We were lucky to catch up with Wes B recently and have shared our conversation below.
Wes, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today When did you first know you wanted to pursue a creative/artistic path professionally?
Growing up, I always enjoy entertaining people. Whether it was through sports & athletic or Music, dance & performing. Being involved in show choir, marching band & drill team gave me the confidence I needed to shine underneath the lights at as an individual. It wasn’t until my sophomore year in college, playing on the football team is when I realized how sports & athletic was beginning to conflict schedules with my music performance shows. At this point I was force to have to step up & make a life changing decision. I told myself, “If I give up my passion of football, then I have to give this music lifestyle my all.” After thinking it over and talking with my dad, it help me gain the clarity I needed to go talk with the head coach. Surprisingly, he was happy with my decision because he knew the impact my music had on campus & could see the potential of becoming a star. I am proud to say, I haven’t look back since.
Wes, 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?
Wesley Bates is a hip hop/R&B artist from America. He is more popular by his professional name, Wes B . A native of Waterloo, IA. Wes B grew up in Texas & Iowa. His initial interest in music developed & performing because of growing up in the church & performing with Mt. Carmel Lords Warriors drill team. After he turned 15, he started composing his own music, taking dance seriously & putting his content out for feedback from people within the community, which soon grew a liking to Wes B’s sound. Which improved, as time went on and he became well-versed in the history of hip hop. He was still a teenager when he released two mixtapes, Unique & Forever In A Dream. Wes B most recent project released in Pop Soul. You can check it out on all major platform!
In the ensuing years, he graduated from high school, enrolled in a college, and graduated from Wartburg College. A private college in Waverly, IA. He ended up moving to Denver Colorado, where he started taking hip hop even more seriously & began expanding his sound. In 2017, The independent entrepreneur started his successful clothing business branding his name & logo based off his hometown Waterloo, IA. He subsequently garnered fame from live performing & adding motivational speaking to his stage performance, which had a way of winning the crowd over.
When it comes to be discipline my father James Bates has plays a large position in my life at helping me stay focus on the main goals and task at hand. He would always say, ” Fail to prepare, prepare to fail.” One thing I can say that I most proud of is the consistency to be better each day. Wether my childhood was rough or not. We still managed to persevere through it all. Starting my own brand from ground up was a testament to me that anything is possible if you keep pushing through. Now you can locate positive vibes, merchandise & great music on my website WWW.WeActive.Org.
Mission Statement
Our Mission is to provide children & adults between the ages of 17-30 with high quality & efficient services including entertainment, hosting, self development and life coaching and consulting. We thrive within spreading peace, positivity, love, energy and joy through music, motivational speaking and merchandise to and for all communities across our nation.
As Activators our mission is to help provide people with the knowledge and resources they need to help them reach their full potential in life & maximize their opportunities of fulling their dreams, goals & aspirations!
What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?
For me, I would say the most rewarding aspect of being an artist & creative is the opportunity to give back. I come from a family of teachers. So one of my natural ability is to teach whenever the opportunity presents itself. While pursing my music career I’ve also works as behavioral counselor and allow me to grow a new prospective how to care for people provide a positive outlook for others. Giving back to the youth and showing them that being in the streets doesn’t have to be the only way to “get money.” Show them a realistic lifestyle of way to make your dream happen is something I’ve been interested in from the beginning.
I created the LooBoy brand in 2017! My focus was to be able to provide a dope, fresh & colorful look for people at an affordable cost. I wanted to do all the work myself so I learned how to screen press to help cut out the middle to help keep cost low. I was able to sell over 3,220 items of merchandise made from my own hands. Tie dye product I had to outsource for but it has served me well throughout the years. I wanted to bring tie dye back and use it a barrier breaker. If I could create a vibrant style shirt that everyone could love then, it has the potential to take off all across the world. Every design is different but dope. Just like every single one of us.
How about pivoting – can you share the story of a time you’ve had to pivot?
A time when I have had to pivot within my business & career was quite they experience for me. After living in Waterloo, IA. A great state and city to start your small business. I grew successful within my community with my product. I was mentoring the youth within the city, performing and hosting at all the local event in the states and outside the states. My business was booming due to me becoming more relevant year to year. However, Iowa was an amazing place to life, it just wasn’t the state I felt I could pursue my music career. So I took a year, to put a plan together with my DJ to move to a state that we felt was a great landing station to create a new buzz for us. We wanted to move somewhere that wasn’t over saturated with talent, but still had the scenery, famous music artist coming through the state & a places that was still on the rise. So we chose to move to Colorado September of 2019!
At this point, in Waterloo for a few years I was blessed with a store front location where my business began to grow traction and floor. My plan of hiring someone was a success & I planned for the store to running successfully in my absence of moving to Colorado. The first few months went well, but after not seeing me at my own store for a while people slowly stop wanting to come in. Later we learned through a survey, people wanted to full experience of seeing me, talking with me, being posted on my social media and more. After I left, a lot of them felt like that was no more.
However, I still felt it was important to be engaged with my family, friends & fans. After closing our store, we were finally able to get our website up and running that allow me to still engage with our fanbase & create better opportunities to be involved with the people.
Contact Info:
- Website: WeActive.org
- Instagram: @OfficialWesBMusic
- Facebook: @OfficialWesB
- Twitter: @OfficialWesB
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@OfficialWesB/featured
Image Credits
@HonShotIt