Talks With 1/2 of AM:PM Victor Rios: Letting What You Go Through,Grow You.
I am one to preach on the importance of family, having valuable character and allowing what you go through, grow you. You will find quickly in this interview that even though you wish things can go a completely different way, you pick up what you can and what you learned from unfortunate events to come out on top and win.
I met this jokester about 5 or 6 years ago, and I can truly say that he has remained the same Vic from day one, no matter what. So, seeing him grow a brand and getting the recognition he deserves is truly inspirational to me. My platform is here to inspire creatives on all walks of life. So dive in, I am sure you will be able to take something from this interview to grow you as well.
T: Victor, you have some amazing things going for yourself, and I am truly excited to share some of them with our followers. But first can you please tell us who you are, and what makes Victor?
V: First things first, thank you for featuring me on your platform. I feel really honored that you have taken notice of the things I have going on and I am extremely excited to let you in on more details surrounding my projects.
Who am I? Genius, Pre-mature Billionaire, Playboy, Philanthropist.
Jokes jokes, somewhat (lol).
I would say I am just a creative who is inspired by everyday life, various personalities, and everything the world has to offer. My drive to continuously learn, build upon eye-opening experiences, and connect with different walks of life is what makes me, Victor. All in all, I am just an individual who enjoys making great memories.
T: Every time I turn around on social media, if you aren't promoting AM:PM, you are praising your friends and most importantly family. What role do they play in helping you grow?
V: Family & friends are everything to me. In a lot of cases family & friends are one in the same, collective family. The people around me and the people who are very dear to me are what keep me going. I say that because everyone who is close to me has believed in me and has seen the endless potential in me since a very young age. That is priceless to have around you. For that I am forever grateful for everyone in my life.
The people around me inspire me through story and always remind me to follow through on every idea, every opportunity I have. It’s a special feeling to have when you know that your people are firm believers in your vision. On top of that they always check me when I have those moments where I lose focus and need to get back. Due to all of that, I show an abundance amount of love to all of my family & friends just so they know that I appreciate every one of them 100% and I just try to throw the same positive energy back at them in return because it isn’t all about me.
They help me grow through shared experiences, through insightful dialogue, and just being there when I need them the most. I try not to take for granted just how many people I have in my corner who would drop what they are doing at the drop of a dime to help me or be there for me through anything. I think that is what keeps me most humble and grounded.
T: Victor you have opened up about your father who passed away when you were a kid and how much alike you both are through personality, appearance, and even interests. What do you think he instilled in you most, and how much of it do you take with you as you walk the earth everyday. Even with building your brand AM:PM?
V: Wow, this is a powerful question.
My father passed away when I was just two years old, so I did not have the opportunity to know him. The interesting thing about this is even though I don’t have many memories with my father, I somewhat remember certain moments when he was alive and I was just one and/ or two years of age. It kind of blows my mother and I’s mind when I can recall something I probably should not even remember due to how young I was.
Although I did not know him, I am like him in a lot of ways as you hinted on in your question. Right off the back I am a spitting image of him. People who knew him and see me now get emotional at the fact of how much I look like him. I experience that all the time. People who haven’t seen me since I was a baby or young child, see me now and cry due to the fact that they feel like they are seeing an old friend again. It’s kind of a surreal moment every time it happens. I just met my father’s best friend growing up for the first time since I was like two years old and the reaction was priceless. You can tell he was reminiscing about all the good times he and my father had growing up. Everyone always tells me I have his temperament. As they explain it, this cool, calm & collect vibe, haha. Also, the ability to really just get along with everybody I come across, I apparently get that from him.
The big thing that I think he passed on to me in the short time he shared with me was the love of music. He was an actual artist and had a group that was signed to an actual record label. They weren’t able to do much with the deal due to his passing, but somehow I connected with a member of his group in my late teens in an interesting way, which is another story on its own. Music runs my life in a sense because of him. I connect everything with music, experiences, places, colors, my ideas, everything.
The biggest thing I think he instilled in me is the ability to connect with anyone I come across and impact them in a genuinely positive way. He was very respected, loved, and adored in the Brooklyn neighborhood I grew up in. That was passed on to me almost automatically as I grew up. The whole neighborhood collectively had my back and looked out for me in any way possible, making sure I was on the right track in life regardless of certain negative aspects that were present around me in the neighborhood. To them I am “Lil Vic” and I still get called that to this day whenever I’m visiting the old neighborhood. I take this with me every day I wake up.
It connects to the AM:PM brand because a key aspect of AM:PM is to connect with all walks of life. My contribution to AM:PM is to implement the storyline of connecting to everyone of all backgrounds. So I credit my father for passing that on to me, something I remind myself to continue to practice every day.
I try to make him proud as best I can as he watches from the skybox.
T: Like many of us in this generation, we work a 9-5 job, and spend the rest of our time building on our passion. What would you consider your passion and purpose to be, and how does your 9-5 help or relate to it.
V: I didn’t realize my true passion until maybe young adulthood. Usually you carry a passion with you from very young and try to chase it as much as you could. I had hoop dreams from young and that carried me all the way through college, but I didn’t; realize that I was really good at something else as well until after I graduated. Don’t get me wrong basketball and sports is still a major passion of mine and influence in my life, but my ability to create and story tell is something I am really good at as well.
So to answer your question, my ultimate passion is creating and storytelling through different avenues, whether it be product such as clothing, visuals such as commercials or short film, sound, writing, branding. I believe my purpose through this passion is to help people connect with anything that may impact their lives in a positive way and connect with something that might help them grow as an individual. Also, help them possibly become aware of their own passions.
My 9-5 relates to my passion because I contribute to campaigns that allow people to connect with brands they may not know intrigue them. It allows me to use my creativity to build an audience for a brand that offers so much to them and help build that awareness. It keeps me sharp and helps me implement different tools in my own passions outside or work.
T: We’ve mentioned AM:PM a couple times now, which was started up by you and your cousin. Can you please elaborate what it is and what it means?
V: AM:PM is a brand, a creative duo, which was created by my cousin & I. We’ve always collaborated on things throughout our lives and this is the latest venture we are focused on. With AM:PM we aim to create anything we might have a cool take on and anything we ourselves wear or have that we would like to see on others. It ranges from clothing to jewelry to backpacks and duffle bags; pretty much anything we have a liking for, but with our own twist, our own flavor to it.
AM:PM is all about promoting people to get up and chase their passions, contribute to the world, impact others in a positive way and make your stamp in a world that is always changing, all while using the 24 hours you are given each and every day you wake up.
T: What does AM:PM specialize in?
V: Right now we specialize in clothing. We have rolled out an accessory as well which are brass bracelets, but our specialty at the moment is clothing. We have our eyes set on a few other things in the near future as well, but we will roll them our accordingly as we go.
AM:PM just recently put out two commercials for their accessory line, you should have already checked out the video for Men above. You can check out the Women's commercials below:
Big shout out to my good friend Lenny Toussaint who is the videographer for the commercial. He did an amazing job capturing the storyline I mapped out for the commercial. He brought it to life in such an amazing way. The commercial is for the brass bracelets we handmade in collaboration with Irizarry Studios. In the
commercial you see the three different types of bracelets (Satin, Black, Mid-tone) and different kinds of people in everyday life wearing them as we follow them through a summer day in Brooklyn, NY. It’s very relatable to everyone. It highlights the ideal that AM:PM is for all walks of life. We dropped the commercial on social media platforms on August 23rd to a good reception. It gathered the interest we were looking for which I am happy about.
T: Working in a partnership with your own blood, how easy or difficult has that been? Our generation has grown up on the saying “ Don't mix business and friends/ family” how true has that been for you both?
V: It’s funny because usually the whole idea of going into business with family or friends is a cautious one, but I’ve been collaborating with my cousin for years and we work seamlessly together. We bounce ideas off of each other at an incredible rate it’s fun. It’s almost like we aren’t doing business at all and we are just hanging out like we usually do making dope things. That’s the dynamic between us outside of being family. We just like to create dope things and we usually really like each other’s ideas when we bounce them back and forth to each other. The finer details of getting things made and producing products is easy as well as we both know we are going 50/50 on everything, so there is no confusion on anything at all. It’s a very easy flowing partnership and that’s just a testament to our strong bond being family and best friends since young.
T: What do both of you bring to the table?
V: Well my cousin, Joseph Diaz aka JMD, is an artist point blank period. He is amazing with canvas work to almost all forms of art, so his knack for creating visually appealing work is incredible. He brings that aspect and energy to the table, along with his in-depth knowledge of clothing on different levels.
I bring the ideas and storytelling to the table. I also have a good eye for what is pleasing to the eye. I provide the aspect of putting meaning to each piece that is created. Lastly, I bring my own minimalistic style which is incorporated in certain pieces.
That is the breakdown of us as a duo.
T: What are some major accomplishments for this brand? Did you think you would have gotten this far so fast?
V: I don’t think we’ve accomplished anything major yet. We are still just gaining traction with building recognition and awareness. The one thing I believe is a good sign for the brand right now is the fact that people are taking to it quickly. The interest is coming quick and the first couple of products we’ve sold have gone fast due to it. That is a good sign and has us working hard on putting out the first couple of collections.
We are very excited for people to see what we’ve been working on.
T: Most startups are concerned about their demand percentage becoming too much to handle too fast. How has AM:PM, kept it moderate enough to bring in income as well as continually building clientele?
V: That is very true. Sometimes out the gate the demand surpasses the supply and that can cause all types of problems when you want to maintain the interest of the consumer that comes your way. We’ve had limited releases which caused the interest to surpass the supply, but we managed to quickly produce more of the item as we were selling the ones we’ve had in stock which met the demand.
At the current moment we release products with enough time in between to produce more just in case the demand continues to grow for a certain product. This is just so we don’t get ahead of ourselves and allow ourselves time to measure the demand we experience.
T: What can you expect next from AM:PM?
V: Well we are looking to drop another commercial that highlights what AM:PM is about and gives you in-depth insight as to why we created it and what we are looking to accomplish. It is sort of our introduction through visual form.
Alongside that, we will be prepping our first collection and pieces we’ve been crafting for a while, so that will be the first season of the brand. Those will be accompanied by visuals to represent the collections as well.
In total we will be rolling out our big introduction, which is exciting! Haha.
T: Before we wrap it up, can you please give us 3-5 bullet points of your best advice, on building and marketing your own brand? And if you could take someone younger than you under your wing who is living in a blended family home, and has experienced tough loss, what advice would you give them?
V: -Know Your Foundation: Know what your brand stands for or what it’s going to be about. This will allow you to carve out the direction you want to head in and put focus on how to present it to the consumer.
-Storytelling: You have to tell a story with what you are presenting. It is the best way to connect to the consumer. That is what helps grab the attention of the consumer.
-Aesthetic: Your brand should have its own unique look to it in order to stand out from others. Aesthetic differentiates your brand from others and gives your brand a face in a sense. It allows consumers to know it’s your brand as soon as they look at it.
Lastly, embrace the family you are inheriting or inherited. They truly become real family. The whole idea of family is super important because your family is truly your backbone and those are the people who will always be there for you, in most cases. I’ve been living in a blended family my whole life and I treat everyone as if they were really blood related to me. My brother and I have the same mother but different fathers and my two younger sisters are the children of my mother’s husband. My brother and I treat my sisters as if we’ve been siblings all of our lives and same with our mother’s husband. We look to him for advice and guidance when needed. We’ve really become one big happy family as cliché as that sounds haha. We’re just joking all the time, sharing stories, and creating stronger bonds between each of us.
So overall, just embrace living in a blended family home. It can be the best thing for you if you’re open to building those close bonds with extended family
Vic, I am truly honored that you shared so much with us and for being so transparent. We will be watching AM:PM closely to get first dibs on what's to come. Please follow him, and AM:PM social media pages, to stay in the loop.
Victor Rios Instagram: Vicriosjr
AM:PM Instagram: ampmnyc
