The cherry on top, how a KC entrepreneur turned an idea into a thriving business
Thalia Cherry was born and raised in Kansas City, Kansas. Her mother was an advocate for education and her father was a sports fanatic. The legacy they created inspired her entrepreneurial side and future company, Cherry Co., a sporty clothing and merchandise company that designs and produces licensed sporting goods and apparel for schools, corporations, professional athletes and retail entities.
Cherry started playing sports when she was four years old. She grew up with seven brothers and sisters and her dad was always playing a game with them. She was never without teammates in her siblings. “My entire family received athletic scholarships,” Cherry says.
She attended Bishop Ward High School and played basketball, softball and volleyball. She moved to Lindsborg, Kansas to attend Bethany College and played collegiate softball and volleyball. “I graduated with a degree in Recreation Therapy. Although, one of my best experiences at Bethany was getting a sorority named after me! My name, Thalia, means Happiness in Greek so we named the sorority Delta Thalia Mu. We made our first shirts to show our pride for our new house. The shirts were heat pressed decals, but it was my first step into entrepreneurship,” Thalia says.
Soon after, she attended Stephens College in Columbia, Missouri and received a Masters in Business Arts. After coming back home to Kansas City, she took a job as the Director of Community Engagement for the City of Kansas City, Kansas in the City Manager’s Office. It is here that she established a regional network which has been instrumental to the success of her business.
In 2012, she realized that there was a lack of stylish, sporty gear for female athletes. Cherry wanted to change that. Setting forth to create stylish sports gear naturally led the way to empowering women athletes. Currently, Cherry Co.’s most popular design is their Girl Power shirt, pictured. Other empowering tees like, “Don’t be a Lady, Be a Legend”, “Don’t Let the Skirt Fool You”, “You May be Beautiful but Not Even Cinderella is Getting to This Ball” and the Iconic Crown Tee, “Miss Universe, Miss America, Miss USA, Miss Teen USA, Me” have found great success in this undervalued market.
Cherry’s parents played such an important role in her success that she decided to make a KC Legacy Collection, to honor those athletes who have made an impact in the community. “Mother was an advocate around education and I still hear stories about how she helped someone get into college or inspired someone to continue their schooling,” Cherry says. “They even named a building after her at KCK Community College and she has part of a street named after her. The city is also in talks to name a park after my dad, who coached countless kids in his lifetime.”
Cherry believes that sports transform history, that they become a unifying front. “Look at Jackie Robinson, who broke the baseball color line. He inspired so many children and adults alike,” Cherry says. “When I started Cherry Co., I wanted to create a brand, a company, whose mission is what drives us to do everything possible is to expand human potential. It’s a brand of innovation, purpose and passion.” Her Make a Mark line features two shirts, one with iconic men’s names written in bold, white font on a black tee, “Barack Martin Nelson Jackie Me” and the other with iconic women’s names, “Michelle Oprah Serena Coretta Me”.
Since 2012, Cherry Co. has grown exponentially. She currently employs 18 people, has clients like UMKC, Negro League Baseball Museum, Syracuse, Everfy, Baylor, and many other schools. She has created the Cherry Foundation, which contributes 10% of her company’s annual revenue to sports, entrepreneurial and educational non-profits around the US. Some of the players Cherry has created products for are recognizable: Patrick Mahomes, Eric Berry, Shane Ray, Dontari Poe, Charles Harris and many more. The most recent exclusive Cherry collection, the KC Legacy collection, features outstanding “Ring of Honor” players such as Derrick Thomas, Neil Smith, and Derron Cherry (who ironically, is not related to her).
“Patrick (Mahomes) wanted to honor one of his heroes, Len Dawson, who made it to The Super Bowl, so we worked with that storyline and created a sweatshirt,” Cherry says. Working with athletes is one of their sweet spots. Cherry Co. handles the entire supply chain process from concept, design, logistics, product manufacturing to retail distribution for their professional athlete clients, helping make the process to create more simple for them.
When asked what inspires her about the Maker Movement in Kansas City, Cherry says, “It’s inspiring to see the level of talent in a community that I hold near and dear to my heart. KC has a unique character that the world is finally getting a small glimpse of. There are unlimited possibilities for the future.” She also says Warren Buffet and Oprah Winfrey inspire her to no end. “Warren says the essence of time is so important. It’s the only resource you can’t get back,” Cherry says. “Entrepreneurs need to value their time to maximize their goals and get the results they desire.”
You can find Cherry Co. online, on Facebook, at The Negro League Baseball Museum and at the College Basketball Experience retail outlets.
(Photos from Thalia Cherry)
This story was originally published January 16, 2020 at 9:00 AM.