- [Announcer] "Making" is presented by the Coal Yard Cafe in Ithaca, New York.

(curious upbeat music) - My name is LaRue Simmons.

I am the owner and sharer of Stellar Human.

I like to say sharer because I think it's important that the people who come in know that the spaces there is as well.

I grew up in Johnson City, New York.

Grew up an only child in a single parent household, but my mom was amazing.

I like to think that all of the best parts of me are from her.

My love for fashion actually is because of her.

I'm in recovery.

I've been sober six years, seven, God willing, next month.

And in the rooms we talk a lot about self-improvement.

And while I was at a meeting, I overheard someone say, stellar human.

And I was like, wow, that's just a cool phrase.

I thought it'd be dope as like a brand or something.

So, it stuck in the back of my mind, went home, told my wife at the time, and she was like, ah, that's, yeah, that's really cool, or whatever.

And so I think it was my second soberversary, she LLCed it for me.

And then I was like, well, you gotta do something with it, now.

The three pillars of Stellar Human have come to be fashion, music and human connection.

And so, you know, COVID had hit and I was at the time working at the children's home, thought that that would be my career for forever.

I would retire from that.

But, you know, I found my burnout fuse getting shorter and shorter.

And you know, with just getting that LLC, I was like, wow, you know, I've always been thrifting my personal wardrobe.

And I would always find pieces and see pieces that I could see style on somebody else.

And so, you know, I sat down with her and, you know, we kind of talked about the possibility of opening a store or more so a creative space, right?

And so we happened upon a space over by where our house was, filled out a lease application on a whim.

We made it happen.

Initially when we opened the store, it was more so of a thrift store.

And so, 'cause my knowledge for vintage in the beginning was very minimal.

I just knew that I had an eye for pieces, for cool stuff and could style people well.

We really switched over to becoming, we say vintage focused.

We're vintage focused because I also do have modern pieces in the shop.

I like cool pieces.

So whether it's vintage or it's newer, as long as it's of a higher quality, I'm gonna pick it up.

I definitely felt like I was stepping into my purpose.

I've never felt more in my purpose than when I'm in the shop and have a customer come in and people say that brick and mortar is dead.

But I think it's important to be able to try things on.

I tell people all the time, try it on.

So many people will come in and pick out a piece and say, I love this, but I don't think I could pull it off, try it on.

And then they do and they're in the mirror like, whoa, I never thought that I could pull this off.

Like, I get chills thinking about it, because to see them beaming with confidence is probably one of the best feelings in the world.

Being a black-owned business is, it's tough.

Sometimes I feel like I don't get taken seriously, whether it's because I'm a man, a cis straight man at that in fashion.

But then on top of that, as a black man doing what I do, there aren't many of us.

I also want other people, younger people that look like me, whether they are of color or maybe they're struggling with addiction.

And I want them to know that it's possible.

You can be going through the worst part of your life and know that you can get through it and come out on the other end and rise above it all.

Our new location downtown Bingington in the old Ellis Brothers furniture, well, half of it anyway.

This has been an amazing move.

Got a shout out to the city of Bingington, more specifically the Economic Development Center.

They've helped tremendously, you know, we were able to get a grant through them to really make the move happen.

I'm really, really grateful to be here.

We have the space outside where we're gonna be hosting a market.

This space is so underutilized in my opinion.

We're going to really start to activate this downtown space.

So I'm really excited for that.

It's odd because I've never really felt like this is gonna not work.

By no means are we killing it.

I'm not like making tons of money, but I know that if I continue on the path that I'm on and I'm doing things the right way, I can see a future where, you know, we are doing pretty well.

(gentle music) - [Announcer] "Making" is made possible with support from the Coal Yard Cafe in Ithaca, New York.

From Beer properties.

And from viewers like you.