Who We Are

You Should Be Here isn't just the name of a clothing line -

it was the response to a suicide attempt.

The suicide attempt was made by Ajani Brathwaite, founder of You Should Be Here, and the response came in the form of a text message from the mother of the woman he was dating at the time.

That message didn't resonate until a few years later when a friend of his called from Austin, Texas before she was about to make a suicide attempt herself. From NYC he delayed her attempt with conversation, and on another phone, called her local precinct in Texas. 2 officers arrived and successfully prevented her from harming herself. As many of you reading this may already know, after acting on the desire to make suicidal ideologies reality, you have to be placed on suicide watch - which she was.

Before going in, she gave her mother Ajani's number and that's when the praise began to shower down. Her younger sister called him her hero, her mother said that he saved her life as well because she wouldn't have been able to live without her daughter.. Meanwhile, Ajani was still fighting his own battle with depression that they knew nothing about. He was the hero in their story and the villain in his own. That's when You Should Be Here clicked and started to make sense.

You Should Be Here might've just been a polite message from an empathetic parent. However, after that experience, it meant much more. 

You Should Be Here didn't need to be a private, Ajani-specific message. It applies to everyone we encounter and needs to be said on a global scale.

Say You Should Be Here to everyone who’s considered taking their own life.

Say You Should Be Here to everyone that we miss, lost and long for in our lives.

Say You Should Be Here to the BIPOC, Jewish, Muslim, LGBTQ+, and all other marginalized communities.

Even say You Should Be Here to those who are living life to its fullest potential and want to motivate or encourage others to join them in doing so.

It's become our mission to champion everybody who's still here and remind them why they are.

No matter what your experience has been so far, 

please remember that You Should Be Here. 

Thank you for reading our story, and do not hesitate to reach out if you have any questions. We read each and every email.