We were lucky to catch up with Christian “Kindafye” Robinson recently and have shared our conversation below.

Christian “Kindafye”, appreciate you joining us today. Alright, so you had your idea and then what happened? Can you walk us through the story of how you went from just an idea to executing on the idea

There is a tradition that we have in my family. The tradition is to come up with a new business idea every year. The year was 2019, and I had just turned 16. Being an Atlanta-based entertainer like my mother was connected to the entertainment industry as a performer, I wanted to build a group of supporters away from the stage this year. My idea was to write a book. It was going to be about becoming the best version of yourself and would tell others about my life growing up being bullied and the ways that I worked to overcome it. I took this idea to my mom, who loved it, but she encouraged me to get my brother involved so we could do something together and become a business brother duo. The thought was that we both individually have great ideas, and together we could do things that weren’t imaginable to each of us alone. So to keep the story short, I decided that my book would come later and began brainstorming with my brother. We wanted to keep the point of overcoming things like my bullying but also wanted to inspire other kids our age to become greater in themselves. And so we figured out a single word to define what we were trying to accomplish. “Defying.” Being Defiant is usually seen as a bad thing, like being devious. We were going to make being Defiant a symbol of overcoming obstacles, pushing through hard times, and becoming the person we are meant to be despite what the world says about our age, race, gender, color, etc. It would be about Defying The Odds. A unique way to approach this was by starting a magazine. A magazine would allow us to share the stories of others, and since magazines come out so frequently, it would keep us relevant. There were, at the time, no other teen magazines catered towards teens in the Atlanta Metropolitan area coming from other teens as opposed to an office of adults, and we ran with that to make our magazine “For Teens By Teens.” We made sure the name was cleared on google, and we checked that social media handles for our brand would be available. And from there on, we taught ourselves, with our parents’ help and initial funding, how to create high-quality magazines catered towards the youth for the world to see as a brother duo. From there on, we became The Defiant Ones!

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?

For all who don’t know, my name is Chri$tian Robinson, professionally known as Kindafye. I’m an actor, published model, drummer, singer, speaker, graphic designer, photographer, clothing line owner, award-winning podcast host, and magazine creator. I am 19 years old and based in Atlanta, GA. I was raised in an entertainment household. My mother “Butta-B Rocka,” an international singer/songwriter, introduced me to artists like Akon, Usher, and many more. Having seen her perform around the world behind the stage, I grew a love for the life of an artist, which inspired me to discover my own talents, like my ability to drum and to define my vocals, sing & rap. In 2016 I got selected to be in this group called the KM Project, started by Kenwaun Meeks, and was able to record a hit single called “Be The Best’ alongside Jabias Da Kidd, and Tyler Williams (Young bobby brown from the New Edition Story). We performed our single around all stages of Atlanta for big and small audiences, which allowed me to connect with other influencers and entertainers at these events along the way.

Once secured in the industry, I felt confident to share that I am more than my bullying made me believe about myself. I started a clothing line called FYE Apparel, “Find Your Element,” which inspired people all around that you are more than what happens to you, and if you choose to face the hard path, you can define who you will become. In science, we learn that all materials of matter are made up of elements like hydrogen, oxygen, etc. With the idea of elements making up different things, we as individuals could find our elements (The things we were good at and enjoyed most in life or about ourselves) and define who we are.

You previously read about my magazine business, so I don’t need to go so in-depth with that. But The Defiant Ones Teen Magazine shares the stories of teens and young adults who are or have overcome all odds put against them to become greater than they ever were and are doing successful and impactful things in the world. We’ve been pleased to have published over 200 stories and have an ever-growing network of incredible individuals working/working with us, including the likes of Mark Cuban, Gene Simmons, Les Brown, and more! In our magazine, we share information about topics that schools rarely teach, like Mental & Physical Health, Financial Literacy, Bullying/Cyberbullying, S*x Trafficking, Life after high school, the list goes on. Additionally, I host an award-winning podcast that is available on all podcast platforms called The Defiant Ones Teen Podcast, which goes more in-depth with these successful entrepreneurs, entertainers, athletes, artists, and such who exclusively in the show are any age. We have had many striving business leaders, and social media influencers give great life-changing advice.

I am very proud of the impact that I, alongside my brother, have made in the world, and we are only at the beginning of our journey. I want our supporters to know that the mission will always be to motivate, educate, and inspire the world, especially our youth, because they are the future, and we must pour into them. More importantly, we must teach them the importance of starting their journeys young, it sets them up for success early on, and to me, that is very important.

Our next mission is to grow and scale our brand to more significant heights. We want to get our media into middle schools, high schools, stores, airports, and juvenile detention centers. So that all who pick up our material can look and read/listen to somebody like them who is making the most of life and can inspire that person to do the same. We greatly appreciate your support and hope you’ll continue to support us in our endeavors.

Learning and unlearning are both critical parts of growth – can you share a story of a time when you had to unlearn a lesson?

Being a part of the media world is unique. You get a different perspective on how reality is seen In the world between celebrities, famous social media personalities, and more. Something I had to unlearn as time went on in this industry is the idea that my business is smaller than others or needs to be more significant for accurate recognition. When discovering our podcast and magazine features, it is my job to research people I would like to work with. We have public relations firms reaching out to us periodically to pitch potential clients to us, and it is our job to pick and choose who we want. Just as we want new features, these firms wish new media outlets for their artists to be shown on. We live in an age where social media presence is critical. We will show someone our Instagram or TikTok before our websites or business cards, so in looking for high social engagement features, we didn’t/don’t have awe-inspiring numbers on social media. I had to truly unlearn that numbers don’t mean a single thing when it comes to you or your company’s worth. Results do. Being rejected by big PR firms always sucks and makes us feel like we need to become a bigger brand if we want more prominent clients, which is true. But what is also true is we are just as necessary to them as they are to us, no matter the title or status. Once I understood this, networking has been much easier, and I carry myself and my brand with the highest regard. Knowing your worth is very important. Never feel less important because you are unsure of your worth.

We’d love to hear the story of how you built up your social media audience?

As I stated before, our Defiant Ones social media and youtube numbers could be better. What is good about what we do, though, is since our publication shares the stories of others and is then shared and promoted with their separate audiences, we grow just out of association with these influencers. The average amount of views/engagement we get onto our podcast and website doesn’t primarily come from our specific supporters but rather those with whom we share. It is a collaboration. We will work very hard to change the behavior of growing from others while also helping them grow and to make great content of our terms to help build an audience. If there were any advice I could lend on growing an audience, it is simply to be genuine on your pages and to never be afraid to put yourself out there. That is the way that everyone grows.

Contact Info:

• Website: Ovou.me/Kindafye
• Instagram: Instagram.com/Kindafye
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/KINDAFYE/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@defiantonesmagazinepodcast2491
• Other: Defiantonesmag.com Instagram.com/defiantonesmag Instagram.com/defiantonespodcast [email protected] [email protected]

Image Credits
All Photos are credited to Seats Photographix (Atlanta, GA) – Spstudio10.com