When Sly Roque got the call that she was being laid off, she thought it was a cruel joke.
She had just started her dream job in early 2020, a senior design role that finally felt right after years of bouncing between corporate and freelance gigs.
“It was the best job I ever had,” she said. “I finally felt settled. And then, boom, COVID hit. Last one hired, first one fired.”
In that instant, Roque’s world flipped. The security she’d worked a decade to build disappeared overnight.
“It definitely hit me hard,” she recalled. “I’d just left a toxic job, and I was finally in a good place. Then suddenly, I was back at square one, in a pandemic, trying to figure out what to do next.”
Born and raised in Houston, Roque always had creative roots in the city’s thriving music and entertainment scene.
“That was where I caught the bug,” she said. “I realized how much creative direction mattered, not just for artists, but for the story behind the brand.”
After a stint in Atlanta working on projects with labels like No Limit, Jet Life, and OVO, Roque split her time between corporate marketing and freelance design work.
“I was always in that in-between space,” she said. “Corporate during the day, freelance at night. I never thought of myself as an entrepreneur. I just loved to create.”
Sly Roque
“I was always in that in-between space,” she said. “Corporate during the day, freelance at night. I never thought of myself as an entrepreneur. I just loved to create.”
Then the layoff happened, and with it, a forced pause that became her launchpad. With no office to return to and a small safety net, Roque threw herself into rebuilding her freelance brand, The Clever Group, which until then had been little more than a side hustle.
“I told myself, you’ve been doing this part-time for years. Now’s your chance to see what it could really be,” she said. “It was scary, but it was also a blessing in disguise. I finally had time to revamp my site, reach out to clients, and take myself seriously.”
Branding as therapy
The Clever Group quickly evolved from a one-woman operation into a creative branding agency helping artists, entrepreneurs, and small businesses define who they are, not just what they sell. Roque’s approach, which she calls “Branding is Therapy,” focuses on self-awareness before design.
“When I was doing logos, I realized I needed to ask founders deeper questions, not just ‘What colors do you like?’ but ‘Who are you? What’s your mission? What’s your story?’” she said. “That’s where real branding starts.”
That is also what she teaches her students as an educator at Houston Community College, focusing on advanced marketing AI, and blockchain integration.
“Sly just sees things differently,” said Becc Foibes, an intern and student-turned-mentee who worked closely with The Clever Group during Houston’s AfroTech Week. “She’s got that balance, creative and business, art and structure. Watching her build this from the ground up, especially as a woman in both tech and entertainment, has been incredible.”
Rebuilding, resetting, and scaling up
At its peak in 2021, The Clever Group had a team of 15, but Roque admits she hit burnout fast.
“We grew too quickly,” she said. “I had to reset and rebuild. Now we’re more focused, more intentional, and the growth feels sustainable.”
She credits much of her stability to lessons learned from corporate life, the same world she once thought she’d left behind.
“Corporate taught me structure, process, and how to manage creative teams,” she said. “I brought those lessons into The Clever Group but made them my own. I don’t have to copy what corporations do, I get to build something that actually fits the people I work with.”
Now, The Clever Group is poised for its next chapter, expanding services and developing partnerships focused on Houston’s creative economy. Roque’s personal blog, Becoming Clever, documents her experiments, failures, and lessons in real time, a transparent look at the business of building a dream.
As she looks toward 2026, Roque’s is focused on community and collaboration.
“We can all move faster if we work together,” she said. “That’s my biggest push right now, partnerships, collaboration, and building spaces that empower other creatives.”
She’s come full circle, back in her hometown, pouring into the same city that gave her her start. The layoff that once felt like the end became the defining moment of her career.
“That layoff was the push I didn’t know I needed,” she said. “It forced me to bet on myself. And I’ve never looked back.”
