By Michael DeMuro ‘27
Over the summer of 2025, Emmanuel Onyemali ’26, a Senior Wyoming Seminary student, and Levi Sprague started a new clothing company named Better Next Time (BNT). Not only does BNT sell a wide variety of high-quality clothing, but it also serves as a platform to spread mental health awareness through its message, ‘Better next time.’ This message serves not as an excuse, but as permission to fail, as well as motivation for improvement. Whether it’s a loss in a wrestling match, a bad performance in football, or a failing grade on a test, the message means that next time, you will be better, you will not make the same mistakes, and you will slowly become an improved version of yourself.
Onyemali’s inspiration for creating this clothing brand was his mother, and their struggle together during their transition from Nigeria to Canada about seven years ago. When things began to settle down for him and his family, he decided to use his story of strength to help his friends and family, who he knew struggled with mental health. Onyemali decided to use clothing as the main way to market his message because the way we armor our bodies with clothes is the way we should armor our minds with positive energy and the ability to control how we react to tough situations.
Currently, BNT has around 500 followers across all social media platforms and is growing steadily. In fact, BNT has been named the number one small business in Canada for 2025. Additionally, Onyemali was featured on CBC national radio to talk about his company and the message that it delivers. When asked how BNT reflects Wyoming Seminary, Rachel Bartron, Head of the Upper School campus, said, “…Better Next Time is the constant conversation that our adults and students have regarding anything that students are doing.”
The way that the name, Better Next Time, was created is also quite extraordinary. As Onyemali put it, “When I thought about the name, it appeared to me in a dream a month prior… fast forward a month, and I’m sitting in my basement, and it kinda just popped in my head, like a downward from God Himself.” It was also conveniently short and catchy, so he stuck with it, giving the world the powerful movement that we have now.
When asked about the ultimate legacy Onyemali wants to leave behind with his company, he said, “The biggest legacy is healing. Healing generations by spreading a good message. That is the legacy I want to and I will leave behind.”