We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Raheim Fender. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Raheim below.
Raheim, thanks so much for taking the time to share your insights and lessons with us today. We’re particularly interested in hearing about how you became such a resilient person. Where do you get your resilience from?
I would say my resilience is innate, it is what makes up my DNA. I understand that to be the best, to be successful, you must be so determined to reach to that pinnacle of greatness that you must fight until the battle is won! Understanding that there will be pitfalls and hurdles you may not leap over immediately. However, the fire in your heart must burn so brightly that it lifts you up and propels you to your destination of success. My resilience was also nurtured because as a child, I witnessed my mother take care of the household while working as an educator. Raising two boys, all while studying to get both her Bachelor’s and her masters degree. My resilience is that inner voice! Always telling me that I have more growing and learning to do in order to say proudly, I am the GREATEST OF ALL TIME! Growing up, there were times I felt like I did not have a voice because at the time, I use to attend a predominantly white/mixed mixed race preparatory school and those that were black were from wealthy family backgrounds. Often times, I was ridiculed and I became so depressed I became lost in my own little world. But as fate or rather faith would have it, I found my voice and my strength at church. It was there that gave me that drive to say I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. I tell you one thing, I refuse to be beaten! I remember watching a Superman Movie in the eighties and I’ll never forget him saying…”I can give as good as I get” And that has always been my mantra. I looked at my friends in college they were seen as better artistes. They sang, danced, acted and could even write better than I could. But today, I can proudly boast and say, I am the most successful of my batchmates. I have released successful songs/music videos, that have seen international success. I have released successful books that have also garnered international success and I am always booked and busy as a speaker. This is by no means me showing off, but I want the readers to understand I chose not to be defined by what outside voices called me. I decided to be called by the greatness that my inner voice called me, calls me, and will continue to call me. It tells me that there is absolutely nothing in the world I can’t do once I put my heart, and hands to it.
Let’s take a small detour – maybe you can share a bit about yourself before we dive back into some of the other questions we had for you?
An Educator for over fifteen years, teaching Drama, Dance and Theatre. winning multiple awards both locally and internationally. Bestselling Author with seven bestselling books and five number one bestsellers in the Category of Poetry and Literary Speeches. A prolific speaker on the importance of Drama and the arts and its benefits in schools. Aiding at risk students. As well as a sought after Drama Therapist. Recording Artiste, singer-songwriter, Poet, Actor, Director, Playwright, Choreographer, Dancer, Social Media influencer, Podcaster, Voice Actor, Radio Personality. I consider myself a living brand. The living embodiment of the ARTS in the FLESH! To be honest, I love everything about the arts and therefore, I try my hands at every aspect of it. Most times I excel in the areas making my friends ask “what can’t you do?” My answer is always this; ‘I can’t sit and fold my hands cuz closed mouths don’t get fed and I refuse to be labeled a starving artiste”. Currently I just released my seventh poetry book entitled The Personals; Passions, Perils & Purgatory. It is the second book in the series of The Personals and surprisingly, it gave me my fifth number one! I never thought I would get so lucky a fifth time! But God was definitely on my side. In the summer, I will be working on new music and shooting the video for my first solo project titled “Ready” I named the album “Ready” because I feel I am finally ready to become a solo artiste. I always had my band members with me and now It’s just me and I can’t wait for the world to hear what I have in store. I also have a clothing line I’m getting ready to drop. However I’m starting off small. Beginning with tee shirts then depending on how well the market responds to them I release other stuff.
Looking back, what do you think were the three qualities, skills, or areas of knowledge that were most impactful in your journey? What advice do you have for folks who are early in their journey in terms of how they can best develop or improve on these?
The first quality would be stick-to-itiveness, the second, consistency and the third, understanding the product that you’ve decided to sell to the world. When I started on my journey as an artiste there were many times I wanted to give up because I felt I wasn’t reaching where I wanted to go. See, I had to take a step back. Research the product I was delivering to the people. I had to find out if they really wanted it! I also, had to re-train my thoughts that though I had already gotten the skills needed from college there was so much more to learn. After doing my research and seeing that my product is something that people would gravitate towards, I had to make sure I was constantly giving them content & Products on a timely basis. As well as giving them quality. Consistency is a major part to becoming successful. And this is the part many persons don’t have, the stick-to-itiveness you need to know that you won’t always win and there will be days of more loss than gain but if you can weather the storms, believe me, you are already half way to your destination. Never forget…It’s ok to fail just don’t remain a failure! It is also ok to take risks make mistakes, but always learn from them and above all keep showing up, showing out and showing love. Be considerate to the persons around you that are your cheer leaders, be more observant! Take a step back and see who are your cheer leaders and who are waiting in the wings to cheer for your demise.
How can folks who want to work with you connect?
I am most definitely looking for a team/person who is willing to take my career as an Author and speaker to the next level. I believe in the power of team work and obviously I don’t know everything. Therefore, having a partner in crime would be perfect for me. I would love to connect with persons that know the ins and outs of the industry as well as, persons who can effectively take my brand and make it into a household name. If that person is out there I can be contacted through my email at raheim.fender@gmail.com. I look forward to working with that amazing team!
Contact Info:
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@RaheimFender/featured
- Other: You can also google Raheim Fender for much more information. As well as to see all the things I have done and I am currently doing.
