We recently connected with Davontay Jennings and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, Davontay thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Let’s talk legacy – what sort of legacy do you hope to build?

The legacy that I am hoping to build is one that last for generations and carry on what I have already built and set in place. I am building a legacy that will inspire others to chase your dreams and never take no for an answer and be very passionate about their dreams and craft. I want to build a legacy that impacts my community and communities like mine and show the youth that there is more to life and that you can do anything you put your mind too and not to worry about any limits. I am building a powerful legacy that will show my authentic come up and a solid, strong foundation that could never be broke. I want my legacy to change lives. What I think people will say and remember me for when I am gone is that I was knew what I wanted to be and what I didn’t want to be. I was always someone who is very determined and never let no or failure get in my way I admired my mistakes. People will remember me by always being advanced and strategic and keeping a high Level of confidence and uplifting others confidence. I hope to be remembered by someone who never stopped and always knew that sky is the limit, I want to be remembered as someone who beat all odds and never let myself or talent/ business be put in a box and stereotyped. I am a very versatile person when asked what I want to be or do I would never say just one title. I want people to remember me as someone who is brave and had a big heart and wanted to change lives and always pushed for people to chase their dreams and discover new things in life and never stop perfecting their craft. I want people to remember me as a very humble and professional person but staying authentic to myself and never forget where I come from. People will say that I am very observant and never was afraid to speak my mind and voice my opinion. I want people to remember me by that person that was a leader and wanted everybody to win and was always confident in his talent and creativity and someone who always thought outside of the box and someone who pushes to be different and unique and do something that has never done before. Lastly, I want people to remember that I am very genuine and love and take care of his family and was very big on presentation being professional. I want to be remembered as that person that did everything he said he was going to do.

Davontay, 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?

I got into entrepreneurship and music and entertainment business early as young child, I never really played sports like my siblings did, I tried it just wasn’t for me. I always loved music whenever I would be in the car with my mom I knew every song on the radio lol. While I was about 8 years old I would make a mix playlists of songs on the computer using windows media player download music and new movies and burn them onto blank cds and dvds and sold them to my friends and family matters. I was very tech savvy at a young age I knew how to fix problems on computers and other technology and was always listening to music no matter what I was doing. I knew at a very young age that my job was going to be something with music but I didn’t know what it was going to be but what I did know is that I didn’t want to Rap or sing. I started promoting and hosting teen parties while In middle school at 13/14 years old and I would make my own flyers, book my dj and security and venue and promote on social media with street teams as well. Two weeks after turning 14 years old I got my first job at McDonalds getting paid $7,25, Even though my mother still supported me and helped me I always was eager to get my own money and invest it Into throw parties and I always liked expensive things so I knew I had to make my own income to buy those things and invest. I shed light on young local artists in my city Akron Ohio and surrounding cities who wanted to gain exposure and let them perform at my events and booked a upcoming rapper with a booking contract to come and perform. Throughout my high school years, I started my entertainment company “Bag Vicious Entertainment” and started with clothing line and registered my business as a LLC and got to meet superstar “Lil Baby” and gave him a shirt. I kicked off the entertainment side of my company in 2022 when I executive produced and creative directed a cypher with upcoming artists in my city and set up a release week plan and generated buzz and hype for collaboration and garnered 10k views in 2 days. While working on executive producing various projects and platforms and media that is still in the works I started managing two very talented artists by the name of “Nu2x” & “Stackaababyy”and worked with the late “448 Rolls”. I provide services such as marketing, promotion. A&R, creative directing photoshoots, music video, shows,artwork and as well as executive production for media platforms/shows, digital marketing, bookings, graphic design, and a list of other services. The problems that I solve for my clients is business related and making sure that they are taken care of properly and fairly and that they stay focused and stray away from things that can hurt them and their careers, I handle problems video, song, solving problems with producers, etc. What I think sets me apart from others is that I am very hands on and serious when it comes to my clients and we have a very strong family bond and trust that helps keep everyone in team happy. What sets me apart from others is that I am constantly working and constantly thinking outside of the box and moving and presenting professionally. I let them have say some and every decision that is made, and I also do more than what a manager is expected to do, right now I play all roles and positions on the artists professional teams as we continue to grow it will change but at this moment I do what most say they don’t have time for. Not everyone is built to be a manager it is a lot that goes into running a entertainment business, promoting events, and building artists careers, there are a lot of days where my artists might not be in the mood to do this video shoot or interview or perform but I push them and let them know that in this business you gone have to do a lot of things you might not feel like doing but you have to push everything to the side and get the job done at the end of the day. I am most proud of actually being a manager and having this Allstar Team, I am doing this with just my knowledge and what I know with no hope and we are just getting started and it’s already been a successful journey and will continue to do so. I am also proud that I put together and promoted and hosted my first club event as an adult lol, with booking a upcoming rapper “Tay B” and “SME TAX FREE” at the age of 20 years old this past march of 2023 and it was very successful and put me back in the promoting mind state. I want people to know that am very serious about my career and my clients and determined to build careers up from the ground and that I am always perfecting my craft and will push you to perfect yours as well. As the company continues to grow it will soon be a full service entertainment company featuring athletes, actors, influencers, producers, and will not only have it’s hands in the music industry but in the fashion, media, film & TV industry as well, I put quality and quantity Into my business and always push for perfection and consistency and I am very strategic and confident in the works that I do and never rush the process of art.

Any stories or insights that might help us understand how you’ve built such a strong reputation?

What I think helped my reputation within my market is not only did I already know a lot of people but I knew how to use the people I knew to come together and help me build my reputation. I stayed consistent in everything I did I always was thinking on how I can make this event or whatever I did better and bigger then what I did before. What helped me build my reputation is that I made sure that I stayed in everyone’s face so for example, when promoting I made sure I posted everyday on social media and had other people help me promote and post it on their social medias as well. I elevated every time and I didn’t keep myself in a box and limit myself to just being a party promoter when I took a break from promoting events I came out with my entertainment company and started promoting my clothing brand and coming out with stuff that others wasn’t doing at the time, I made sure that what I did was very unique I sold my own boxer briefs and swimming trucks and slides and my own shopping bags so I feel like coming different and professionally and presenting your business in that manner helped me build my reputation because people told me all the time like no other street brand had their own shopping bag when they bought merch. I made sure I stood out from everyone else and if I did something that somebody did before I made sure it was original and unique with my own creativity applied to it. I also think my personality and me being so versatile and knowing how to act in a corporate or business manner rather than at a party that I am promoting has helped build my market. Even with the way my artists sound I manage and take on acts who I feel deep down inside has the versatility and range to have a long mainstream career you have to be top tier A1 and inspire me deep down inside to do what I do and want to keep doing what I do. I believe it’s a lot that goes into it, even down to the way you dress and present yourself to others on and offline and the way I help others and uplift and support them goes into the building of my reputation. I keep all my relationships with different artists professional whether they are my client or just a artists that I potentially come across and work on a single project with, I am first and foremost a businessman and professional at heart and that I don’t pick any sides Im there to work and get the job done and people respect that about me. If you want to build your reputation, stand out and put the work in and stand on business and everything you say and present yourself in the way you see yourself not what other see and stay true to yourself and uplift and inspire others while you are building your reputation.

Can you share one of your favorite marketing or sales stories?

My favorite marketing story is how I got the chance to meet Lil Baby and get my clothing in a picture with him when his breakout mainstream success album “My Turn” first dropped. It was February of 2020, I had bought tickets for the concert in Cleveland Ohio the concert was the same day his album dropped which was on February 28th and I had my first order of shirts for my brand that I just started on the way at the same time. I remember early February in 2o20, I joined his fan text message service where you got text message updates of exclusive merch, videos, and events and a week before the concert I got a text message with a flyer that stated he was having a album release party signing a couple hours before the concert and to gain entry you had to go buy a official cd of the album at the place that the party was going to be at and then they will give you a ticket entry. Once I got the flyer there was An immediate light bulb that came in my head and that was to give Lil Baby a shirt from my brand and have him hold it up in the picture. At the time I was unsure if my shirts was going to be here in time because of the estimated delivery date but they end up arriving the day before the concert and that is how I wanted to debut them with the picture. I was in my 11th grade year of high school at the time but I was also taking college classes at Stark State College and I only had one or two high school classes and then I got to leave school and the concert was on Friday and I didn’t have to go to the stark college because we didn’t have class on Friday but I had one high school class around 9am that morning and then I was able to leave school. I drove up to Cleveland by myself around 12am It was snowing outside and it was very cold, I bought the album and got the ticket and I went and got some food and sat in the car and listened to the album. A couple hours went by but I wanted to be one of the first people in line so I got out the car and stood in Line it was extremely cold but we got let in the building around 5pm and once he came we had a few words and let him know I wanted to give him some of my merch and he held it up in the picture and signed me a poster and I left and made my way to the concert. I was so excited and thrilled that everything went as planned with the marketing of the shirts because it all felt to good to be true and I honestly didn’t think it would work out as perfectly as it did. I had worries as if they would even let me bring merch and I didn’t know if he would like or even be willing to take it with him so I had a lot of worries but everything went as planned and the marketing for the shirts was A1.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bagvicious.tay/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/davontay-jennings-532572189/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCEGfr2sv1ZYrfmVSPLDrYNA

Image Credits
I, Davontay Jennings have rights and permissions to the personal images,