By Ameera Steward
For The Birmingham Times
When Leslie Gomez decided to launch her business Tryna B Studios in 2019, placing the word ‘studios’ in the brand name was intentional. On Saturday October 23 Gomez will host the grand opening of Tryna B Studios’ brick and mortar at 5507 First Avenue North in Woodlawn.
“It’s [having a studio space] honestly something that’s always been planned,” said the 24-year-old Gomez. “That’s why I never named my clothing brand something that was limiting. So, a lot of people when they name their brand, they kind of go for the word clothing in it or some type of word that let people know that they only do clothing. For me I never wanted to limit myself so that’s why I named it Tryna B Studios and not Tryna B Clothing.”
Through her online shop, Tryna B Studios (trynabstudios.com), Gomez hand-selects pieces, mostly men’s clothing, from various thrift stores and reworks them to fit women with a love for streetwear. But her studio will have much more than just a retail experience.
In addition to selling her custom-made pieces, Gomez plans to use the space for content creation as well as community engagement. That includes workshops, popup shops, speaking engagements and panels with different creatives and brands she has worked with over the years, she said.
When she doesn’t have an event planned, Gomez wants to rent the space out for those who want to use it to create content. For instance, if someone else with a clothing brand needs a clean place to shoot their products, Tryna B Studios can be that place.
“I just want it to be a space where we’re always doing something,” she said.
Although Gomez encourages everyone to use the studio space, she specified that Tryna B Studios was designed with female creatives in mind. She added that she hasn’t experienced a place in Birmingham where she could freely create.
“I wanted to keep them [female creatives] in mind and be able to uplift them and [create] a safe space for them to freely come create,” she said. “The idea of having a safe space for them to…just be themselves and…express themselves…Even the way I decorated the place, it’s more feminine.”
Gomez doesn’t want to just uplift women, she wants to continue to inspire young Hispanic women as well. It’s rewarding to do something for the community and be able to call her studio the first Latina-owned studio in the Woodlawn area, she said.
“I don’t see many Latino women doing things like this or being able to really push that narrative for the girls here in the community that they can also open up businesses here,” explained Gomez. “That’s the number one thing I really am looking to push…for the Hispanic girls here…you can do it too.”
Gomez pointed out that her younger cousin recently wanted to take a picture of Gomez in her studio to show her friends what her big cousin is up to as an example for her younger friends.
“This is the most I’ve ever really embraced being Latina, and being Hispanic, and really being a voice for the Hispanic community,” Gomez said.
To RSVP visit the Eventbrite link on Instagram via @trynabstudios.al. RSVPing is not necessary
Bookings will open on October 23 on www.trynabstudios.com
Tryna B Studios is located as 5507 First Avenue North, Birmingham, AL 35212
