Like so many successful business ideas, Charisse Pasche’s life changed when a problem needed solving.
It was 2014, and her wife, Vicky Pasche, was looking for a suit for their wedding but had a tough time finding styles that were flattering for women. She was in the market for outfits that fit her body type.
“Vicky likes a more masculine aesthetic, but men’s clothes aren’t fit for a woman's body, with the curves and everything,” Charisse explains.
Vicky was frustrated by the lack of offerings for gender-neutral clothing that fit all body types.
And the idea for what would eventually become Dapper Boi clothing was born.
While on their honeymoon, Vicky shared her business ideas with Charisse, which included developing gender-fluid clothes that fit her body type and style. When she asked Charisse to help her start her company, she was all in.
“I knew our lives were going to completely change,” Charisse says.
Charisse was correct. Their lives would change, and it would be nearly a decade of bumps and twists and turns.
Backgrounds For Success
Equipped with Charisse’s full support and Vicky’s background in casino marketing — and a pending knowledge of the fashion industry — the couple dove into creating Dapper Boi, the “body-neutral apparel line” featuring jeans, shorts, tops, and other wardrobe staples.
They downsized to an apartment, and production quickly took over. Vicky quit her job to fully commit to the company, and Charisse helped as much as she could. At the time, she was working full-time at Ashford University, which became the University of Arizona Global Campus in 2020 — and pursuing her degree in tandem.
“When I wasn’t working, I would get home, and I would help package orders… it was all hands on deck,” she remembers.
After a successful Kickstarter campaign, Dapper Boi launched in 2015.
Taking on a venture like Dapper Boi was something Charisse was equipped to handle.
You’re not going to be successful if you’re thinking about the ‘what ifs’. You’re always going to be successful if you think about the solutions to whatever ‘problem’ you have.
As a first-generation Filipino American whose family emigrated to the United States when she was a child, she has memories of her mom selling lumpia in their Chula Vista neighborhood to help support the family.
“Sales is in my bones,” she says.
When Charisse entered the workforce, she worked for several recognized cell phone companies like AT&T, Sprint, and others. As a top west division sales rep for Sprint, she looked outward for employment and found the University. While working as an admissions counselor, she pursued her undergraduate degree in organizational management, a program that reflected in her job status over time. She earned her degree in 2012 and heavily leaned on the skills she learned while pursuing her bachelor’s degree.
Family Matters Most
While that entrepreneurial spirit carried over into her adult life, Charisse is a mom first, as she puts it. Her two life joys live in the form of her 5-year-old twin daughters. The business is something Charisse and Vicky are proud to share with their children.
On their pregnancy journey, the couple opted for numerous intrauterine insemination (IUI) procedures, and Charisse spent a year and a half trying to get pregnant.
“We put all of our hearts and our minds into trying to get pregnant,” she says.
Finally, after two years, in 2017, Charisse received the happy news that an IVF treatment was successful. A difficult pregnancy left her sick most of her first trimester, and at week 16, she was placed on modified bedrest by a high-risk pregnancy doctor. Five weeks later, she was admitted for 24/7 monitoring for early labor — but work didn’t stop in the hospital.
Dapper Boi was launched, and business was happening, all while they worked to create their own family unit.
“Dapper Boi was there the whole time,” Charisse says. “My wife was able to be there right by my side, and we had our laptops open at the same time and we were working. It was insane.”
Saved by Her Skills
When the couple welcomed their twin girls into the world in 2018, Dapper Boi was in full swing.
After years of hard work while juggling young twins, Dapper Boi was thriving. The company enjoyed $1 million in revenue in 2020 and a $1.2 million year in 2021, but the pandemic’s lingering effects hit the business hard. Sales were thrown off in 2022 by supply chain stops, and since Dapper Boi was running on a preorder model, the turnaround time for products went from 4–6 weeks to several months.
With supply chain issues and dwindling capital, the outlook put Dapper Boi’s future in question. At one point in their launch phase, Charisse and Vicky had applied to “Shark Tank,” and they finally became contestants and were featured in Episode 20 of Season 14 at a time when the couple needed it most.
Desperate for funding to save their business, Charisse remembers “Shark Tank” as happening during one of the lowest points of Dapper Boi. The network reached out after several applications, but the timing was difficult, as the couple was in the middle of selling the San Diego-area home they had purchased when times were good in order to continue funding the company.
They made it work, and appeared on the show in June 2023. As Charisse and Vicky stood on set in front of some of the most successful TV businesspeople, the news they got wasn’t expected. Despite a healthy pitch, they did not receive an offer for Dapper Boi, and no deal was signed that day.
“When we were on ‘Shark Tank,’ we literally almost lost it all,” she recalls.
The couple searched for their solution in a perfect place — their own community. Charisse knew that rebuilding Dapper Boi would take serious know-how, and that it was ultimately for a worthy cause.
“We reverse-engineered Dapper Boi,” Charisse says. “We knew that the mission was a lot larger than us — and for our customers, we knew we needed to push forward.”
After “Shark Tank,” she used her solutions-minded background built upon during her time as a bachelor’s degree student to help push through. Her work experience and sales prowess was about to be paramount for the continuation of their journey. Using skills she learned in her degree program and managerial days, the company’s team was able to redirect their approach to success by working backward to regain momentum for Dapper Boi.
“Being management-minded helped me steer the ship,” Charisse says.
Life Lately
As the co-founder of Dapper Boi, Charisse handles several backend functions for the company. She manages social media, operations, and marketing while Vicky works on fundraising full-time. A small but mighty operation, the couple handles just about every aspect of the now thriving operation.
In the past year, Charisse and Vicky have experienced a whirlwind of success and recognition. Currently, Dapper Boi has more than 35,000 customers with a 51% return rate — more than double the average for women-owned businesses. In recognition of their ingenuity and forward-thinking business plan, the couple was named to “Out Magazine’s” OUT100 list. Meanwhile, the documentary feature “Show Her The Money” is also spurring exposure for Dapper Boi and its mission.
Lessons Learned and Lived
Throughout her journey, Charisse has balanced work and family with the grace given by her experiences.
“Never put your energy into a backup plan,” she says, “because essentially, you’re telling the universe you’re not fully committed to what your goal is.”
Dapper Boi is still fundraising and plans to shift the business are on the horizon.
“We either see ourselves continuing to scale, and going public or getting acquired,” Charisse says.
Charisse and Vicky are also looking into other business ventures.
“Our slogan is, ‘Plan A all the way’,” Charisse advises. “The hero in the journey is the resilience and being able to put everything you have into it.”
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