Exclusive773

In 2003 Mutasim Odeh “Sumi” opened up a phone store by the name of Exclusive Communications. At the time, the store wasn’t big. It only had 5 show cases and small displays behind them. Sumi was a childhood friend who I went to elementary school with. In 2005 he visited me in St Paul, Minnesota and we kept in touch over the years. It wasn’t until February 2008 he offered me a job to come work for him at Exclusive and it ended up changing my life forever. I moved back to Chicago with a Chevy Tahoe, a bag of clothes and $1200 cash to my name to start all over again. I used to get excited to sell ring tones on boost phones along with selling bootleg CDs and DVD’s. I even started selling loose squares at one point. As time went on we expanded the store and added clothing along with other merchandise to sell. Eventually we became a one stop shop. In 2009, I came up with Exclusive773 as my screen name for twitter and the PlayStation network. Never in a million years would I think that name would take off the way it did. We built a name for ourselves by giving people deals. And once Instagram took off, so did we thanks to local Chicago music. It started with Young Chop, then went into a domino effect with Lil Durk, Chief Keef, King Louie, G Herbo, Lil Bibby, Twista, Tink, Dreezy, Katie got Bandz, Lupe Fiasco and the list goes on. I also began using social media as a platform to help give back to the community and have been successful in doing so since 2012. We helped give back with “Back to School” with supplies and uniforms along with coat drives for the homeless numerous times. During Christmas we’ve organized a food and toy drive for the less fortunate. And our biggest and most successful event is our Annual Turkey Drive. We built a relationship with the community and became a landmark for the Chicago music scene. Today I ask for your help to rebuild Exclusive. We had shutters and thicker glass hoping we wouldn’t ever have a break in. Over the years, I’ve helped raise over hundreds of thousands of dollars (without a non profit organization) to help give back to the community. My goal is to continue to do so once we are on our feet again. With your donation and help today, let’s help rebuild Exclusive for the Auburn Gresham. I appreciate the time you took to read this. Thank you Much love, Steve Exclusive773