We recently connected with Wesley “WallStreet Wes” Robinson and have shared our conversation below.
Hi Wesley “WallStreet Wes”, thanks for joining us today. Was there a defining moment in your professional career? A moment that changed the trajectory of your career?
A defining moment In my professional career was when I was looking to transition the mission of my poetry company (Great Minds Think Different ) into the direction of mental health. I had been searching and studying for months on how to enter the field only to feel like I was hitting brick wall after brick wall. Everyone kept telling me that I needed to go to school, but in my gut I felt that school couldn’t teach what I know. I felt strongly that I had a gift for teaching poetry to become psychologically liberated. What changed the trajectory of my career was on a beautiful Friday morning, I was at my therapist getting council as I always do. In conversation my therapist made a slight mention that she majored in poetry in college. I went on to tell her that I was in the Poetry business. From that conversation, I was able to propose to give the facility a free trial of my ability to tailor a poetry class centered around recovery and self esteem. The program quickly became a success . The execution of my program propelled me exactly in the direction that I was searching for . Since then my company has been contracted by the likes of Cleveland Clinic and Other mental health based organizations as well as Ohio penitentiaries..
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.
For anyone who doesn’t know me , my name is Wesley Robinson but everyone calls me Wallstreet Wes because of how I invest in people. I am a professional poet and the founder of “ Great Minds Think Different media LLC which is a social enterprise. How I came to be a professional poet was , when I was 21 years old I was sentenced to 10 mandatory years in prison for aggravated robbery. During that time I wrote poems for my girlfriend at the time in hopes that I would write a poem good enough to make her want to stick by my side during my sentence. Even though she left, I never stopped writing poetry. I served my time by teaching other prisoners poetry in hopes to help them have better communication skills as an alternative to being violent. I did this at every institution that I was housed . During my last four years I created a poetry program that was a huge success . Because of this program I became the first ever Poets Laureate of the prison system. I still hold this spot to this day . When I was released from prison I tried a few different careers trying to find myself. After feeling like I wasn’t getting anywhere in those fields I gave the poetry business a chance . In the beginning I just felt taken advantage of by different business owners who felt that poets didn’t hold any value to actually be paid for our craft. I went back to the drawing board to come up with a new game plan. At the time I was going through a personal roller coaster psychologically and had the idea to focus my poetry on the mental health of people who have been to prison . I went a whole year financially broke building my company up to standard to be recognized in the world of mental health. Now my company creates poetry programs for different institutions for the mental health of justice involved people. Through poetry I help clients navigate through everyday life issues that may paralyze them psychologically.
What I am most proud of is that I am able to service people just like me. I can understand them in a way that people who have not had the experience will. I can now provide a unique way to provide them the help that didn’t exist before my company was founded. Recently my company has expanded by creating tailored poetry programs for youth and young adults that creates a conversational bridge between them and their parents . Outside of creating tailored poetry programs , I also travel the world sharing the poetry that I wrote while in incarcerated and my story of triumph in hopes to uplift and inspire . My company is open to be contracted any where in the world .
Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?
For 7 years I offered my services for free around the United States . Because I was informally trained and self taught I had no actual proof that I was well educated at being able to merge poetry with mental health. I rarely turned down any opportunities to showcase my niche for poetry . The only opportunities that I turned down were opportunities that didn’t line up with my morals and values . I spent years trying to build a team around me but was unsuccessful. Everyone that I tried to partner with came to the table with their own idea of how my company should be ran instead of taking the time out to see what I’ve been building so far over the years . On my own I stayed diligent and was convinced that I was on the right path.I experienced every emotion of defeat and fatigue but I genuinely felt like I was on a divine course. In my pursuit I went broke and had to start my life all over 15 times . In August of 2023 my company started earning the kind of revenue that I could truly be proud of .
Putting training and knowledge aside, what else do you think really matters in terms of succeeding in your field?
For me , outside of my knowledge and training , what really helps me to succeed is my compassion for people. I spend most days making sure that my heart and mind are healthy so that I can give people an example of what it looks like to be healthy mentally . My motto is that people don’t care about what you know until they know that you care. What helps me navigate through all of the hurdles is my true ce and concern for people .
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