Thriving in the face of compounded societal failures looks different for everyone.

For Daniel Johnson, 38, it looked like Friday morning at the Apache Mall, where hands of every color rifled through a kaleidoscopic mix of face masks, sweat shorts, hoodies, shirts, biker shorts, crop tops, and dad hats. It was the first day of a week-long LEVELS Clothing pop-up shop in Rochester following a tumultuous month for the clothing brand.

On May 30, LEVELS’ Minneapolis showroom/studio was burned to the ground during the riots following George Floyd’s killing. Co-owners Brandy Moore and Daniel Johnson arrived just in time to see it fall. Even with such a stark new obstacle now in their way, the pair did not have the luxury of putting business first.

“The first thing that we built back up was our self-esteem and our confidence, just even being in America,” said Johnson. “We didn't even think about, ‘Oh my God, we just lost the store,’ because we were still worried about, ‘Hey, this man just lost his life.’ And we’ve both been through that stuff. We have friends and family who’ve been through it — like, this is nothing new being Black in America. This is what you go through.”

In the weeks between the fire and the Rochester pop-up shop, as aspects of LEVELS’ story find coverage everywhere from USA Today to Forbes, Moore and Johnson have kept a laser-focus on their future.

“We’re just hungry to see what’s next,” said Johnson. “We did this from the ground up with no help. This time what we're heading out to do is come back bigger and better.”

Rochester’s role in that bigger and better future for LEVELS brings things full circle, in a way; Johnson is a Rochester native, a Folwell, Harriet Bishop, and John Marshall alum with plenty of family still living here. That, plus an already primed market for LEVELS products in the city makes Rochester an easy pick for a pop-up location, and potentially a permanent store.

“You know, the city of Minneapolis kind of let us down, as far as protection and everything. So I just said, well, we're going to try in Rochester first,” said Johnson.

LEVELS has developed a devoted following among the younger crowd in the city, who value the brand’s principles: inclusiveness, vibrancy, and exclusivity. Friday morning’s long lines at the store’s checkout were testament to that.

“We've done a few pop up shops with LEVELS already and it's always been a kind of a sellout event as it's pretty regarded as pretty exclusive material, especially in the high school/early 20s age,” said Sunny Prabhakar, co-owner of Aventi Entertainment. His company is a partner for this and prior pop-up events, like one at Adrian’s Sports Barbershop. He says word spreads organically on Snapchat and other social media, bringing in customers until the exclusive stock is sold out.

A business on the rise

LEVELS was founded in 2015. The company holds dual missions: dress the world and get Minnesota musicians in front of national audiences.

Moore and Johnson, who are double cousins (their moms are sisters and their dads are brothers), each bring a different skill set to the company. Moore’s fashion and design expertise has been honed by years of dressing celebrities, crafting one-offs, and selling clothing from her car trunk. Johnson brings expertise in music management, after a stint as a recording artist in the Rochester hip-hop collective Looney Mobb.

In 2015, LEVELS moved into its brick and mortar location at 490 N Asbury St, St Paul, complete with crocodile print walls and crystal chandeliers.

“We wanted to spot to just look to match our brand. We wanted to just bring a nice high end experience to the community,” said Johnson.

LEVELS is hosting a week-long pop-up shop at the Apache Mall. / William Forsman

In 2016, they moved into their Minneapolis location at 713 E Lake St. It was to serve as a place for exclusive sales, house a private recording studio, and be a place of refuge for touring artists. Notable guests included Gucci Mane, Chief Keef, Lil’ Durk, and Cowboy.

In 2017, LEVELS began managing rapper Nimic Revenue. In 2018, she became the first Minnesota artist to be signed to Def Jam (she was signed by onetime Eminem manager Paul Rosenberg).

Meanwhile, the clothing half of LEVELS was seeing its profile and reputation raised as well, thanks in part to endorsements from artists they hosted in Minneapolis, Chicago drill sensations Chief Keef and Lil’ Durk in particular.

Hope in the midst of ruin

Johnson and his security detail defended their Lake Street location from looting on Friday, May 29, but lost it to fire on the 30th, after deciding to follow curfew, with the assumption that the National Guard, which had been deployed to Lake Street, would protect their building.

That night, though, he received a text from a neighboring business owner, saying there was smoke coming from the LEVELS building. He and Moore arrived on scene just in time to see their flagship location collapse into ash and debris. The next day, they awoke to a new reality; a store they’d worked for five years to bring into existence had been snuffed out in a night.

The Minneapolis storefront, before and after / submitted

The next day, after visiting the scene of the killing, they checked with their vendors and made orders for the St. Paul store. Johnson loaded up his trunk for pop-up sales and called real estate agents, looking for new spaces. Their general manager set up a GoFundMe, which has raised more than $17,000 of its $45,000 goal.

Ensuring the survival of his business would have been trying enough, but for Johnson, the Floyd killing stirred up memories he’d left hidden in corners of his mind for years.

“It brought back a lot of PTSD for me,” explained Johnson. “That’s what this whole situation has done. I was reflecting and I was saying, ‘Oh my God, I remember… this has had me messed up before.’ It’s a lot of stuff we learn as being Black is just to sweep it under the rug and keep going. That’s supposed to happen to you. That’s part of life. Keep going, keep going, keep going. But then this happens, and then it just brings you back. You have flashbacks and you remember like, ‘Oh my God, I remember when this happened and that happened, and that’s not normal. Now that I’m grown — this wasn’t normal, I wasn’t supposed to go through that or just think it was okay.’”

Even with the loss of a hard-earned store, Johnson said he feels hope around the edges of the situation.

“If we look on TV, it’s so many different races that’s standing up against this stuff, because they're tired of seeing it. They don't like how they feel,” said Johnson. “It was surreal to see people stand up for somebody. We've never seen it to this magnitude, but we've always seen what happened to George Floyd. We've seen that plenty of times. We've seen it on video. We've seen it in person. We’ve felt it, we’ve been victims of it; everything but dying. We've been victims of it all. And so just to see what's going on now, it was just like, Okay, well, finally.”

Ready to see the other side

Growing up in Rochester, Johnson said, he witnessed white and Black friends with similar criminal records get in trouble for similar offenses, but receive different treatment. The discrepancy was not lost on his white friends, either. He feels that kind of awareness is on the rise.

“It just seem like, in the world now, it’s a certain percentage of us that just know how to speak without speaking. And it's so good running into those people. You can just feel it,” said Johnson. “And you can feel the people who don't like the change when you go out. So it's kind of like everything is exposed right now. You can walk outside right now and you can see four people and you can see that one that hasn't said one word, but they give you that look like, ‘I'm not with none of this shit. You belong.’”

Johnson says he hopes his presence as a Black entrepreneur sends a message to young people of color: “You can be the owner.” / William Forsman

Even those emotions come with complications, though: “We don't know what to trust because we've never felt change. Especially our generation.”

As member of that generation, Johnson is committed to doing what he can to bring about lasting change.

“For us, we're cool that we have to sacrifice two businesses,” added Johnson. “That's cool, to us. You know what I mean? As long as some change come about this stuff, where my kids can grow up in a better America. I'm just ready to see the outcome. I'm ready to see the other side of this because I've had enough of it. I’m wore out, but, I’m with it for another year, if we have to go through this a whole ‘nother year, or two years. Long as it’s not done in vain is all I’m concerned about.”

In the meantime, he hopes LEVELS’ brief physical presence in Rochester will provide an example of what ownership looks like for its young fans, especially those of color.

“Rochester is a special place and it's growing and it's growing. It came a long way from what it was when I used to live there. I just want to try to help be a positive face in the community. I want to inspire kids of color. I want to inspire all kids to be able to see me and say, ‘Okay, well, this guy can own something; he can start from the ground up. I can, too,’” he said. “I just want them to know that you can make it happen. You can be the owner. You can come from nothing to something and you can thrive.”

To keep up with LEVELS’ Rochester presence, follow them on Instagram at @levels_roc.

Bryan Lund is a Rochester writer, youth mentor and Med City Beat contributor.

Photos by William Forsman