We were lucky to catch up with Hasani Burton recently and have shared our conversation below.
Hi Hasani, thanks for joining us today. Parents play a huge role in our development as youngsters and sometimes that impact follows us into adulthood and into our lives and careers. Looking back, what’s something you think you parents did right?
When I was in first grade, I came off as a little…odd. This is because every Friday, no matter what was going on, I wore a suit to school. This wasn’t because my parents dressed me in a suit, but it was a choice I made from watching my father. My father and I have had a strained relationship throughout my life. What he did right though, besides giving me the name ‘Hasani,’ was building a foundation that modeled a positive image of a professional black man in America. As one of the first black managers for GM Financial in his region, he wore a suit all the time. I remember watching him as he got ready for work sometimes. Shaving, putting on his tie, grabbing his briefcase and getting in his Oldsmobile as he went off to work. The image of his work ethic has stayed with me today and the subconscious lessons are ones I am attempting to pass along to my own son, Olo.
Since times have changed it looks a little different. When I get up in the morning and start my son’s day, he eats breakfast while I down a protein shake then do morning exercises. All within his eyesight. After we brush his teeth, every business day, I sit him down in front of the piano in my office to practice for 30 mins while I work on KemetMedia content, or write code in Python programming language, or develop my GOTV (get out the vote) efforts as a Dallas Democrat Precinct Chair. My son isn’t even 2 yet but he’s getting lessons of consistency, effort, and creating his own schedule on a daily basis. There’s no way to know how he will interpret these lessons in the long run, but since he is like me and like my father, in the sense that he observes a lot even though he doesn’t speak barely at all yet, I know at some point these lessons will help him live the life he wants. Maybe he will even admire and attempt to model himself after me in a few years like I did my father.
I also have a memory of the only time my mother ever called in for work. It was during a winter storm. A northern winter storm. So think the worst winter you have ever seen in Texas, crank it up to an 11, then just hope that the furnace doesn’t blow out. My mother has been a Surgical Technician helping deliver babies for about 50 years, and at…well I won’t say how old she is because I value my life, but she’s still going at it. Sometimes 12 hour days. A true essential worker. As she always has said, “People never stop having babies.” Anyway, on this day everything conspired to keep her at home. The power went out and her car was stuck in the garage. The driveway had about 3ft or more of snow covering it. The roads were covered with snow and ice. It was a mess. We did everything we could, the whole family, to get her on the road so that she could get to work. They needed her. It just wasn’t happening though. She was so upset about the situation. In 50 years my mother has never called in sick or called off of work. If she is scheduled to work, they have to call her if they don’t want her to come in. That’s the kind of work ethic she has. I can’t come anywhere close to it. That’s why when I had an opportunity to start my own businesses and make my own schedule I did it. However, the model she provided is what I turn to on days where I start to think I have put too much on my plate and can’t do it anymore. I take a breather then I get back to work. Building my business and creating a legacy. She showed me that when you have a job that you need to do, when people depend on you, you do everything in your power to keep going.
As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?
The journey to my business efforts is a lengthy and ongoing one, but I think there might be some great lessons in it for younger generations to appreciate. So I’ll share it. When I graduated from Indiana University with a Bachelor of Science in Biology focusing in Genetics I wasn’t sure what I wanted to do. The original plan was to continue my education in pursuit of a MD PhD, but I was burnt out with school and didn’t want any more student loan debt. Fortunately, my time working as a genetic researcher in the lab of Dr. Miriam “Mimi” Zolan put me into contact with the Vice-President of Critical Care at Cook Medical, Bruce Gingles. Bruce is still one of my best friends and closest confidants to this day. I often talk to him about random scientific theories, trends in medicine, business opportunities and even politics. It was Bruce who first saw my potential after I graduated and hired me on as a District Manager at Cook. I was the youngest DM in the Critical Care SBU (strategic business unit) and one of three black men in the SBU. Once hired, I was given the option of moving to Detroit or Dallas to work. I chose Dallas. That was one of the best choices I have made in my life. In Dallas I was in charge of managing about 200 accounts for hospitals across north and central Texas along with northern Louisiana. At first I was very apprehensive about my new job. I was trained in sciences like genetics, chemistry and psychology. I knew nothing about corporate account management. It turns out I was good at it. I combined the foundation I received from my parents with the observational analysis skills I learned as a researcher, did a lot of listening and problem solving, threw in a genuine smile to everyone I met, and the doctors I often were in the same room with started appreciating my recommendations. I turned a job I was apprehensive about into a very successful career. I stacked my money. Bought a house at 27. Made some investments and because I worked from home on my own schedule, was able to pursue other passions of community advocacy. I probably would still be doing that job to this day if it wasn’t for what happened in 2015.
In 2015 while traveling to Louisiana for work, a drunk driver came down the wrong side of the freeway and ran into my vehicle head-on. To this very day I still hear the crunch of the vehicle as her car ran into mine. Sometimes I close my eyes or have dreams where I see the whole world spinning like it did as my vehicle rolled from one side of the freeway to the other. It hasn’t given me any panic attacks in 2022 so far. For that I am grateful. The event would mark the end of one life and the beginning of another. I didn’t know or accept that for a long time. I had to spend from 2016 through 2019 healing. Though my body and the life I knew was broken in many ways that I still have to overcome on a daily basis, I did not allow it to effect my spirit. My spirit remained unbroken.
I’ have always been the type to look ahead, sometimes to my own detriment. Instead of giving myself the time I probably should have to really think about what I wanted to do with my life now that I had a permanent disability resulting from the car wreck, I started in 2016 to lay the groundwork that would become my current two priority business efforts. I started Kemet Inspired Media LLC, wanting to write graphic novels and Bennu Properties LLC, wanting to get into affordable housing. I had served on a board of a community housing development corporation before the car wreck. One business was all about a lifelong love of superheroes like X-Men and the other was my attempt to use the skills I had acquired over the years to help revitalize southern Dallas. As it often goes though, the plans I made were only the foundation of something much bigger that would reveal itself with time.
I was able to release my first graphic novel, ELEMENT: In The Beginning in 2018. I got to work with a really talented artist named Koi Turnbull in the process who had done art for Marvel’s Black Panther comics. However, because I was too much in a rush to get something, anything out into the world to show that I still had some value after the wreck and my inexperience in the industry set unrealistic expectations, the execution of that first graphic novel wasn’t handled well. I didn’t have a plan for distribution or longevity of the series. I would go on to attempt to turn the graphic novel into a deal with Netflix, but I learned after a year of development and spending a lot of money that I just didn’t have the connections or the team to make that happen yet. At some point I would like to return to the graphic novels and finish the 13 issue series for ELEMENT. Would love to team back up with Koi if he is available, but he stays busy, so most likely I will look for a graphic artist fresh out of The Art Institute of Dallas who would appreciate an opportunity to make a name for herself. Anyway, I also was running into a lot of red tape and challenges with building affordable housing that made me feel like I was getting nowhere fast. I had already lost some of my zeal for the industry when I drove by a rundown, eyesore of a beer and wine sales store at the corner of Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd intersecting with Malcolm X for sale. At the time I had no idea why, but I wanted to own the property. It really was an impulse more than a plan. Once again, I was attempting to make something happen even if I hadn’t figured it out yet. It was very much a “ready, fire, aim” approach to business. At first I was going to get a loan to purchase the property, but the loan came with so many strings that I was apprehensive about accepting it. So instead, I pulled money from my life savings and purchased the property in cash. It was one of the best decisions and worst decisions I have ever made. Best decision because I now owned a piece of property with lots of longterm potential. I am determined to see Martin Luther King Jr Blvd and Malcom X be part of a cultural-financial renaissance in south Dallas proper one day. It was one of the worst decisions because the property was in horrible shape from years of neglect. The structure is 102 years old and though I have spruced up the outside so it isn’t such an eyesore, the inside shows that it will take a substantial investment in order to do anything meaningful with it. The property has also been the target of those who, forever reason, want to see my community efforts fail or just don’t respect other people’s property. Fortunately, I am working on a solution to all of that.
This is probably the most important part of this recount of my businesses and what I hope aspiring entrepreneurs will really take into consideration. Since purchasing the property in 2019 and due to slowing down of all society from the pandemic, I have had time to actually make plans and be clear about what I want to achieve.
KemetMedia is shaping up to be a tech-based company for creatives to monetize every aspect of their work and leverage that monetization towards financing to grow their art.
I have done a lot of market research, am working on a strategic business plan and I’m building an infrastructure to demonstrate proof of concept. That means a lot of hours putting out content on YouTube, Instagram, Twitter and even TikTok to test effectiveness vs the planned KemetMedia platform. It means even more hours in front of a screen learning and writing code. So beta testing is still a few months away, but within that time I will be able to show potential investors a model that will empower creative entrepreneurs while revitalizing a community that I love. The vision is so clear, so exciting, so ahead of the curve that one day south Dallas proper will have one of their own listed with names like Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, Steve Jobs and Bill Gates. The big difference between me and them though is as KemetMedia builds progress, it will return that success back into the community that made it possible. I really do love Dallas in a way that only someone who has searched their whole life for where they belong and finds it can love.
What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?
The biggest lesson I had to unlearn, which is still difficult for me sense it really is part of my personality, is to not dive right into any venture that seems “dope” or “innovative” to me. That just means I have to take the time to plan. To know exactly what it is I am seeking to achieve, why and build that vision without a lot of deviation. That means doing market research, putting together a strategic business plan, having a prototype or proof of concept and being able to clearly explain what I’m doing in one sentence.
KemetMedia is a tech-based company for creatives to monetize every aspect of their work and leverage that monetization towards financing to grow their art.
That’s it. That’s the foundation of the business. Everything I am doing now is planning to bring this concept out of my head and execute it as efficiently and effectively as possible.
One last thing, I want to share a big lesson I have learned since starting my own businesses: Show love to the people you work with along the way or who lift you up. Irish Watson of WOW! “If Looks Could Kill” Hair Studio is a savvy businesswoman who makes natural hair look its best. Donnie Word of New Lab Visuals knows how to record important moments. Jarriel Jones of Phat Banana Art has a wonderful eye for forms. Voyage Dallas should check them out.
Have you ever had to pivot?
My pivots in business feed into the biggest lesson I had to unlearn. Kemet Inspired Media LLC and Bennu Properties LLC started off as two completely separate entities with very different goals. I had to pivot to turn them into two separate entities that are working with one another towards a singular goal. That goal has to be clear, concise and I have to be working on progressing towards that goal every time I take action with either business. The property at the corner of Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd intersecting with Malcolm X started off conceptually as a pizza place that would have a karaoke stage. Now it will be the home office for the KemetMedia platform. That’s a big pivot. It means we will need reliable, consistent internet access. Plans to keep servers cool in hot Texas weather. Visual and audio recording capabilities. Support for other small businesses that would like to piggyback off of the KemetMedia infrastructure. It’s a big pivot and a lot of work, but it’s my life’s work. Rome wasn’t built overnight and KemetMedia won’t be either. At least now I have parenting my son and making sure that he grows into all the potential he has inherited, to make the time pass easier. Now, I have something greater than myself to make the work worthwhile.
Contact Info:
- Website: KemetMedia.com (projected to go live in 2023)
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kemetmedia/
- Facebook: https://m.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100067705506190&_rdr
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/KemetMedia
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCom9cjq75QHIanxD3b4Li-A
- Other: @KemetMedia TikTok