About / John Reyes
I’ve always believed I could build something bigger.
I’m John Reyes. Most people know me as RICE.
I’ve spent the last decade turning ideas and interests into brands, businesses, products and systems across fashion, automotive, finance and software.
Most of what I know, I learned by building it.
Where I came from
I didn’t come from money or a built-in path.
My father died from lung cancer when I was nine. My mother was left raising six children, and growing up, there was never much of a safety net.
I started PERSONAL INTEREST as a teenager and became increasingly consumed by building it. At the same time, life around me was often unstable. I experienced homelessness more than once during those years while continuing to push the brand forward and figure out what came next.
Eventually, the things I was building changed my circumstances. But the mindset came first: keep moving, keep figuring it out, and believe there is always another move.
The pattern
I never saw a reason to stay in one lane.
Building PERSONAL INTEREST taught me that a brand is much more than design. It is product, production, marketing, sales, customer experience, operations and money. Once I understood that, moving into other industries felt less like changing careers and more like solving different problems with the same mindset.
Since about 15
Unreasonable optimism
There is no going back. Success is the only outcome.
Around fifteen, I made a conscious decision to stop treating failure like a conclusion. If something went wrong, there had to be another move.
Over time that became automatic. I can be optimistic to the point of delusion, but it keeps me moving when quitting would be easier.
Things I’m into
Fashion / Streetwear · Cars · Software / AI · Finance · Brands · Business · Internet culture · Design · Marketing · E-commerce · Production · Systems