I wanted something that spoke about me and my city and I thought that the fleur de lis with the roots said 'this is where I am, this is where I'm from.' It just kinda spoke to me. I really didn't know what else to call it other than NOYO." Thus, the NOYO clothing line was born, fusing fine art and computer graphics in order to capture the heritage, culture, and soul of New Orleans. "Showcasing images rooted in the New Orleans experience, NOYO represents the innovation, style, and subtle elegance synonymous with this historic city." Designs range from the "Slangtree (Tree of Noyoisms)" and "NOYO Bounce" shirts to the "Frenchman," "Say Red," and "Satchmo" shirts. NOYO Designs includes clothing and accessories for men, women, and children...so there's a little something for everybody.
To Ayo, his biggest accomplishment is the fact that he is still be in business. "My biggest accomplishment is that I haven't gone belly up yet. Simple and plain! So many things fail and it's so easy to give up. Prior to undertaking this venture, I had no experience doing this, so I'm pretty happy about how it's been panning out. I made some connections with Wendell Pierce from Treme who introduced me to the costume director for the series.  They loved my stuff and they told me that they wanted to get me some air time, but wasn't sure where they would fit me in, be it this season or next season. I couldn't ask for more than them just talking to me so I was completely grateful."
"One night, Wendell called me up and was like 'Ayo, we're filming tomorrow and I got a great scene and the perfect person to wear one of your shirts.' I was like, 'Tell me what I need to do.' He told me to bring him the black and gold shirt in a men's small. He couldn't tell me that much about the scene, but he promised me that I was gonna be happy with it. So I did as he asked. It was the season finale and it turns out that they got John Boutte, who is my cousin by marriage and who did the opening song for the series, to wear my shirt. I got about two and a half minutes of screen time with a big obvious NOYO shirt on. I was on my honeymoon and I got a bunch of messages from people saying that they had seen my shirt and how emotional it made them. I got a lot of press from that. And that gave me a little bit of a push cause sometimes I have to catch myself wondering if everything is gonna pan out. But that definitely gave me inspiration to keep pushing through."
For anyone considering becoming an entrepreneur , Ayo said, "The biggest advice I would give is to have faith. I don't think that I'm as smart as half of my friends are, I don't think that I have half the charisma. I think that I do have a ridiculous network of friends. I think that the biggest difference is I'm not afraid. I think failure is a part of life and I not scared to fail. I'm willing to put myself out there and see what happens. I always joke with my friends like, 'Y'all are smarter than me or y'all are more talented than me.' I consider myself an average designer and I'm okay with that. I'm always trying to be better, but I'm okay with being average. The main difference is that I'm willing to take that risk where many people aren't. They'd rather feel safe and have a 9-5 than try something they're unsure of. So you've got to have faith when starting a business. You can't go into it thinking that it's gonna pay off overnight and you can't be willing to accept failure. Setbacks are going to happen, but honestly, every time we've had a setback it's always worked out in our favor. That's the silver lining in each dark cloud you've got to persevere. I'm learning as I go and if it wasn't for the support of friends and family I wouldn't have come this far."
With great designs and talent, a willingness to succeed, and large support network of friends and family, it's no wonder that NOYO is such a prominent and recognizable local brand. NOYO has been worn by some of New Orleans' biggest names including Trombone Shorty and has been seen nationwide through HBO's Treme phenomenon. But this is only the beginning for NOYO Designs. Ayo is in the process of redesigning the look and feel of NOYODesigns.com, so be on the lookout for the new site and for all sorts of new fashion concepts that this grassroots fashion line will be throwing at you. In the words of Ayo Scott.....Do you NOYO Rootz?
NOYO can be seen at Feet First in the French Quarter and Uptown and can be ordered online at www.NoyoDesigns.com.
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