Founder and developer of theSHFT. From Selma, Alabama.
Willie Austin builds theSHFT, a private messenger that needs no phone number or email. He grew up in Selma watching his mother sew and his father draw, earned a computer science degree from Troy University in 2017, and came to software by way of fashion and art. He wrote the first line of theSHFT in December 2025 and put it on the App Store in March 2026, working alone.
From Selma to fashion, from fashion to art, and from art to software.
Willie grew up in Selma watching his mother do seamstress work and his father draw. Without knowing it yet, he was learning both crafts.
He graduated from Selma High School in 2011.
He started college at the University of South Alabama, then transferred to Troy University.
He earned his bachelor's degree in computer science at Troy University.
After college he went heavy into fashion, the craft his mother's seamstress work had shown him. His first brand was Yon, starting with a few tees.
His second brand was Blankname, sold through blankname.shop. When that chapter closed, he started a label under his own name.
In April 2020, during the COVID shutdown, his grandmother passed away, and he started painting, the side of making things his father's drawing had shown him. With everything closed, he painted every day. His first painting was of his grandmother.
Days later he shared Gold Trails, his first abstract piece, and on April 21 a portrait written out in handwritten Tupac Shakur lyrics.
For his fraternity, Kappa Alpha Psi, he painted The Dreamer, a 48 by 60 portrait of Elder Watson Diggs, one of the fraternity's principal founders.
On November 2, 2020, the day James Perkins Jr. was sworn in as mayor of Selma, Willie presented his portrait of Perkins in his hometown.
On December 7, 2020, he presented Good Trouble, his hand painted portrait of Representative John R. Lewis, at Troy University. Created and donated by Willie Austin II, it hangs in John Robert Lewis Hall on Troy University's Troy campus.
On March 24, 2021, he shared Sightless Bride, a 48 by 60 canvas that tells the story of a woman who cried about her past until she bled from her eyes, with a video and photos of himself beside it in a white dinner jacket.
After Blankname he started a label under his own name. The Collection One Sideline Jacket dropped on willieaustin.com on November 26, 2021, and became the label's best known piece.
In October 2021, Boston Celtics star Jayson Tatum arrived at a Celtics game wearing one of Willie's designs. In January 2022 he posted himself on Instagram in the Willie Austin sideline jacket. It was the biggest moment for the label. Around that time Willie also met with Saks Fifth Avenue about carrying his clothes. It did not go through, but getting in that room showed how far the label had come.
See Jayson Tatum's post on Instagram
While living in the New Orleans area he painted New Orleans favorites Mannie Fresh and Cam Jordan, and stood with each of them beside the finished portrait.
Collection One, called Benchwarmers, was the label's Spring/Summer 2023 season. He created, designed, styled and produced it himself, and the full collection was released for preorder on July 23, 2022.
Troy University asked him to paint the late Trustee Lamar P. Higgins. He brought the finished portrait to Troy in August 2022, and on the same visit saw Good Trouble hanging in John Robert Lewis Hall.
His portrait of Higgins was unveiled on Rosa Parks Day, December 1, 2022, in the conference room bearing Higgins' name at the Rosa Parks Museum on Troy University's Montgomery campus. Troy Today wrote about it.
He had less than 24 hours to create and present a portrait for Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Incorporated at its 91st South Central Regional Conference.
This painting tells the story of a man who gave him a bottle of water on his way to church, and the verse he later found under the cap, Proverbs 22:2.
On September 23, 2023, his second collection, Perspective Beauty, went down the runway at Gallier Hall in New Orleans in a show hosted by NOLA Fashion Week. It was his first runway show and the debut of his women's wear line.
He began the Selma Collection, an art collection honoring people who have made an impact on Selma. He announced it with a portrait of Coach Willie Maxey, who coached the Selma High School Saints from 1989 to 2000.
Through the fashion and the painting, his work was always in tech, and he always knew he wanted to build an app of his own. He just did not know yet what it would be.
His first app, Scannly, is on the App Store from theSHFT LLC: a QR code app that lets exhibitors at trade shows, job fairs and networking events scan badges, take notes and export leads. It worked, but it was built for a niche, and he wanted to make something anyone could use.
He asked what was missing from the market and landed on a way for people to talk privately without giving up the social side of messaging. He started building theSHFT on his own.
Three months after the first line of code, theSHFT went live on the App Store on March 11, 2026. He has kept shipping updates on his own ever since.
Building theSHFT did not stop the painting. In January 2026 he finished the outline of a new canvas, and in September 2026 he shared a new piece, a figure seen from behind with smaller figures painted across its back.
Willie created SHFT, the face of theSHFT: an orange character with a chat bubble for a head and a finger to his lips. He wanted the app to feel friendly and fun, not technical.
theSHFT is coming to Android phones and to the browser.
His paintings, from his first in April 2020 to this year, in the order he shared them. Open a photo to see it larger, or a title for the story behind it.
His clothes, from his first tees to the runway at Gallier Hall, and the Selma Collection of portraits.
The first Willie Austin collection and the label's Spring/Summer 2023 season. The Sideline Jacket dropped on November 26, 2021, and the full collection was released for preorder on July 23, 2022.
He created, designed, styled and produced it himself.
16 PHOTOS The story of Collection One
Shown on September 23, 2023 at Gallier Hall in New Orleans, in a show hosted by NOLA Fashion Week. It was his first runway show and the debut of his women's wear line.
He put a roach on the flyer on purpose: what some people call the ugliest thing, he set out to turn into the most beautiful. One favorite, a jacket in a camouflage print he designed by hand, honored his grandmother on his first runway.
8 PHOTOS The story of Collection Two
An art collection honoring people who have made an impact on Selma. He announced it with a portrait of Coach Willie Maxey, who coached the Selma High School Saints from 1989 to 2000.
3 PHOTOS The story of the Selma Collection
Private messaging. No phone number needed. Connect by username or QR code, send messages and voice notes, and call your people.
Willie talks about building an app alone and about the part of privacy most people never think about: the messages they already sent. Any format works, a call, written questions or a podcast.
Headshots and a ready to use bio are in the theSHFT press kit.