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

Stefan , appreciate you joining us today. How did you come up with the idea for your business?

Like most meaningful ventures in my life, Hi Esteem Agency started out of necessity. I have struggled so much on my journey and that is something I am unashamed of because it all makes for a compelling narrative. I went to college a little bit later than most people, as I was awarded scholarships to attend Savannah College Of Art & Design when I was 22 , so I graduated at 26 y/o. Graduating older heightened the level of pressure I felt and post graduate depression was something that deeply affected me. My major was in sound design with a minor in music production. I had interviews at all the big film studios in Hollywood. I had my heart set on LA but none of these studios would hire me primarily because I was an international student who would require visa sponsorship. After months of searching, I landed a marketing job in Miami so that’s where I ended up. That job only lasted 5 day because I quit! I knew that experience wasn’t anything close to what I had spent the last 4 years of my life training at such an intense level for. Soon after, I met a guy named Kyle Wilson from National Workman’s Comp Solutions who offered me another opportunity. Not only did they help me to settle into Miami life much better but the C.O.O at the time Mari Ferrer, encouraged me to start my own company. She said to me one Friday afternoon “Go home this weekend and think of a company name. On Monday I will register it for you” That one act of kindness changed my life and our company has now expanded from the US back to Jamaica, Trinidad & Tobago and even Grenada.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers

I consider myself a consummate creative and serial entrepreneur from Kingston, Jamaica. To be honest, I got where I am today through sacrifice, being willing to outwork everybody and applying myself creatively, to meaningfully advance Caribbean culture. I currently serve as the Interactive Art Director of Tempo Networks, Senior Art Director of Carib Voxx and as the C.E.O and Founder of Hi Esteem Agency.

Hi Esteem Agency is a multi-platform design, marketing and modelling agency that emphasizes and represents Caribbean culture. . The three main platforms that we host are the business development platform, artist development platform and the talent management platform. Under the business development platform, we aim to help brands improve their digital infrastructure through a process called brand therapy. This is where we have detailed and targeted conversations about the brand’s health. From these brand therapy sessions, we make cerebral recommendations as to the appropriate tools of design and marketing that can help improve the brand. Under this platform we have worked with companies such as TechCorr, Bric Infra, Lynk Jamaica and Barita Investments.

Under the artist development platform, we aim to help musicians to grow the corporate side of their brand while offering creative and technical services to support their artistic ventures. The two main acts we support under our artist development platform currently are Bay-c from the iconic reggae / dancehall group TOK and Dania Duntin- a fast rising songstress from Trinidad & Tobago. We are looking forward to supporting Dania on her EP launch later this year. We have two other new female singer/ songwriters who we want to introduce to the market this year; Janelle Pirmal also from Trinidad & Tobago and Nymaly from Jamaica. We have also worked with acts like D’yani, Nailah Blackman and The Change from Dominican Republic.

The talent management platform focuses on representing Caribbean models and influencers. We provide the tools for their development in modelling such as portfolio advancement, runway coaching , pageant placement in addition to facilitating direct bookings for commercial campaigns , fashion campaigns and brand ambassadorships for our influencers.

Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?

Hi Esteem Agency was only 4 months old when Covid -19 hit in 2020. Undoubtedly, the pandemic adversely impacted many businesses but to be so early in operations was extremely difficult for us. In February of that year, I had just closed my first big deal and lost it due to the pandemic. There were months during this time period where we generated no revenue for the month. So many times I thought about shutting down because nothing would break for us but by not giving up we were able to survive the pandemic and in November this year, we celebrate our 4 year anniversary.

Can you tell us about a time you’ve had to pivot?

Pivoting has been a key part of my journey through my natural , creative evolution. I started my creative journey as a DJ , then I pivoted into becoming a recording artist, releasing my first album at age 16. Due to the lack of economic gain from music, I was encouraged into corporate at an early age securing my first job in insurance as an Information Technology specialist then I pivoted into banking. From there I went on to learn sound design for four years then had to pivot into marketing lol It’s important to pivot but it’s even more important to retain knowledge from each experience before the pivot.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.hiesteemagency.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/stefanamali/?hl=en
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/search/top?q=stefan%20amali
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/stefan-ricardo-bowes-87513635/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/StefanAmali
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCxaF2Ob0OqO-uo9ypn_0qQg
• Other: https://www.stefanamali.com

Image Credits
Dacx Photography Simmo Vision