Walking in the halls, or on the streets, one might turn to a friend and express envy or appreciation of a passerby’s fashion choices, but rarely is this fleeting moment more meaningful than when the item of interest is made by its owner, its owner’s friend, or simply any CHS student. In many of the aforementioned instances, the item or accessory happens to be made by Nuice Juice, the self-declared “Brand of the Youth,” or more specifically that of junior Askari Ahad.

Perhaps one of the oldest and most popular student-run brands at CHS, Nuice Juice was created by Ahad and a group of his friends during his eighth grade year. Following the disbursement of the group to different high schools, Ahad took a batch of shirts with him, planning to expand the brand. However, as the batch of shirts waned, so did Nuice Juice, which became dormant after the batch was sold. In early 2019, Ahad revived the brand, this time with himself as its Chief Executive Officer, and since then, it has sold countless t-shirts and other merchandise to eager CHS customers.

Often faced with questions concerning the meaning of the phrase “nuice juice,” Ahad opts to leave it open for interpretation. He has a clear interpretation of his own, but wants to keep that to himself and allow others to interpret the name for themselves. Ahad’s reasoning behind choosing the brand name was that it rolled off the tongue well, was kind of “edgy,” and merely had a nice ring to it.

Ahad has learned a lot while managing Nuice Juice, and enjoys it immensely. More specifically, Ahad mentions a notebook he keeps, which contains products he plans to release, their future prices, and their profit margins. In addition to learning about business finance, Ahad has learned about marketing and communications while managing his brand’s Instagram and public image, as well as the importance of professionalism and that of balancing feedback from others with one’s own thoughts and self-critiques. Considering all of the entrepreneurial skills and values Ahad has developed through Nuice Juice, one might expect him to be doing all of it for his image, or for college applications: that is worlds away from the truth.

“Nuice Juice is definitely a form of artistic expression,” Ahad said. “I just like drawing things that I think look cool and putting them on shirts; it makes me feel good. The part of having a brand I enjoy the most is actually seeing people wear my stuff — just the fact that I’m able to say, ‘oh my god, I made that,’ and that people like it… just seeing people with my products on their person is like, wow, I did that. It makes me feel really accomplished.”

Ahad has a lot in store for the future of Nuice Juice, and the brand will indubiously continue to gain a following. With the next merchandise release date set to be in late January, CHS students will surely clamor to get their hands on Nuice Juice’s products before supplies run dry!

Nuice Juice tees are $20; stickers and pins are $2.