Today we’d like to introduce you to Stevy Red.
Alright, so thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?
I’m an Afro-Dominican girl who grew up in Anchorage, Alaska. Yes, really. We had a small Dominican community, but I never quite fit in there either. I was deep in SoundCloud and underground everything, spending hours online building a whole world in my head that didn’t exist where I lived.
I was never someone who waited for answers. I bleached my clothes, drew on everything I owned, sketched outfits I couldn’t buy, and taught myself to build websites by breaking them until they worked. Nobody handed me a blueprint, so I made my own. That’s still how I move.
I always knew I loved fashion and design. But in high school in Anchorage, thousands of miles from any fashion capital, saying “I want to work in fashion” was bewildering. There was no roadmap and nobody around me doing it. All I had was a feeling I couldn’t shake.
So I made a plan. Before I ever set foot in New York City, I’d already built a circle of friends there. I wasn’t starting from zero. I was pulling up. I studied fashion merchandising with a minor in social media marketing, and I learned that a great product isn’t enough. People have to understand it, feel it, and want to be part of it. That’s branding, and that’s when it clicked.
One summer between classes, I was homeless in New York, couch surfing and trying not to stress my parents out. Honestly? It was some of the most freedom I’ve ever felt. That summer I ended up around Colm Dillane, the person behind KidSuper, and spent hours in his studio watching him make stop motion. Colm really believed in the glimmer I had in my eye, at a time when that glimmer was about all I had. That same energy is what led me to found Hommemore, my unisex fashion house, in 2018.
Then COVID hit. Everything shut down, and suddenly everyone wanted to build something of their own. Around the same time, it was time to leave New York. Going back home was never an option. I didn’t come this far to go backwards. So I picked Texas and started over again, because that’s kind of my thing.
That fresh start is where everything took off. I started helping friends build their brands, then friends of friends. Since 2020 I’ve worked with somewhere between 200 and 300 clients, from musicians and music videos to clothing brands, small businesses, and people with nothing but an idea in their notes app. My favorite part has always been the same. Someone comes to me with something messy, I make it clear, and then I get to watch it go from an idea to something real they can hold.
Now I’m in Austin, working as a Creative Marketing Specialist at Rebel Cheese, an artisan plant-based cheese brand, where I shoot content, build ads, manage our product labels, and create the systems that keep a small team moving. Being here has given me room to breathe. After years of helping so many other people win, I’m finally turning that energy back on myself, relaunching Hommemore and rebuilding my personal brand on my own terms.
I’m a forever student. I help people see themselves clearly, and I’m still doing that for myself too.
Alright, 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?
Not even close, and honestly, I wouldn’t trade it.
The biggest hurdle wasn’t moving so far away or even being homeless for a summer. It was my parents. As a first-generation woman, I wanted fashion before I could even explain why, and my parents didn’t agree with it. I get it now. Our parents always want the best for us, and when you’re a little offbeat and chasing something they can’t picture, it scares them. Their version of “the best” was security. Mine was a feeling I couldn’t shake.
So I had to keep choosing my dreams, over and over, even when it meant disappointing the people I love most. That’s why I was so careful not to stress them out the summer I was couch surfing in New York. I didn’t want my struggle to become proof that they were right.
New York tested me fast. That summer I was figuring out where I’d sleep while still showing up for the life I wanted. I look back on it as freedom now, but in the moment it was survival. Then COVID hit, and leaving New York meant starting over in Texas socially, creatively, and professionally, all at once.
Freelancing brought its own lessons. When you’re the whole business, you’re the designer, the strategist, the account manager, and the person following up on invoices. Working with hundreds of clients taught me, sometimes the hard way, how to set boundaries, price my work, and protect my time.
But here’s the part that makes all of it worth it. Years later, my parents have openly told me they’re proud of me. After everything, hearing that was the moment I felt like I’d cleared the biggest hurdle of my life. Not because I needed permission, but because I finally got to show them that the offbeat path was the right one for me.
None of it was smooth, but every rough patch made me who I am, and now I get to use all of it to help other people build what they’re building.
As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
I’m a brand architect and visual designer. In plain terms, I help people figure out who they are as a brand, then build the look, the voice, and the systems to back it up. I work across fashion, music, and digital content, and since 2020 I’ve worked with somewhere between 200 and 300 clients, from musicians and music videos to clothing lines, body care brands, artists, and community organizations.
What I specialize in is simplifying. Most people come to me with too much: too many ideas, too many directions, and a feeling they can’t put into words. My job is to cut through all of that and find the one clear thing their brand is really about. Then I build out from there with logos, identity systems, websites, content, and creative direction, so everything feels like it came from the same place.
After years of building other people’s worlds, I’m finally putting that same energy back into my own. I’m relaunching Hommemore, my unisex fashion house. I shoot film photography, I’m reviving Red Rants, my fashion commentary series, and I make slow-and-reverb edits under GCB (Generational Curse Breakers) on SoundCloud.
What am I most proud of? Honestly, the number of people who trusted me with their ideas before they trusted anyone else. A lot of my clients came through word of mouth, friends of friends, people who heard I was the one to call. That trust has opened some big doors too. I worked with Lonnie Chavis, the actor known for playing young Randall on This Is Us, on his debut album, and here in Austin I teamed up with Figure It Out, where we designed the shirt for the Electrolit 5K run during ACL 2025. And this month, Clavos Bootmaker launches. It’s a handmade boot brand, and I helped build it from the ground up, from the boot design and logo system to the brand strategy to launch. Seeing something go from a messy idea to a real product someone can hold, run in, or walk around in never gets old.
What sets me apart is that I see the whole picture, and I’m right there with my clients. I’m self-taught and formally trained, so I can design the logo, shoot the photos, build the website, write the messaging, and set up the systems to keep it running. Most people specialize in one piece. I connect all of them. I’m also proactive by nature. I solve problems before anyone asks, and I’d rather build a system once than fix the same issue ten times.
But it’s more than skills. I look like the people I work with. I’m Gen Z, I’m building my own thing too, and I’m learning right alongside my clients. I’m not some distant agency handing down a deck. When a client gets excited about where their brand is going, I’m just as excited, because I know exactly what it feels like to have an idea you can’t shake and finally see it become real.
And I bring a perspective you don’t see often. I’m an Afro-Dominican woman from Anchorage, Alaska, who got her start in New York and built a career in Texas. I’ve never fit one box, and that’s exactly why I’m good at helping other people find theirs.
Can you talk to us a bit about the role of luck?
I don’t believe in bad luck. I believe everything is either a good lesson or a life lesson, and every moment shows up to serve you in some way, even when it doesn’t feel like it in the moment.
Being homeless for a summer in New York could easily be called bad luck. For me, it was one of the freest times of my life, and it’s where I met people who changed how I saw myself, people who I still talk to til this day. Leaving New York during COVID could have felt like a setback. Instead it pushed me to Texas, where my freelance work really took off. Looking back, the things that felt like detours were the ones that moved me forward.
The same goes for business. Not every client is going to be someone you click with, and that’s okay. I’m still young and still learning, and the projects that didn’t go the way I hoped taught me just as much as the ones that did. They showed me how to communicate better, what I’m really great at, and who I do my best work with.
If I’ve been lucky at all, it’s with people. I’m lucky to have had people like Colm believe in me early, friends who made New York feel like home before I even got there, and clients who trusted me and passed my name along. And I’m lucky my parents get to keep watching me strive, because I believe my wins are their wins too.
But bad luck? I don’t buy it. You take each moment for what it’s meant to teach you, and you keep going.
Pricing:
- Brand strategy and identity packages starting at $2,500
- Full brand build (identity, website, launch content) starting at $5,000
- Creative direction and campaign work by quote
- Project minimum: $1,000
- Booking and inquiries at https://santo–domingo.xyz
Contact Info:
- Website: https://santo–domingo.xyz
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/stevyred/
- Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/generationalcursebreakers
