We had the good fortune of connecting with Danery Alfaro and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Danery, where are your from? We’d love to hear about how your background has played a role in who you are today?
I was born and raised in Los Angeles, CA (Pico-Union area), where I went to elementary and middle school. After having some issues finding a home school, I ended up going to Manual Arts High School, in South Central. Going to High School was definitely an eye opener/culture shock. It’s was a weird transition, where I was going from wearing a white polo and navy blue bottoms (School uniform) to now I could wear whatever I want, all within what my parents could afford of course.

I had picked up skateboarding right before high school, a Shorty’s Red Muska 8.0 was my first board with the independent trucks and ‘shortys’ wheels.

My inspiration came from all over the place. My big brother being into Pink Floyd, Queen, Smiths, The Doors, Mana, Enanitos Verde’s, Caifanes, as he rocked some torn up Levis, with the mismatch chucks and what people call today a “vintage” t-shirt with the crazy long hair, to the Hip-Hop community having such a strong influence in a lot of us, to myself trying to find my style and liking for music that went from Big Pun to Deftones.

The biggest impact in my life was always my Mother (RIP Chabelita), she would always tell me from early on, “No matter what you want to wear or do, just make sure you’re being authentic”. I remember thinking to my self “but how?”. Thankfully, my mother worked hard like many of our immigrant parents did to provide the best they could. My mom eventually picked up a side hustle and it was reselling merchandise from women’s undergarments to mens wear. Growing up seeing my mom work a full time job, while on the bus, have me in Tae Kwon Do and still having the energy to run a side hustle, greatly inspired me to be thankful for having the ability of doing what I do today.

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
The brand can be recognized by the spotted hyena. I think a lot of us were given the bad impression about Hyenas from watching the lion king, giving the hyena an image of cowardness and evil. In the contrary, spotted hyenas are fierce, relentless, social and incredibly smart.

As some of you might know a group of spotted hyenas is called a clan and clan of hyenas is lead by an Alpha Female.
What does one thing have to do with another? For me, the hyena symbolizes the women in my life; my Mother, my Wife and Daughters.

I am no where near where I want to be, but it took a lot of failures to be here today. Some expensive failures and some priceless ones too. Many bad experiences dealing with shady and sneaky individuals. I learned a lot from my first brand (Digital Cartel Clothing) from printing methods, garment quality and the values those two bring to your brand. I am still a student of the game and will be for as long I am creating.

If you want to start a brand, just create! Don’t overthink or doubt yourself. The more you over think, the more time you’ve wasted. If you never get stated, you’ll never know what could’ve been.

“You get knocked down 100 times, you get up 100 times, you learn 100 lessons.” – Mike Tyson

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
Surprisingly after starting a family I’ve become a home body and while we are not at family gatherings, we are out attending our pop-up events as a family. It’s nostalgic in the sense that it gives our kids something to look back on when they are older and say “I remember when my parents would bring us along for the pop-up events”. I truly enjoy being home with my family when I am not working.

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
Absolutely, I think every experience in life molds us to be who we are in our present day. I am thankful for being blessed with an amazing mother that devoted her entire life to making us better. I am thankful for my Wife for always pushing me, being my back bone and always grinding by my side. I thankful for my kids for being my #1 supporters and always asking me for gear to be the first ones to wear it. I am thankful for my family and friends who have supported me on this journey and continue to do so. I am thankful for mental awareness, which I speak of every time I get the chance to. After losing my mother in 2018 and going through the worse mental crisis I ever experienced, therapy and support from my loved ones help me get through it and continue to fight through it.

Website: www.rytu-la.com

Instagram: rytu_

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