Phresh Laundry on Preparation, Presence, and the Art of Connecting
Relationships · From Student of the Game
Phresh Laundry on Preparation, Presence, and the Art of Connecting
Brad Noll admits he is a little nervous at the start of this episode of Student of the Game. His guest is Theoplis Smith III, better known as Phresh Laundry, a Fort Wayne creative whose work Brad has followed for years. Brad runs through a few highlights, from murals at Electric Works to serving as Grand Marshal of the Three Rivers Festival, and adds one more: lead entertainer at Noll Team Real Estate's 20th anniversary party.
Behind Phresh in the studio hangs a one-of-a-kind painting he made for Brad that night. By the end of the conversation, listeners learn why it means so much, and why it is a perfect example of what Phresh calls the fundamentals of being a creative.
How Phresh Laundry Got His Name
About 12 years ago, Phresh says, he was in his late 20s, living with his parents, and comparing himself to friends who seemed to be building careers and families. He kept asking why everyone else was getting results and he was not. One day, in the basement of his parents' house, he found himself sobbing in a load of dirty clothes, feeling like he had no purpose.
In that moment a scripture he grew up with came back to him, David's prayer for a clean heart and a renewed spirit. He realized there was more to his story. He started painting, and every time he hung up a new piece he thought of it as part of his laundry. "So with a new mindset, Phresh Laundry was birth," he says.
In those early days he would get up at four or five in the morning and work on four or five canvases at once, talking his thoughts out in paint. Some of his happiest, most beautiful pictures came from the hardest times of his life.
“Preparing is an investment to set you up in the best way possible.”
Phresh Laundry
Be Present, Then Ask Questions
Brad asks what Phresh would tell a business owner or a high school student who feels stuck. His first answer is to be present. Feel every emotion, he says, down to the texture of your clothes and the pattern of your breathing, so you never forget the experience. "Being present is everything," he says. Later, you can recognize the feeling and choose what to do with it, and you can be a mile marker for someone else on the same road.
Next, ask questions, of yourself and of people who are where you want to be. Be humble enough to admit you do not have it all together. Phresh also reminds listeners that currency is not only money. Sometimes your currency is a relationship or the experience of trying something new. If you cannot afford coffee, he says, ask someone to sit on a park bench and drink some water. There are many ways to get to the same sum.
Phresh grew up moving with his family, from St. Louis to Philadelphia, the Chicago area, and Detroit before landing in Fort Wayne. What he learned is that no matter where you go, you have to prepare yourself to go through the same process. Brad, also not from Fort Wayne originally, says the same: he is not leaving.
Two Sets of Three Cs
Brad shares the three Cs his team lives by: connect, care, and community. Connect face to face and do life with people. Care for them as more than a transaction. Then build community in your family, schools, churches, and business.
Phresh has his own three Cs, tattooed on his arm: create, connect, and challenge. He says every situation he has been in has given him a way to live out all three. He prefers to call himself a creative rather than just an artist, because creativity is limitless.
Preparation Is the Fundamental
When Brad asks for the fundamentals of being a creative, Phresh answers right away: preparing. There are no shortcuts. He compares it to packing for a beach trip. Throw things in without thinking, and you arrive with Twizzlers instead of flip flops. Prepare well, and you sleep better, hit fewer hiccups, and move freely.
Brad adds a line he tells his kids, "preparation creates separation," and notes that it is easy to be busy and hard to prepare. Then Phresh connects preparation to relationships. Learning who a client is, what drives them and what they love, lets you tailor the experience instead of treating them like another number. Connecting, he says, runs parallel with preparing.
Brad realizes he has lived this. Before the anniversary party, the two shared pizza at Johnny's at Electric Works. Brad thought they were just connecting. Phresh was preparing. At the party, in front of about 300 guests, Phresh unveiled a painting of a young Brad shaking hands with his grandfather, who spent 55 years in real estate, and holding the skeleton key his grandfather gave him. That key is in the Noll Team logo. With his mom on one side and Phresh on the other, Brad started crying.
Make an Experience
Phresh's advice for business owners is to give thoughtfully. Logo gifts are fine, he says, but people rarely wear the anniversary watch or the company pin. Instead:
- Ask about someone's favorite team, color, or proudest moment before choosing a gift.
- Keep asking, even with a spouse, because people change over the years.
- Treat clients the way you would want to be celebrated and loved on.
- Remember Brad's point: when the gift is about you, you have it backwards.
Art as Modern Hieroglyphics
Brad asks how Phresh communicates social issues through his work. Phresh speaks as a Black man in America, a husband of nearly 10 years, and a father to a son and daughter. His goal is not shock value. He wants his art to be "palatable, not watered down," so people who do not look like him feel safe to ask questions. He calls himself "the modern day hieroglyphics," leaving a record of his story in real time.
He talks about watching events like Rodney King and George Floyd unfold on television, and the everyday thoughts he carries for his family's safety. He also describes a home built on excellence, respect, and showing up for the community. Brad shares a conversation with a former roommate that changed how he thinks about a simple traffic stop, and says that is what connecting and preparing look like in real life.
What Does Winning at the Game of Life Look Like?
Phresh begins with reflection. Winning, he says, means staying teachable and regularly asking friends to be "a hundred percent brutal, a hundred percent honest" about how he can grow. He wants to scale his art, bring more art experiences to Fort Wayne, and explore pairing his work with his love of food. Earlier that day he had unveiled a full city bus wrapped in his Rosa Parks artwork with Citilink, a project that started as a window decal idea and became a full bus within six months because he came prepared with three designs. Brad points out the lesson: prepare for the big dreams, too.
When Brad asks him to send virtual flowers, Phresh chooses his dad, who was present: the first to arrive and the last to leave, with a young Phresh coloring in the corner of his office. Brad closes with the Maya Angelou quote that hangs in his own office, a reminder that people never forget how you made them feel.
▶ Listen to the full episode
The Art of Connecting with Creative Phresh Laundry, on Student of the Game.
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