Meet Dean Robinson

We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Dean Robinson. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Dean below.

Dean , so great to have you with us and we want to jump right into a really important question. In recent years, it’s become so clear that we’re living through a time where so many folks are lacking self-confidence and self-esteem. So, we’d love to hear about your journey and how you developed your self-confidence and self-esteem.

I was stiff. I didn’t know how to dance. I didn’t know how to hip-hop, so I studied. Dance was learned. Making music was learned. I could never memorize lyrics of popular songs, and I felt like I was different, because I was. Becoming one with the people and understanding that business goes hand in hand with understanding all walks of life really boosted my confidence when I was out there marketing my own business with promo cards. I was shy, I was timid, but I knew I was the best, I just had to get over stage fright..And then I became a full-grown lion out there! I was walking down the street one day and a short lady shouted from across the street and guided me inside a building and told me she wanted me to be a model for her modeling agency and I felt magnificent like I won a lottery. The photos turned out great and boosted my confidence because everyone else in there went to modeling school and they were jealous of me. I starred as the main character in a friend’s short film and my acting coach told me I should really pursue acting. Spending time and consistency on my craft built my self-esteem and aiming for perfect service to make customers appreciate the value of my work helps develop my everything.
As far as the legendary St. Louis Dimo’s story goes, I messed up my very first order and thought I failed because the guy called and gave me a 1 star review but I always say, “The hate makes me great!” The next day, word spread like wildfire and the food and drink orders started slamming in non-stop day in and day out. That made me proud and confident to know that I can do anything now. And when I perform my music, the claps and the cheers from the crowd boost me everyday.

Thanks for sharing that. So, before we get any further into our conversation, can you tell our readers a bit about yourself and what you’re working on?

I am a business man with multiple venture companies who independently specializes in producing music, food, and merchandise. The brand store is called Dimo’s and you can find it soon at www.dimosrestaurant.com. My newest record label is called UMBRELLA CORP. It oversees all of my business ventures under one label. The name is a moniker to the movie, Resident Evil, in which the T-virus started as a way to heal depression but turned into a deadly zombie virus. I chose the name because I have a tendency to go viral. But instead of zombies I create fans and followers who love my passionate work that comes from the heart. I’m a professional artist and I turn my work into incredible masterpieces by making them from scratch and using what I have in front of me to show the beauty and prowess of the mind. It’s the definition of creating something out of nothing.
The Dimo’s brand is a comedic but serious brand that touches on pop topics and futuristic media designed to keep us young. I always get asked, how did I make my own business and I just say I don’t know, it came out of nowhere. It’s an urban legend because it popped out of nowhere with the necessity of survival and growth. It’s a people’s brand where you feel like it’s been missing your whole life. Music, food, and soul all go hand in hand with the Dimo’s brand. Doing good in the hood is the slogan!
We plan to expand the business and we are looking to recruit and hire people across the country.
I just dropped a new tape called, “Midnight Medicine” and the track “To the Clouds” is the standout hit making it to several playlists and playing in major cities like Chicago, Denver, Houston, and Long Beach, California just to name a few. Merch products are on the way to be available on the Codeine314 spotify page. Some people call me a genius but I just do what I love and that’s what makes it special.

If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?

Looking back, the areas of learning ingredients, improvisation, and integrity were most impactful in my journey. If you think about it, everything in the world has a chemical ingredient. H2O for example is the ingredient for water that makes up 80% of our bodies. Everything that I cook has an ingredient to it, albeit from lobster to my special brownie recipe. Ingredients go a long way, even to producing music. First you need the beat, then the lyrics, and then you mix and (hopefully) master the song, and then you need the video and marketing promotions. All of these ingredients equal a successful song launch. It’s just like frying chicken, you need the chicken, the flour, the corn starch, the oil, and the seasoning plus the heat. Do all of these ingredients right and at the right time, and you’ve got yourself some finger licking chicken strips! I thought I was doomed by being stuck working in restaurants but it was a part of my path. A huge part of my journey. You can’t have a silent restaurant nowadays, because the music draws more attention to the restaurant and helps set the right vibes and mood to eat. Cooking is a skill that transfers the ingredients to life itself. When you cook you have to improvise sometimes and throughout life you’re going to have to improvise and come up with some ingredients of your own to get through the days. Through customer service learned from serving, cooking, and hosting in fancy restaurants, I learned the integrity to push quality and service beyond customer service. I can’t serve bad food so I translate it to I can’t serve bad music or merch.
If you are early in your journey, develop with what you have around you and improve on it. If you think it’s a curse, then it’s probably a blessing to turn your lemons into lemonade just like I turned my restaurant work into my own record label/food business.

How can folks who want to work with you connect?

I love to collaborate with folks who are on the same mission as I am. People who love to create as much music and artistic food concepts as possible. I am looking to collaborate with folks who are scrappy in the face of defeat and can make anything out of nothing in order to make a profit. Real hustlers who do it themselves, so then we can make something incredible whether it be a new restaurant concept or a brand new musical album. I make all sorts of music genres so anyone from country to rock to heavy metal to hip-hop is invited! Right now I’m building my YouTube channel so just drop a comment on any video about a collab. Find me @Codeine314

Contact Info:

Image Credits

UMBRELLA CORP

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