We recently connected with Kibwe Trim and have shared our conversation below.
Kibwe, looking forward to learning from your journey. You’ve got an amazing story and before we dive into that, let’s start with an important building block. Where do you get your work ethic from?
The most concise answer to this question is that my work ethic came firstly from my parents and secondly from playing sports. As you may or may not know I am from the twin island republic of Trinidad and Tobago. My father is from the smaller of the two islands, Tobago. As a boy growing up my father woke up in the wee hours of the morning to take care of the cows, pigs, sheep, chicken and other farm animals before walking miles to school bare footed. This is just an example of the type of man that raised my siblings and I. He taught us the value of hard work and he showed us through his actions that nothing in life came easy and without sacrifice. Growing up I watched my mother who was a school teacher and subsequently a school principal wake up each morning and prepare our family of six for a full day, before she went to her full time job, and after work she also was a tutor. She has written four books and as well has her doctorate. There was never any excuses to get anything done but she as well taught us that wherever there was a will, there was a way to make things happen. With the example of my parents i knew that anything in life that I wanted to achieve was possible through hard work.
Playing sports also developed my work ethic. As an amateur basketball player i realized that the only way to be the best that i could be and to realize my dream of playing basketball professionally was to dedicate my life to becoming the best player possible. No one becomes great at anything in life without working tirelessly to prefect said thing, even if perfection is actually never attained. My tireless work ethic allowed me to go pro, and by the time you attain that level you are well aware that the only thing that will sustain it is, as you guessed, continued work.
Working hard has simply become second nature in my life and in any endeavor that I undertake I go in knowing that no matter what it is, it will take hard work to achieve it.
Thanks, so before we move on maybe you can share a bit more about yourself?
At the moment, I do so many things. I feel as if I do everything now that I was not able to do previously when my singular focus was to be the best professional basketball player that I could be.
Firstly, I’ll talk about my company L.A. Lime. This company is an event production/curation company with the goal of bringing people together to form meaningful personal and professional relationships. Through this company we curate varying types of events that allow people to come together to network, build relationships and have a good time doing it. We’ve had people meet and get married at our events, we’ve had people form meaningful business relationships as well, and of course on top of that, in the least we always curate a vibe that will allow people to have fun and enjoy themselves.
Our non profit foundation The DrreamChaser Intenational Foundation was launched in 2013, and we provide tutoring, mentoring and financial support for kids and teens in underserved communities. We have produced toy drives, read alouds, shoe drives, basketball camps, galas among other things in our quest to show up and support young people in need. Our foudation is a 501 c 3 foundation registered in Los Angeles as well as Trinidad and Tobago and our initiatives are executed locally as well as internationally.
I also wrote a book called “From Nerd To Pro,” which talks about how I went from a more introverted, academically inclined kid to a championship winning professional athlete, and it outlines the journey i took to get there. The book can be found on my non profit website www.dcifoundation.org
Aslo my wife and I recently formed our company JPT Properties, through which we are helping people buy, sell and invest in real estate.
If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?
I have to say looking back that the three qualities of discipline, determination and dedication are at the root of everything that I have accomplished in life and will continue to be focal in whatever else I go on to accomplish in the future. Once I realized i wanted to be a professional athlete I knew i would have to be disciplined in training every day to be the best that i could be. Discipline to me meant consistently putting the time in and doing the work even when i didn’t feel like it or wanted to do something else. Determination was also key and that meant having a never quit attitude. No matter what stood in my way I would be determined to get to my goal. Lastly dedication. I was dedicated to making my dream come through no matter what that took. I knew there would be ups and downs, peaks and valleys but throughout all i was dedicated to the mission. I believe that these three qualities were honed early in my quest to be a professional athlete but it translated then to every other goal i had in my life and continues now in all my current endeavors. I’ve learnt that through discipline, determination and dedication we can make anything we want a reality! The advice I would give to folks early in their journey would be to embody these three attributes and more often than not success will follow!
One of our goals is to help like-minded folks with similar goals connect and so before we go we want to ask if you are looking to partner or collab with others – and if so, what would make the ideal collaborator or partner?
I am always looking for collaborations but that being said i am also very picky about who i collaborate with. I truly believe that we can only go so far alone but the right collaboration can help propel us to new heights. I know this world is made up of so many different types of people but in general i like to work with people who i feel are people of integrity, that have great moral values and that also appreciate giving back and are not only motivated by financial gain.
If you would like to reach me or talk about a collaboration you can send an email to ktrim54@hotmail.com
Also these are all my Instagram handles: @ktrim54 @l.a.lime @dcifoundation @jptproperties
Contact Info:
- Website: www.l.a.lime
www.dcifoundation.org - Instagram: @ktrim54 @l.a.lime @dcifoundation @jptproperties
