To the wonderful people at Gotta Have It and Boardwalk Vintage:

My name is Niq Thomas and I was in both of your locations earlier this week inquiring about a potential job opening. We discussed my background and qualifications briefly but I thought it would be valuable to provide some more details about who I am and why I think I’d be a great fit, particularly for the Boardwalk location.

A few months ago, after selling my house in Iowa, my partner and I headed west and have been in Venice since November. We love it here and plan to stay long term. She has started working at Burro on Abbot Kinney while also doing virtual assistance work. I plan to continue creating art with the goal of finding new venues and eyes for my work.

At 40 years old, I’m the quintessential child of the ‘80s & ‘90s. I’ve been a voracious connoisseur of pop culture for as long as I can remember. I consumed cable television, movies, comic books, and music when I was a kid and like many of my generation, am fueled today by a nostalgia for that era. This makes me your ideal customer but also someone that understands the type of person that walks into your stores. I’m an avid sneakerhead, which led to my interest in streetwear and I’ve become increasingly interested in vintage clothing, particularly sustainability and the potential for design/creative expression.

For about a decade I’ve been creating art, initially in my spare time as a hobby but the hobby has grown into my primary passion in life. I have exhibited work across Iowa, both in solo exhibitions and as a part of group shows. The style of my work constantly evolves, something I take pride in but can make it difficult to categorize. The majority of my portfolio is abstract painting but in recent years I began incorporating collage, assemblage, and sculpture, which culminated in my highest profile project to date: a large scale installation in the RAYGUN store downtown Des Moines that was on display throughout the summer of 2021.

In the spring of 2021, I created and curated an event called the “Iowa Pop Art Market”, which served as a platform for 30 young artists, creators, and vendors from around the state. I booked the venue (the National Czech & Slovak Museum in Cedar Rapids, IA), handpicked all of the participants, and oversaw the execution on the day. The inclusion of vintage clothing vendors connected the event to student-led projects at the museum focusing on sustainability but had the added benefit of brining two different types of audiences together (from the art and vintage worlds) with similar vibes. The success of this first event prompted me to use the Iowa Pop Art branding/social media accounts to continue promoting artists and vendors in the state but also to plan future events. We held the “Iowa Pop Art First Thursday Pop Up” in September at the NewBo City Market, which featured 28 booths of artists and vendors (most of them unique from the previous event). I continue to maintain this effort since moving to California and am actively planning 2022 events that I will return to Iowa to facilitate. If you visit the Iowa Pop Art on Instagram (@iowapopart) you can see an examples of my promotional abilities, from graphic design to video editing to social media management. Those are skills I’d be excited to utilize to assist with promoting and growing your business.

My efforts with these pop-up events formally introduced me to the business of vintage clothing and I hope that baseline of knowledge would shorten the learning curve of working in your stores. As someone who’s been wearing faded black tshirts with bands and pro wrestlers from the ‘90s since the ‘90s, I was fascinated to find out just how much my old wardrobe would be worth now if I’d had the foresight to hold on it. I developed relationships with vintage clothing vendors, have learned from them, and am interested in this industry both as a consumer and as an entrepreneur.

You mentioned that part of your interview process includes a day of shadowing at the store so that you could get a sense of my vibe and vice versa. I’d be eager for that opportunity if only for the experience alone but would hope we’d find each other a great fit. I’m hoping that that information I’m providing here along with what you can find by browsing my Instagram (@niq.thomas) gives you a sense of who I am and look forward to the chance to show you in person.

Thanks again,

Niq Thomas