We recently connected with Cole Edwards and have shared our conversation below.

Cole, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. How did you come up with the idea for your business?

It began in 2019 as a junior in high school just creating music and photoshoot ideas for fun with other creative friends in hopes of being a recording artist and taking up modeling as a hobby. Quickly, I watched my network expand full of creatives of all sorts and instead of being the creator, I took on a managerial role over two of my friends’ music careers because I rather collaborate with them than compete with them. This was around 2020. Early 2021, I picked up an internship in which my supervisor told me he will fund any project I want to start. I envisioned curating a showcase/pop up shop for musicians and vendors. With the assistance of friends, I was able to bring it to life and our first one went well to the point we made it a weekly thing. Neither of these were very rewarding financially, but I was doing things I enjoyed doing and planting seeds for where I am now unknowingly. As I transitioned into living on campus later in 2021, my workload became too heavy to focus on those NYC priorities alongside my schoolwork. At the top of the new year (2022), I got a different job as creative director of an event company that did multiple events every month across the nyc and dmv areas. That lasted a little over a year when I resigned with a large ambition to launch Kinetics NTWK. Kinetics NTWK is a media production company that builds physical and virtual platforms for creatives to showcase their artistry and freely express themselves through event curation and multi-media content creation. I feel confident in this business because there aren’t enough resources for creators to reach the industry success that they strive for compared to the vast amount of creatives that exist. Not only that, but I’ve built a pretty solid support system to allow me to turn this idea into execution, which I am extremely thankful for and forever indebted to.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

My name is Cole Edwards, also known as Ice Cole. I am a graduating senior business management student at Howard University from Brooklyn, NY. Outside of my academia, I’m an event curator who dabbles into some freelance modeling and rapping, but overall I like to say I’m just an art appreciator. Seeing people take their creative dreams and turn them into careers is super inspiring to me and makes me want to help them reach higher levels of success. And that right there is the basis of Kinetics NTWK. We provide safe spaces for a variety of artists to come together to connect with each other, showcase their artistry, and develop their own brand/business. We also will be creating content to highlight creatives and allow them to share their story, inspire others, and expand their audience. There are a ton of black artists that feel unappreciated because nobody engages with their art. There are a bunch of black businesses that give up in the first couple years because they aren’t generating enough profits. The opportunity is waiting for those artists and businesses at Kinetics NTWK as all of our consumers are super supportive and look forward to meeting new artists and business owners. I think our affordable prices will distinguish us in the industry and the personable relationships we maintain with our clients and consumers. We understand we target the younger generation so we strive to make it as accessible to them as possible. We haven’t officially launched yet, so I am most proud of the impact we’ve had throughout our three events prior to launching. Our first one was a basketball tournament on July 1, 2023 in collaboration with Grey Area NYC and Ball Outta Bounds. We were able to attract a crowd of over 200 attendees and give away $1000 prize money to the winning team of the tournament. This year, we look forward to making it even bigger and better. Our second event, we got the honor of premiering Jasiah Powers’s first short film, “Concrete Babies” on July 13, 2023. There, we sold out exclusive t-shirts and the bar as about 200 attendees gathered to celebrate the film early. Our most recent event was a game night on August 19, 2023 in collaboration with Monsta House Universe and Hoodstyle Hub, which garnered around $2000 in revenue. These made me so proud because they were so different from my typical events yet managed to have bigger turnouts than my typical events. It made me very excited to launch officially sometime this year or next year.

What’s been the most effective strategy for growing your clientele?

Honestly, my most effective strategy might have nothing to do with the direct business.

I am a heavy advocate for going outdoors and building real, in person connections with people. Unleash your social butterfly because you never know who it is that you can meet and how they can help you on your journey or how you can help them on their journey. For a few years now, I have tried to attend as many events as I can to meet new people. I try to extend my hand whenever I can and support others in so many ways. I stay as honest and vulnerable and genuine with people as possible. As I continue spreading positivity and love, I see it come back to me.

Also, remaining professional in all aspects of your business and different situations in your personal life. Your presentation always matters because somebody is always watching. That somebody can be a potential client or business partner. So don’t act in a way on the internet or at a party or any situation that you wouldn’t want others to see you as . You ALWAYS are representing your brand even when you think you may not be.

We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?

Honestly, the biggest lesson I had to unlearn is giving into people’s concept of right vs wrong. In life, we are all given choices. Sometimes there will be two choices in front of you and you have to pick one but choosing one may hurt some people and help others. Regardless, somebody is going to think you made the right choice and others are going to think you made the wrong choice. In situations like that, I think it’s best if you think logically for however much time is needed and consult trusty sources from both sides of the spectrum before making a decision. Once you’ve made your decision, stand firmly on it because you know you did it with good reason. It may come at the expense of some people or things but not everyone is going to agree with every action you do. And realizing that that is ok was a big lesson for me because it allows me to act on my own values and morals before pleasing anybody else’s. I prefer not to get into specifics but when I’m running a business and am faced with a decision that might hurt some and help others, I have to go with what I think is best for the company regardless. I like to think customer satisfaction is best for the company in most instances, so I will act as such. In other cases, I may have to preserve the nature and longevity of my business.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: Business: https://www.instagram.com/kineticsntwk/ Personal: https://www.instagram.com/ice.coleyy/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100092114135740
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/Kineticsntwk

Image Credits
1st – n/a 2nd – @ronanonfilm 3rd – @jpeg.sar 4th – @obilohii 5th – @shotxtima 6th – @visuals_by.tee 7th – @lostkidsgetmoney 8th – n/a