We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Dulayne Cumberlander a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Dulayne, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. We’ve love to hear an interesting investment story – what was one of the best or worst investments you’ve made? (Note, these responses are only intended as entertainment and shouldn’t be construed as investment advice)

I would have to say that the best investment I ever made as a business owner was building a full studio and creative team to manage the creative process of my independent music label Kirkwell Partners. This might be something that you hear artist, producers, or music labels do often; but this move was bigger than recording music.

After months of leveraging studios and engineers around the Atlanta area, I found that money had been wasted due to the product not meeting expectations; as well as the necessary frequency to complete a project exceeding a viable timeline.

While saving money is always the primary focus when implementing your own working space, I also wanted to take control of the creative process and the team I involved. This would allow me to maximize productivity and collaborate with talent at a higher level.

Also, with this investment I was able to build a space that offered a creative outlet for our team of recording artist and our creative colleagues in the industry to come and collaborate. This has allowed our team to create multiple revenue streams that will be beneficial for our entire team; while solidifying the Kirkwell Partner brand as an entertainment group.

In short, investing in our studio has allowed our team to create, be innovative, and establish a place we can all call home.

Dulayne, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

It’s always interesting having to talk about yourself. You would think that with an extensive sales background, it would come easy! But to that point, I would have to say that I have always been the type of person that wants people to know my story so they know that anything is possible through hard work!

With that said, being a Roswell, GA native, I naturally have music and sports running through my veins. After a four year collegiate football career, I found myself back home with the goal of attending law school at Georgia State University. After a 4 month run as a legal intern, I quickly knew that the legal world was not my true passion.

After securing a job at the one and only Enterprise Rent a Car, I spent five years in the management and service industry. I then transitioned into healthcare sales, where I still maintain the role as Vice President of Sales for a Medical Device company.

With the rise of the COVID-19 Pandemic, like most, I began to explore the entrepreneur bug and started my first business in the international brokering and consulting world. After a few years of failed opportunities and network development, I took my shot at the night life; where opened a restaurant/music venue. While this was a fun opportunity, you truly learn the essence of the ups and downs of being a small business owner.

Nevertheless, business opportunities such as being a restaurant/music venue owner will provide a wealth of knowledge, experience, and lessons to learn from for future initiatives. To that point, my love for music and my appreciation for unknown talent was at its peak during that time. This lead me to partner with one of my best friends Brandon Campbell and start our music label Kirkwell Partners; which is actually our second initiative in the music industry.

In doing so, we set a hyper focus on working with independent artist from all genres. With our extensive network and team of established musicians, we felt that we could create an avenue to maximize exposure for these artist. Ultimately our goal with each artist in the first phase of our label would be to develop each artist and build their career to elevate them to the next level/chapter of being a recording artist.

With a little over one year since we established our independent label, we have accomplished the release of multiple singles amongst two of our recording artist, one EP release, two music videos, and 5 sync license songs. As well as a catalog that exceeds 100 tracks since January 1, 2023.

How can we best help foster a strong, supportive environment for artists and creatives?

I believe that society should always have an open mind. The reason I say this is because there is a world of talent out there that would flourish most by being original and creating their art to speak their story. When this occurs, it will allow people to connect with the music being produced and use this music as a voice that speaks for them.

I also believe that being open to networking and taking a low risk chance to speak with people striving to be the next mogul or rising star is important. Even if the initial conversation does not create a level of synergy, this is a learning opportunity for the individual/team seeking guidance. The saying “each one teach” should always stand true once you hit a certain place in your career, because the industry is only as strong as its weakest link.

Is there mission driving your creative journey?

My goal in my career and in life itself is to create a legacy. Being a husband and a father, it is important for my family to reap the benefits from the hard work that is goes into this. This doesn’t necessarily mean the monetary gain. I mean yes, money is great… but money comes and goes. Your name lives on forever and I am working to build something that my family, friends, and associated of this movement can be proud of. I don’t intend to do this forever, but if I create a sustainable and successful music label, my children can then have something they can call their own if they choose.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.kirkwellpartners.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kirkwell_partners/
• Facebook: https://m.facebook.com/dulayne.cumberlander.9/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dulayne-cumberlander-a1366486/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@kirkwellpartners