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FEATURED ENTREPRENEURS
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By
Bolaji Oyejide
Here ... We ... Go.
06:00AM.
Wake Up.
Start the day off with a 30-minute workout.
Wake the kids, and get them ready for school.
07:30AM.
Get the kids off to school.
Shower, and get dressed.
08:15AM.
Get on the internet, and collaborate via e-mail.
Start making phone calls and editing / generating proposals and correspondence.
11:00AM.
Stop off at the post office to drop off packages, and then head to meetings.
02:30PM.
Pick up son from school.
Get back to the phone and e-mail.
05:00PM.
Make dinner for the family, go over homework with the kids.
07:00PM.
Get back to phone - conference calls with West Coast division until 8:30pm.
09:00PM.
TRY to put children to bed.
10:00PM.
Gather up notes for the day and put the "to do" list together, finish any
correspondence or packages that need to be put together for mailing.
11:30PM.
Check e-mails once again and speak with the producer of the project at hand.
06:00AM.
Do it all over again.
Woah.
Who Says Superwoman doesn't exist?
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"Being Native American,
it's always been in our hearts
to help one another."
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A Black Clan Enterprises, Inc. started as an
Independent Record Company in
1991, producing and distributing music artists from the Northwest (incorporated in Portland, Oregon).
A.B.C. then moved its operations to Atlanta, Georgia in 1996, where it
became licensed/incorporated.
It still maintains the Independent Record Company, but now operates
as the umbrella company to Castle Productions, EvreDark
Productions, A Black Clan Management, and A.B.C. Graphics, where it has
become a full service Entertainment company. It
encompasses booking/management of artists, promotions and public
relations, marketing consulting, producing,
distributing and manufacturing music, as well as creation of graphics for
print media, events and cover artwork.
Dee Dee is President of A Black Clan Records South Division, where she
handles daily operations and marketing campaigns for their southern
groups.
She is also the CEO of A Black Clan Management, promoting her three sons' modeling
and acting careers,
working on many benefit celebrity basketball events, and Hip Hop Conferences (SisterPhyre),
and consulting for independent entertainment agencies.
THE HBCU NETWORK:
Where are you from, and how did you end up in the city of Atlanta?
DEE-DEE COCHETA:
I'm half Indian - my family is from the Yakama Reservation in Washington
State. I grew up as a performer. I loved to dance, and I loved the Theater.
I ended up in Atlanta specifically for school - CAU, but also to raise my
sons in a Southern upbringing with great morals and values.
THE HBCU NETWORK:
How do you balance your family life with such an ambitious career?
DEE-DEE COCHETA:
It is very difficult.
I have to work around the schedules of the three kids at home.
My husband and I work hard to keep everything in balance.
I really just resign myself to going with the flow.
THE HBCU NETWORK:
How did you manage to finally become a full-time entrepreneur? What has
it been like?
DEE-DEE COCHETA:
It was very hard to give up a salary. I think it is particularly
difficult for women. Men are often used to hustling, but women are not.
Once I finally gave up the full-time salary and focused full-time on my
company, things really started happening.
Within the last 6 months I've taken on a lot more projects, because I've
made myself available. If I had not been available, I would likely have
missed out on those opportunities.
Prior to becoming a full-time entrepreneur, I worked a 9 to 5
as a Marketing Director for WAMJ MAGIC 107.5 FM.
I was only able to do work for the record company
after hours. I yearned to go full-time though. In 1999, I
finally stepped up and became a full-time entrepreneur!
THE HBCU NETWORK:
What drives you to succeed?
DEE-DEE COCHETA:
My Children.
My Family.
And my father, before he passed. My goal was to be the first one in my
family to graduate from college.
It doesn't sound like a big deal, but I came from a generation where no
one went to college.
I promised my father to graduate from college, and to start my own company.
What I'm working to do now is trying to build an empire, and leave a
legacy for family.
THE HBCU NETWORK:
How did you get into the music business?
DEE-DEE COCHETA:
I started in high school. At the time I was working at hair shows.
A lot of the hair salons were looking for models, but were having a hard
time recruiting girls.
My friend, who was a model, suggested that we bring on all of our other
friends as models.
So we started a modeling agency. This was the begining of my
entrepreneurial career.
As time went on, I got more into management and modeling, which is
closely related to entertainment.
I was also very interested in Theater. I never really got the roles
I wanted though, so I focused more on the background work.
I found that I actually enjoyed the background stuff, and made a decision
to direct/produce.
After my father passed, I dropped out of high school to work and support
myself.
I enrolled myself in night school, determined to continue my education.
Unfortunately, there was no Theater in night school.
I got into the night life, and soon met my husband-to-be at the clubs. At
the time, both of his brothers were music artists.
They needed help booking shows, so I managed that for them. And
the relationship grew from there.
That was my entry into the music business.
THE HBCU NETWORK:
So that was the start of the company. How did it grow from there?
DEE-DEE COCHETA:
My husband's family went from being artists to owning their own record
company. They didn't like the deals that they were getting as artists,
and knew they could do much better as record label owners.
The record label was established in 1990, and incorporated in 1991.
We started with 5 business partners and a handful of artists.
I was able to negotiate us a distribution deal for the
artists in the West Coast. At the time I was Chief Operations Officer and
Marketing Director. That was a big success for us, and established a sales track record for the company.
By 1995, we had built a music studio in Portland.
Currently all of our artists are well known on the West Coast.
With our success on the West Coast, we decided to grow into the South.I
was promoted to President of the record label of the Southern Division.
We met with a producer in the South - this guy had worked with big
hip-hop artists in the South such as Kilo Ali, Raheem, JT Money.
We acquired his company as a production company, and followed this
up with another production company acquisition. This gave us a strong
start in the region.
THE HBCU NETWORK:
Who are your target audiences, and how do you market to them?
DEE-DEE COCHETA:
Our main target market is the hip-hop audience, from ages 12 to about 25.
We certainly do target listeners older than 25 - I'm older than 25 and
still listen to a lot of hip-hop.
We have a new artist in this area
called "Misery". She's a hard core female rapper on the West Coast.
AL-C & BLACK DUCK, and JAZZU are our main hiphop artists on
the West Coast.
We also target the Pop/R&B audience. We have two new artists in this
area:
One is a young Caucasian man, Chris Ray, who sings R&B. He might
be compared Jon-B.
The other is a Latino/Black woman, T.C. Ford, who also sings
Pop/R&B.
We are trying to build artists that do not come and go, but that will have
the talent and persistence to last a long time.
We like to get positive artists, but artists are not limited. That's
their artistic expression, and we do not limit them.
We also look for artists that are well versed in Music theory.
THE HBCU NETWORK:
Where can one purchase "A Black Clan" Merchandise (CDs, etc.)?
DEE-DEE COCHETA:
We are anticipating our latest southern group, Castle Family, to release
their album on March
27th. It will be available at chain stores as well as independents.
You can pick up any
previous projects of AL-C & Duck on the west coast thru chain music stores and
select independents.
THE HBCU NETWORK:
How did your company transition from an Independent Record Company to a full-blown Entertainment Company?
DEE-DEE COCHETA:
This is where I started; marketing. My younger sons decided they wanted
to model at 6 years old. I became their agent part-time until they eventually got picked up by a
full-time agent. By this time though, other people in the modeling
business started asking me to represent them. I also started getting
requests to represent music artists, largely due to my association with
the record company. My husband and I decided that I ought to form a
separate company under the umbrella "A Black Clan Enterprises". I formed
a management company called "A Black Clan Management", and assumed the
role of Chief Executive Officer. I became a negotiator and consultant in
this role, and gradually developed a clientelle list, some of whom include
Tony Terry. I'm representing his public relations / marketing campaign.
THE HBCU NETWORK:
You seem to organize a lot of events with non-profit organizations. Tell
me about them.
DEE-DEE COCHETA:
Being Native American, it's always been in our hearts to help one another.
After the LA Riots, the 1992 Gang Peace Treaty was created.
A Black Clan Inc. brought together artists that represented the Gang
Peace Treaty.
There were national artists called "Krips and Bloods", MC-8, Compton's Most
Wanted, etc.
We threw a benefit at the Fox Theatre in Portland, Oregon.
The House Of Umoja (a house for children, men and women that used to
belong to gangs) was the beneficiary of this event.
In addition, my business partners and I organize annual celebrity basketball events.
We have many contacts within industry that enable us to
implement these events. I just put together the proposals
for sponsorship money, and make it happen.
Right now I'm working on a teenage nightclub. I want to set it up as a
source of finance for a scholarship fund.
We used this approach in Portland as an avenue to launch artists. Often
we would partner with nonprofit orgs to get teenagers to come to these
nightclubs. It was always a positive atmosphere, and allowed the kids to
have something fun to do in a supervised environment. It's more of a
hall where the kids can come and chill, as opposed to a typical
nightclub. We encourage parents to come out and help with the organization and supervision of the
kids. Community organizations, high schools and middle schools can
benefit from this.
THE HBCU NETWORK:
Tell us a little bit about your plans for the future.
DEE-DEE COCHETA:
Besides getting the Teen Nightclub/Hall going soon, I have three goals to accomplish that
I prepared when I was a young girl.
1) An Educational Center that I have longed to start;
I need to prepare the proposal and grant writing. I want it to be
operated
as a private school but free of charge.
2) Getting a doctorate
(when - I don't know, when I do CAU will be the first to call)
and,
3) Writing a book so I can dip into directing or producing movies.
THE HBCU NETWORK:
Dee Dee, Thanks so much for sharing your story. We wish you success with
all your endeavors.
A Black Clan Web Site
A Black Clan
Management Web Site
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