Camdyn Morgillo is known for teaching health classes, coaching the Unified Sports team, and running the school’s health- and exercise-based club, Westies Walk. But she’s also the owner of a small tie-dye business called “Dye by Deeezy.”

The name goes back to Ms. Morgillo’s middle school days, when her friends would call her “Cam-Deeezy.” She then shortened it to “Deeezy” and made it her brand.

The origin of the business itself dates much later, to her camp counseling days. She began by helping kids at camp with their own tie-dye projects, but her designs began to get noticed by those around her, who eventually pushed her to take her projects more seriously.

“I started tie-dying [at Park Rec] any time that we would do tie-dying for arts and crafts, and I really liked it!” she said. “I liked how I didn’t know how the shirt was gonna come out, so I started doing it in my own time […] The more and more I practiced, a lot of people said to me ‘You know what? You’re getting really good at that. You should try to sell it!’”

After a series of Instagram posts, and noticing how consistent her sales had become, Ms. Morgillo decided to take her business to the next level and register herself as a Limited Liability Company (LLC).

Even though her business was taking off on a larger scale, patience remained, and still is, key for the creation of her products. The care that goes into each and every one in the shop stems from a lengthy process.

She begins by soaking the product she plans on dying in soda ash, leaving them to soak for about half an hour. She then removes it, ringing it out, and ties the product into the pattern she wants before squirting liquid dye onto it and leaving it to dry for about eight to 12 hours.

After all of this, Ms. Morgillo removes the product from its ties, rinses it out in her sink several times, and machine washes it before leaving it to dry once again.

“The whole process for one shirt takes over a day, just for one shirt,” Ms. Morgillo said.

But she quickly found that remaining patient wasn’t the biggest struggle she’d face. After starting her business, Ms. Morgillo quickly found the people-pleaser in her trying to stifle her creative voice for the sake of filling orders.

She often struggled with balancing the designs requested by others with those she wanted to do for herself. The life of tie-dye became less appealing as she was in danger of losing the creativity in her creative outlet.

“I found it hard when I did make [tie-dying] a business, […] Then I realized that I was making things according to what other people wanted, so it wasn’t really something that I enjoyed doing as much,” Ms. Morgillo said.

After taking the time to put her foot down and find her artistic voice again, Ms. Morgillo found the beauty in seeing the work she grew proud of become a visual reminder of her success.

“When I see people wearing my dyes and when I can see all of my work put up at once ‘cause it’s just, like, everything coming together, and it’s satisfying,” Ms. Morgillo said.

Along with the displays of her work at different pop-up shops and festivals to remind her of her success, Ms. Morgillo even has loyal customers who keep coming back for more, like Jennifer Lucibelli, a friend as well as fan of Ms. Morgillo.

“I personally love her pieces, she dyes pieces of clothing that you can’t normally find dyed!” she said. “I also love that she uses all different unusual color schemes. I also love to support her because she is an amazing person, she has a beautiful heart and a great soul!”

After gaining experience herself, Ms. Morgillo has some advice for others seeking to start small businesses of their own.

“For anyone that is feeling doubted, or feeling like your art won’t go anywhere, I think it’s really important that you don’t listen to other people, you follow what your heart says, and you do what you love, ‘cause that’s what makes it great,” she said.

To learn more about Ms. Morgillo’s tie dye business, check out this video: https://www.wevideo.com/view/2870930511

If you’d like to purchase one of Ms. Morgillo’s products, follow her on Instagram, @dyebydeeezy, or Facebook, at dye by deeezy.