We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Omari Romain. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Omari below.
Omari, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Let’s jump back to the first dollar you earned as a creative? What can you share with us about how it happened?
My first time making revenue for my work was February 19th 2022 for putting together my first show. I’ve worked with Malik English for about two years as his manager. I was still learning the responsibilities of a manager and I wanted to challenge myself by booking my first show. I reached out to a venue manager I knew from Syracuse and we got to work. Malik and I traveled up to Syracuse in the dead of winter for the show. We got DickbyAir to DJ and three amazing opening acts, it was a beautiful night. After the show splits we made about $100 dollars. I remember being handed the money and knowing this is the moment. The moment I decided I want to do this forever.
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 background and context?
My place in this industry is a product of chasing my passions in college. I was a finance major in college but outside of class, I wanted to be around creatives. I joined my school’s programming board and helped organize festivals booking acts like Gucci Mane, SZA, Melii, Joey Badass, etc. I wrote interviews for the campus’s first hip-hop periodical “Mixtape Magazine”, shining a light on dope upcoming artists in the community. Most importantly I started The Lingo podcast with my best friend and co-host Ayaa “Money” Mesbah. The podcast is the most important catalyst. I wouldn’t have thought of myself as a creative if it wasn’t for our show and the dedication we’ve put into it for years.
Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?
The recording of season 4 part 2 was when my co-host and I earned our stripes. Season 4 was our first NYC focused season. We recorded five episodes with guest host appearances and captured visuals in Money’s car. The season was going well but we had to return to campus soon leaving half of the season undone. After regrouping on campus we devised a plan to book an Airbnb and schedule the remaining episodes in the city. It was the night before we were heading out and Money walked into my room and said “We just lost our Airbnb….”. Scrambling for options we reached out to a dear friend who was a little older than us to rebook an Airbnb for us that same night. We finally got one in time and headed down to the city to record five podcast episodes in one weekend. On the last day, we recorded three episodes back to back ( our first and hopefully last time doing so). I remember sharing a look of exhaustion and great pride that we followed through and finished the season.
How can we best help foster a strong, supportive environment for artists and creatives?
It takes a village to support creativity. Simply showing up and supporting your local artist goes a long way. I think a lot of people get caught up chasing and over-supporting artists who are already well off. Nothing wrong with supporting your favorite artist of course, but more likely than not there are talented up-and-coming artists performing at local venues dying to get a fraction of that support.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: oa_romain
- Twitter: oa_romain