Venessa Homewood
Venessa Homewood is a marketing and branding professional and the Co-Founder and Principal of Houston Apparel Co., based in Katy, Texas. She specializes in helping businesses and organizations elevate their visibility through custom promotional products and branded apparel designed to create meaningful engagement and lasting impressions. With a foundation in business administration and business management, she combines strategic thinking with creative execution to deliver branding solutions that align with both organizational goals and audience connection.
She launched Houston Apparel Co. almost two years ago after spending many years working across public relations, marketing, and communications in federal government, the public sector, and private education. Throughout her career, she was consistently involved in branded apparel and promotional purchasing, which sparked a genuine passion for the space. However, over time she recognized that much of her work in traditional marketing had become execution-focused rather than creative or fulfilling. While simultaneously running a women’s clothing boutique as a passion project, she discovered her deeper interest in fashion and apparel, which inspired her to merge that passion with her professional expertise. She founded Houston Apparel Co. to reimagine branded merchandise, moving beyond standard corporate polos to apparel that allows employees—especially women—to feel confident, comfortable, and authentically themselves while still representing their brand.
Today, Venessa provides a highly hands-on, white-glove service experience, managing the full process from concept and product selection to ordering, decoration, quality control, and timely delivery. She works closely with clients as an extension of their marketing teams, ensuring every detail aligns with their brand identity and standards. Her approach is shaped by both her professional experience and her entrepreneurial education, including formal training in business planning and venture development. She has also been influenced and supported by mentors such as Bjorn Hagelmann and Nicole Perry, whose guidance has contributed to her leadership growth and business perspective. Through Houston Apparel Co., she is committed to delivering elevated, thoughtful branding solutions that combine professionalism, creativity, and purpose while supporting businesses in making a strong and confident impression.
• Grand View University - BA, Management
• Houston Promotional Products Association
• She Means Business
• Katy Professionals Group
• Females in Action (FIA) Board Member
• National Charity League
• Gigi's Playhouse (free therapeutic educational programs for people with Down syndrome)
• Folster Family Hope
• Church volunteer work
• Females in Action area of operation manager
• FiA FTX
• St. Bartholomew the Apostle Catholic Church - Katy, Tx
• National MS Society
• Ronald McDonald House Houston
• Elves & More
What do you attribute your success to?
Honestly, my family, my husband, and my parents have been incredibly supportive of me. Starting your own business is impossible if you don't have your support system very tight around you. Especially my husband - he's just been my biggest cheerleader, my biggest supporter. I can't imagine having to go uphill against him and start a business, you know? That would be impossible. He got us all under control and said, now's the time if you're gonna do it. Do it now, or don't do it. And so I was like, okay, I'm gonna go, I'm gonna do it. Just having all of that support has really led to my success.
What’s the best career advice you’ve ever received?
I think the best advice I've received is you're allowed to evolve. You're allowed to be somebody different than you were 5 years ago, 10 years ago. You don't have to be the same. You don't have to stick to something and always do that. You can definitely evolve. I thought once I was in a job, that was it. I always looked at a job like, well, I guess I'm retiring here, well, I guess I'm retiring here, and I didn't realize that you could step out of that comfort zone and do bigger and better for yourself. I did not realize that until I had the opportunity, and I was like, I really want to do this, you know.
What advice would you give to young women entering your industry?
I would say you're allowed to chase ambition and cherish family. I think those are two things that women don't think coexist. And I've seen it, I've done it, and it's possible. It's not easy, but it's possible.
What are the biggest challenges or opportunities in your field right now?
One of my biggest challenges right now is dealing with AI-generated images. When people come to me and say they have a design, 9 times out of 10 it's an AI-generated image. Before AI, you would get your designs from a graphic artist who would create a logo or design with the correct file, size, and quality that would print well. Now we're getting all of these extremely overly dramatic AI files with shading and fading and all these things that just don't print well, and people don't understand. They see their image digitally and think it should look great on everything. I have to walk them back and explain that it might look good on one thing, but it's too big and too detailed to go on something as small as a pen, or you can't blow it up that big or it's going to lose quality to put on a flag. Half the time, I have to get those images and have them remastered by a graphic artist on our end. It takes time, and all the while, the customer's thinking, well, I have the design, I don't understand. As I'm scaling and growing, another challenge is just getting all of the work done from point A to point B. I've got to bring people on, I'm talking about hiring and growing more. But those are good problems to have.
What values are most important to you in your work and personal life?
I think integrity is very important. Honesty, and then just purpose having a good purpose.