Meet Reza Rezvi

We were lucky to catch up with Reza Rezvi recently and have shared our conversation below.

Reza, so good to have you with us today. We’ve always been impressed with folks who have a very clear sense of purpose and so maybe we can jump right in and talk about how you found your purpose?

I don’t know if I’ve completely ‘solidified’ my purpose, but I’m at least on the trajectory!

A big part of finding my purpose has been living life without regrets. I’m proud to say that I was a “failed entrepreneur” for several years. Proud because failure brought out the best in me. I would almost argue that failure was my biggest success because it made me who I am today.

I was raised in London—the ‘real’ London, not Buckingham Palace :)—and my dream was always to live in the U.S. After completing my bachelor’s degree, I secured a short-term visa (by paying for it), and my optimistic goal was to find sponsorship through an employer even though my family and loved ones said it was “impossible”. Perhaps in this scenario, they had a point, as it was the height of the 2008 Recession, but again, I choose to live a life without regrets.

Worth highlighting that I made the very responsible decision to use my excess student loans from my bachelor’s to fund this endeavor. Now, back to the story.

A close friend had family in Atlanta, so that was the destination I chose. I even chose to skip my bachelor’s graduation to seize the moment. When I got to ATL, his family treated me like I was part of their own, the epitome of Southern Hospitality. His aunt knew a VP at a bank in West Palm Beach, Florida, who would’ve been able to fast-track me to employment. They also had a friend who was a pilot and allowed me to rent his property since he was away for most of the year.

These kind souls took me on a 10-hr road trip to Florida and I could smell the beautiful palm trees the moment we arrived, around 1am.

I was living the American dream (in my head) and everything was great…At least until the landlord stopped paying the bills.

First, the internet went off and eventually the water. It was the heat of June, and I would have to walk for about 30 minutes in the scorching heat to the closest supermarket to grab some water gallon jugs, which I’d use for everyday life.

I always say, “you don’t know how essential water is until you don’t have it”. Most associate it with drinking. Not for everyday life like cleaning the dishes or a small crumb that dropped, and washing out toothpaste (although my best friend and business partner, Akil, recently recommended AGAINST that).

Since the Wi-Fi was also down, I looked for the closest Barnes & Noble as I needed to continue looking for jobs. Fortunately, there was a neighboring LA Fitness next to it, and the gym was my livelihood at the time (still is, to be honest).

The problem was that I had to get a bus to get there since I didn’t have a car. The bus stop was 15 minutes FARTHER than the supermarket, so I’d walk for a total of about 45 minutes and then probably wait about the same amount of time for the bus to arrive. You can imagine the liquid state of me by the time the bus actually arrived.

I’d stay at the Barnes & Noble dishing out resumes and escaped for an hour to LA Fitness, then continued until closing time. Only to receive constant rejections because sponsorship is already extremely difficult. In the height of the recession? “Fah-ged-abouudit.”

My visa was due to expire around December, so there wasn’t any time to waste, though it’s a shame the bills went off so early on in the trip but… life, eh?

I ate rejection after rejection like a Michelin star meal, but I stood the course. My parents had no idea what I was going through, and I’d call my grandparents every weekend acting like everything was good in the hood… when it was the farthest thing from it! But I didn’t want to alarm anyone. My grandparents would often feel sorry for me, to which my mother would respond, “Don’t feel sorry. He chose that life.” Harsh, but I couldn’t have agreed more.

Eventually, I became good friends with the girl who had been braiding my hair, and my situation eventually leaked in conversation during the final four weeks I had left before the visa expired. I can’t remember why. Maybe I was broken? Who knows. Naturally, they were in disbelief and didn’t hesitate to take me in. Her name was Yaya, and her sister was Jess, and I’ll forever be indebted to them.

In my final two weeks, I actually received an offer for a stationary company. My role was a “door-to-door salesman.” Exciting…

The catch was they wanted me to fund the sponsorship fee, which was $7,800. My bank account was depleted since it was the tail-end of my trip, so I had to call my dad and ask him for the money. In fact, I begged him for the money.

He said “no” and didn’t budge no matter how much I begged. His reason was that I could find a better job at home, even though my dream was not to live in London.

I hated him for that, for a very long time. Until I got older and realized it was the best thing he could have ever done for me. Who knows how my life would’ve turned out if I remained in West Palm Beach.

My visa expired, and it was time to get packing. Yaya, Jess, and Jimmy (Jess’ partner) saw me off to the airport, and there was my dream, blown to smithereens.

I was ashamed because I had the biggest house party at my best friend’s dad’s house (don’t ask) right before I left. Only to come back months later with my tail between my legs.

My American dream could have ended right there. But it didn’t. I was determined to make it back, and through a number of loopholes and fortunate circumstances, I made it back and lived in the greatest city in the world for 7 years, NYC, before moving to Miami.

I recently said to my best friend, Nathan, that my first taste of the “American Dream” made me bulletproof to the point where I’m not afraid of doing anything.

I guess to answer the main question, my purpose is to live a life worth living while I’m healthy and actually able to experience the fruits of my labor. Not when I’m 70 years old.

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?

I’m the Founder and Chief Brand Officer of Kaze Creativez, a branding, design, and video production agency. You can check out our Chief Squeak Officer here: https://kaze.agency/about-us/.

My partner, Akil, and I have a rule at Kaze:

“We only work with brands we like.” – The whole impetus behind the agency was to build a business we love. If we don’t work with brands we admire, then we might as well close shop and work a corporate job.

On occasion, we accept businesses from all walks of life, but fitness and wellness brands are what ignite our creative soul. In addition to being a Marketing Director for various industries throughout my career (financial services, healthcare, mental health, to name a few), I was also a personal trainer and nutritionist. Being a PT is a difficult hustle. I have so much respect for their grind, but making $30/class while I was making over six figures during my full-time job just didn’t add up.

Eventually, I decided to merge the two skill sets to form Kaze.

Fun fact: In addition to being an ACE-Certified Personal Trainer (CPT) and Fitness Nutrition Specialist (FNS), I am also Pre-and-Postnatal Certified.

Another fun fact: Akil and I have been childhood best friends for over 20 years.

It gives our clients peace of mind knowing that they’re not going to get thrown to an “Account Manager” but will actually remain closely connected to the business owners, Akil and me, throughout the entire relationship (and not just during onboarding).

But the agency is only as good as our team, and I am SO PROUD of the sharpshooter team we’ve built. They are all wizards of their respective crafts, especially our Creative Director, Lauren, who never ceases to amaze me with her beastly design skills.

We’re particularly excited about a recent partnership with an emerging app, SportZtars, that is revolutionizing the fitness and wellness space. Check out what SportZtars is cooking up by downloading it on Google Play or Apple’s Store. Tell ‘em Rez sent you!

Recently, we added “video production” to our roster of services, which we’re pretty excited about. It originated because I was moved by a video posted in a networking group I belonged to. It was a signed Ric Flair WWE Championship belt being gifted to this man who was just so excited and happy. This man also just happened to have Down Syndrome. The emotions moved me to the point I proactively reached out to the poster, Chris, who happened to be the Coach of a Special Olympics Powerlifting Team in NY State. I asked Coach Chris if he’d allow my agency to tell his team’s story… at no charge.

Chris wasn’t expecting the message, but he replied ecstatically. The rest was history.

Akil and I assembled the most badass open-hearted production team and we have created a movement that will change the world. We are working with some of the most inspirational humans on this planet, who happen to be Special Olympic Powerlifters, and they will make the audience sit up, listen, and want to do more.

Due to confidentiality, we cannot reveal all the details, but there are two words we want you to look out for: #SaysWho.

We’re about to show the world that nothing is impossible.

If you’re a brand outside of the fitness space but a subscriber of ‘Bold Journey’ that is struggling to grow or has a burning question, we would love to offer a complimentary 60-minute strategy session.

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?

Self-Confidence
Self-confidence has carried me not only throughout my career but also my life. I’ve never been the sharpest tool in the box academically. In fact, I almost got kicked out of my MBA program because I received an “E” in Financial Management, which dropped my GPA below the required standard of 3.00 to a 2.67. Ironically, I brought it back up through my “Entrepreneur” class and graduated, in case you wondered. Family friends would often tell my dad, “you need to sort your son out because he’s not going to amount to anything.” Apart from my mum and grandfather, I didn’t really care what anybody else thought of me. I stood the test of time and think I did “ok” with myself :-). The other two qualities mentioned below are what I believe to be the roots of building “self-confidence”.

K-Y-W aka “Know Your Worth”
I’ve always known my worth, even when others demeaned it. As a Marketing Director before founding Kaze, every employer would try to shortchange me on the salary. But that doesn’t mean I had to settle to appease these employers—and I never did. I welcomed those painful salary negotiations and was always prepared to walk away if I felt undervalued. My self-worth dramatically increased when I started making a proactive effort to master my craft. I developed a hunger for knowledge, listening to daily podcasts for creatives like ‘The Futur’, reading branding books from experts like Marty Neumeier, and always looking for my next ‘Marketing Certificate’. I currently hold three HubSpot certifications and aim to rack up more. If you’re interested in marketing, HubSpot is the go-to source. Knowing your worth also means maintaining humility—it’s a balancing act, but only you can really decide your value.

Discipline
Discipline is the backbone of everything above and is a skill for the “Dreamers”. Dave Chapelle spoke about this in his Netflix Special, “The Dreamer”. You cannot master your craft without discipline. Discipline requires sacrifice. When I was training group fitness classes, I would wake up at 4:30 AM to train the 5:30 AM and 6:30 AM classes. Then, I would change like Clark Kent, rush off to my corporate marketing job on Wall Street, and return to train the evening class. Afterwards, I’d squeeze in a quick session for myself and arrive home around 10 PM. This was my life for two years. I remember one day my dad lost it because I was slaving away for $30/class while making a very healthy income at my full-time job. It was necessary for me to inch closer to my dreams. It’s likely that I wouldn’t have started a creative agency for fitness brands had I not taken personal training seriously.

Similar to self-confidence, discipline was not innate to me; I was quite lazy in my teens and caused my parents a lot of heartache. What fueled my discipline was the desire to be the best version of myself and to live my dreams while I’m healthy, aligning with the purpose I described earlier in this interview.

Who’s going to work their ass off to make YOUR dream a reality? Nobody, that’s who.

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?

We are actively seeking brand partners and media outlets for our powerful “Says Who” campaign. We are interested in collaborating with athletic brands like Nike, Gymshark, and Rogue; consumer packaged goods companies such as P&G and Unilever; and a diverse range of companies from the ‘healthy beverage’ sector to major airlines.

If you’re interested in collaborating or know someone who might be, please reach out to request our “Says Who” pitch deck by emailing me directly at rez@kaze.agency.

Contact Info:

• Website: rez@kaze.agency
• Instagram: @kazecreativez
• Linkedin: Reza Rezvi
• Other: TikTok for Chief Squeak Officer: @chiefsqueak

Image Credits

I have the rights.