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

Hi TJ, thanks for joining us today. The first dollar your business earns is always special and we’d love to hear how your brand made its first dollar of revenue.

Our first real professional client served by The WICK was William Smith High school in the fall of 2014. Students ages 14-17 attended a weeklong intensive in which they worked with art, music, and gardening. Working in groups at 3 stations, the students removed summer plants, amended soil, composted, planted seeds, and built a greenhouse. Each group also came together as a band. Individuals picked an instrument, practiced with their bandmates, and in just a week performed their songs for the rest of the group. The art station produced some amazing paintings as the students learned all about the technique.

A few weeks prior to the course we hosted our first music show for a traveling artist. A teacher from William Smith attended the event and just fell in love with our mission, which was a big deal for us because we were just getting established. At the time the high school allocated funds and allowed for two field trips planned by the teacher to whatever educational experience they saw fit. We were honored when they picked our curriculum to host the class for an immersive art, music, and sustainability intensive. It really gave us the confidence that we were on the right track, and it was so cool to see us all come together for the first time at a professional level.

TJ, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

My name is TJ Wethington and I am the Co-Founder and Executive Director of Wealth In Community Knowledge or The WICK. We focus on education around art, music and sustainability. We picked this unique blend of verticals because they are what were so important in shaping us as we matured. These are also areas that have suffered budget cuts and funding gaps in recent years within the public education system. Our goal is to help bridge that gap and provide opportunities to kids, or anyone, who otherwise may miss out on these experiences.

I remember vividly it was a research paper in college that was the catalyst to pursue some sort of educational endeavor around music. My topic focused on the lack of funding for creative arts within public education. As I conducted my research I was amazed at just how thin budgets had been stretched or cut all together. Considering how impactful I feel music has been on me, I decided to dedicate my passion to starting a nonprofit that focused on music education.

Our ultimate goal is to establish an enrichment retreat on the 4 acres of mountain land we have near Twin Lakes, CO. It has been slow going, but we’re getting there!

We are most proud of the 100 or so students we have provided lessons to, and the dozen gardens we have established throughout the region.

We’d love to hear about you met your business partner.

I have been very lucky to work with two close people in my life. My wife Stephanie and our good buddy Matt Shaw. Matt and I met through music crossing paths for the first time at a show at the Blacksheep in Colorado Springs. A couple of years later Stephanie and I met at my birthday party at a house where Matt and I were roomies. The three of us founded the WICK in 2013.

How did you put together the initial capital you needed to start your business?

Starting a nonprofit can be quite difficult when you don’t really have ANY capital! We were really lucky to have some close friends with a variety of skills to help get us off the ground. From legal advice to business strategy, we could not have gotten started going without them,

Contact Info:

• Website: www.thewickdenver.org
• Instagram: @thewickdenver
• Facebook: facebook.com/thewickdenver
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tj-wethington
• Twitter: @thewickdenver
• Other: thewickdenver@gmail.com