We recently connected with LOLO and have shared our conversation below.

Hi LOLO, thanks for joining us today. When did you first know you wanted to pursue a creative/artistic path professionally?

Art and music has never left me. I have been on this journey since I was in grade school., 5th grade to be exact. I won a Michael Jackson dance contest and was the youngest contestant, the only girl that competed and won against high school students. There has always been this calling in me. In high school, I danced in nightclubs and became a Club Kid which I am known as today. At 17, I got to dance for a hip hop show for a group at that time, called Poor Righteous Teachers who were on a show tour at that time with D-Nice and X-Clan. In the early 90s, while in college, I made trips to NYC and to dance at the Limelight. That club was one of my favorite nightclubs I have ever been to till this day. The energy and freedom I felt in there is the feeling that led me into where I am at today, a DJ and a radio personality and producer for the Electronic Music scene. Schenley High School in Pittsburgh fed me the visual arts and gave me the foundation and inspiration to feed that creative outlet and I did. I have Andy Warhol to thank who is an Alumni of my high school as well. Becoming a young mother at 20 years and being in college did not take away my passion. It actually fueled it and kept me going.

LOLO, 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?

Through my early 20s I studied Method acting and modeling and signed on to two talent agencies and got into commercial work and movies. I landed a role as Gina, in the movie Connected, which is now being shown world wide on Tubi which can be seen here: https://tubitv.com/video/659734 Although these experiences were amazing, they were not completely paying my bills and supporting 3 children. I literally went into a phone book and the page I turned to had a bunch of massage therapy schools and I went and signed up in 1999 and graduated. Fast forward to 2009, I got my Esthetician license and till this day, I have my own studio and I serve the best hotel and residential address in Downtown Cleveland at the world famous Metropolitan at the 9. This has helped me keep my creative life going while being able to support and take care of my children and be a present parent in their life which became my life mission. Life can give you detours based on the decisions you make. It may have took me on a longer road, but I couldn’t give up. I had sons that looked to me for guidance, love and strength. I taught them resilience. It has made them the men they are today. I am most proud of that lesson they witnessed and learned.
in 2003, I picked up my paint brushes and never stopped painting since then. I got involved with some local art communities and became a Vice-President of the Euclid Art Association 2008-2009 which I still hold dear to my heart today and that experience gave me the confirmation I needed to know that there was still a future for me in the visual arts. Exhibitions I am proud of include Art Prize 9 and Art Prize 10 in Grand Rapids, Michigan. I am a residential artist at the Metropolitan at the 9 and have my own LK Gallery there. One of the best moments of my art career came when I was included in a nationwide exhibit and my painting, “I Paint My Feelings” was featured at the Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History in Detroit, Michigan for the Bombay Sapphire Exhibit. Just 2 months before my mother died in 2016, I got an email that my painting was accepted. The day my mother died, on October 25, 2016, I had been up all night with my family and that was the day I had to drive to Detroit to deliver that painting. My son and nephew made that trip special and I felt my mother’s love and spirit with me. It was meant to be and she was right. I am an Artist. That painting was purchased by a woman who is Actress, Nia Long’s Aunt. Earlier in 2016, I completed a full collection of paintings and rented a studio at the 78th Street Studios in Cleveland and hosted my first solo exhibition on April 6, 2016 for my mother to be there and see that I followed her guidance and it was a beautiful evening full of DJs playing, a full catered experience and many friends she got to meet. I worked everyday on that show for 6 months to do this and it all came together like magic.
While raising kids, working my wellness practice and doing art, I began LoLo Knows Radio in 2013. There was an underground electronic scene that was talented but unheard and I wanted to explore and talk about this music I loved so much and wanted to share and learn more about the artists. 10 years later, I have superstars that have come through my radio show that are doing big things including me. 4 years ago, I came out the closet as a DJ and haven’t stopped. I am a media partner and DJ for Charivari Detroit Music Festival and have been in direct support on lineups with Terrence Parker, DJ Minx, Osunlade, Bruce Bailey, Ron Trent, Soul Goodman, Delano Smith, Gettoblaster, and Devon James, just to name a few. I am currently moving into music production and will be releasing new music this year and plan on touring. I am a woman of faith and I love to have fun and the arts bring me joy and I am sticking to it. I am one of the first women of electronic music to come out of Cleveland and Akron and the first Latin and Afro Latina House Music DJ in both regions. It’s pretty surreal. I didn’t plan that. That just happened and was meant to be and I am proud of that. I am making history and didn’t even know it. I have not left a nightclub since 15 and I don’t plan on leaving my playground anytime soon. Wherever the music is, I will be. Passion meets purpose and that passion lead me to Dirty Disco Cleveland and CH4RCH in Akron. These are two regular shows that are successfully growing in both of these markets and I am the ONLY female promoter doing it in a male dominated scene. This is another first and something I am very proud of.

What can society do to ensure an environment that’s helpful to artists and creatives?

The best support society can give artists, is to make an effort to go to their shows, share their art on social media, invite their friends to get to know them and their art. Become a fan and never stop giving them emotional support because that does help them energetically to keep going. Being an artist can be very lonely and often times depressing when they don’t get the support. Art nonprofits should make more of an effort to be inclusive to artist of color that I consider myself to be and educate them on how they can apply for art grants and opportunities for them to move upwards in their career. This is something I am still learning. As being a promoter and DJ of my own dance club shows, Dirty Disco Cleveland and CH4RCH, I had to come to accept that I would be doing this without support from my scene, but because I believe in the music and my ability to connect with people on the dance floor that I also had the opportunity to grow my own community and so I did and I am doing it because of my faith. Faith will always win in the end. Never stop having faith in your abilities and keep a good circle of like-minded folks that will be your cheerleaders. My family which includes my spouse, my sons and the small circle of friends and my Charivari Detroit family are that for me.

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

Social media is a digital network society. It’s a tool that needs to be managed daily. I manage all of my pages. Lolo Knows is a brand that houses my art, radio and wellness practice. I have compartmentalized all three of my businesses in their own niches and pages. Here are 10 steps to get you started on yours and things to think about and implement for your own brand’s success.

1. Determine your goals.
What do you want to get out of your social Web participation? Why are you doing it? Are you trying to generate direct sales? Are you trying to offer a form of customer service? Do you want to build relationships with customers and boost loyalty? Your answers to these questions greatly affect the type of content you publish and the activities you participate in on the social Web.

2. Evaluate your resources.
Who is going to create your content? Who is going to maintain your social media accounts? Who is going to respond to questions and be the face of your business online? Do you have the technical ability in-house to join the online conversation? If not, are you willing to learn? Can you or someone who works with you write well? This person became me as I write and manage all of my own content. It’s a full time job but this is how i keep my brand in front of people and get opportunities as well.

3. Know your audience.
Where does your target audience spend time online? What kind of content and conversations do the audience members get most vocal about? What kind of information do they want from you? What do they dislike? Remember, you’re not just publishing marketing messages on the social Web. You need to find out what your audience wants and needs, so you can provide the kind of content they find useful and interesting. However, you also need to be personable, so they actually want to interact with you.

4. Create amazing content.
Once you know where your audience spends time and what kind of content audience members want, take the time to give them more of that kind of content. Don’t give up. You need to continually offer your audience amazing content, which also comes in the form of conversations, in order to build a loyal following of people who trust you as a source that can meet their needs and expectations.

5. Integrate your marketing efforts.
All of your efforts at social media marketing should feed off each other. Cross-promote your efforts both online and offline, and make sure your social media and traditional marketing efforts work together seamlessly.

6. Create a schedule.
Allocate specific times during your day to devote to social media marketing. For example, spend five minutes on Facebook before you check your e-mail each day and another five minutes before you leave work each day. When you create a schedule, it’s easier to stick to it and make sure you don’t skip your social media marketing activities each day.

7. Adopt an 80-20 rule.
Always spend at least 80 percent of your time on social media activities that are not self-promotional and no more than 20 percent of your time on self-promotional activities.

8. Focus on quality, not quantity.
It can be easy to get caught up in the numbers, but don’t become a slave to followers and subscribers. It’s better to have 1,000 highly engaged, loyal followers than 10,000 followers who sign up to follow you but then never acknowledge you again.

9. Give up control.
You must let your audience take control of the online conversation and make it their own so they develop an emotional attachment to you, your brand, and your business. Remember, on the social Web, apathy or invisibility is a bigger problem than negativity.

10. Keep learning.
You can never stop listening and learning. For success in social media marketing, you need to be flexible and accept that change is good.

One last thing I would like to share is this, do not care what others think of you while promoting yourself. I made the mistake a few years ago, letting others opinions of my social media postings to get to me. Those that have traditional pay check jobs will never understand. Do not listen to them! For a few years, I allowed their judgement to paralyze me and it made me lose confidence and money. When I woke up to not caring, that’s when my business turned around for the better. Stop caring what they think. You keep fishing for your opportunities daily.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.loloknows.com
• Instagram: www.instagram.com/lolo__knows www.instagram.com/lkgallery www.instagram.com/renuwellnesswithlolo
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/loloknows01/ https://www.facebook.com/abstractbylo https://www.facebook.com/lkgallerycle
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lolo-knows-2111014a
• Twitter: https://mobile.twitter.com/loloknows01
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCY3FZrdGE8PBgdyKqHFm0wQ
• Other: To radio show links and more : https://linktr.ee/loloknows https://www.tiktok.com/@lolo_knows https://tubitv.com/video/659734

Image Credits
Josh Land Ricky Spanish LOLO