Jordan Pryor, owner of Reach Socks and a Westminster alumni, works a booth at Summit High school for a company event with Jonah Blanchfield, one of the organization’s team leaders. Pryor said he credits Westminster with much of the early success his business has had. Photo courtesy of Jordan Pryor.
Though the transition from college to career isn’t always easy for new graduates, Westminster College alumnus Jordan Pryor said his education set him up for success.
“Going through school, I never could figure out what exactly I wanted to do once I was done,” Pryor said. “I knew that playing basketball was an option, but at the point of my life that I was in at the time, basketball wasn’t my main focus. I knew it would eventually come to me but not easily as it did.”
After he graduated in 2015, Pryor founded his own sock company called Reach Socks, which provides a wide variety of images and patterns on the socks it sells. The company also helps with basketball trainings and provides socks for traveling teams and high school students.
The company just closed a deal selling 45,000 socks to an amateur athletic tournament hosting company, which Pryor said will give the company publicity to show off its products to basketball teams across the country.
Pryor said Westminster has lot of credit for his early success.
“All the nights I wanted to slam my laptop because of all the work I had to do for school is finally start to pay off,” he said. “Going through that made me learn how to manage my time and produce quality rather than learning it late in the job field.”
Jonah Blanchfield, a team leader for Reach Socks, said he has learned a lot from Pryor.
“Working for Jordan has been a blast” Blanchfield said. “He gives me a lot of freedom when it comes to my job, which I really appreciate. I can tell that he came from a good organization that knows how to teach how to market a brand.”
Lucas Giroux, who does business development and research for Reach Socks, also said he appreciates how Pryor runs the organization.
“When I work, I like to know when I have to get things done,” Giroux said. “Jordan is very consistent with his work habits and its always clear when and how he wants something done. We are a small team, so it is important for us to all be on the same page at all times.”
Pryor’s job is only going to get more hectic. In a few months, he has to provide socks for two major tournaments in Las Vegas on the circuit. However, he said he’s ready thanks to Westminster, which shaped him to be able to handle big business.
“As my brand continues to grow, I will have to work harder and harder,” he said. “I just think about how long it took to me to get here and all the hard work I put in to get this far. I thank my education for that.”
