COMMUNITY STORIES: TREY O’TOOLE
Wylie is a suburb of the DFW metroplex. Being from this general area helped me form community and learn a ton about vintage clothing, as there is a pretty big fashion scene here.
A lot of my closest friends in the community are from Dallas, and I learned a lot from them, sourcing and selling at local markets.
I grew up an OU fan, the main rival of OSU, and always thought I would attend there. However, my dad attended both, and when it came to Stillwater and the Spears School of Business, I just fell in love.
I am studying marketing here as I have always been intrigued by how companies are able to convince consumers to spend their hard-earned money with them. Being in marketing courses throughout my time here at Oklahoma State has just grown that love for marketing.
I have been pursuing this venture for about 3.5 years, as I started at the beginning of my senior year of high school.
I didn’t have the time to hold a ‘real job’ in high school, so I started selling stuff on Facebook Marketplace that I had around the house. Then I began finding stuff on bulk trash pickup day in my neighborhood, and sold things like lamps, chairs, or anything I could find for no cost that had value. One day, I stumbled across a bag of vintage clothing and began to do my research.
From then, I began thrifting, and my mom encouraged me to start an Instagram page and take it more seriously.
Before hearing about Student-Made, I had only done a couple of events in Stillwater and was trying to figure out how I could do events directly with OSU.
Meeting all of the other entrepreneurs part of Student-Made here at OSU has been beneficial in hearing their feedback and learning about their different ventures.
Prior, I had only done one drop, and it went alright. However, for my second drop, I was able to learn the power of marketing.
This established Threefold as a leader in the OSU vintage space and gave me even more motivation to provide students with the best OSU vintage collection.
For example, I have a buddy from Scotland with whom we talk every day about business and bounce ideas off each other. Also, I am always on my business account looking at others' posts.
Lastly, I am always learning new marketing and entrepreneurial information in my coursework. These keep my business creativity fresh and inspire me to adapt my business as I see fit.
I LOVE what I do. However, I see myself joining the job market as a part of a marketing firm. I think that being part of Student-Made will help me in terms of being a resume booster and connections from the community, leading to potential job offers or opportunities.
