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

Yumi, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Let’s kick things off with your mission – what is it and what’s the story behind why it’s your mission?

In the beginning, I began a brand “NOVEM” it’s the number 9 in Latin, but when you look deeper into the number it symbolizes many things such as; death & rebirth, transformation, completion, and moving on to the next level in life. Most importantly it symbolized freedom to be whoever you want, whenever you want. If you don’t like who you are today kill off those expectations and any ego attached to it and start over. When i was in the homestretch of getting everything authorized, trademarked and really making it come to life, i hit a bump. The name NOVEM was trademarked by a Corportation who specialized in windows, yes the glass ones. I felt stuck because half of my life i believed in NOVEM and everything it stood for. I remember sitting in my apartment in downtown Cleveland losing my mind behind this and my partner, Gogo says “think of a different way to spell it. Baby you gotta beat the odds and get even.” Hmm, “Beat the odds and get even” B.T.O.G.E. she lives by that, it resonates with me and reminded me of Novem. That’s when we brought new life to B.T.O.G.E. As stated before, B.T.O.G.E. simply means beat the odds and get even. Whatever odds are stacked against you they do not define you, nor dictate your outcome; You have to beat them settle the score and make them even.

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.

My name is Yumi, YumiSoCute. i am an alternative music artist, frontman, fashion designer, and people may not know this but also a chef. I call my sound alternative because i don’t like being put into a box. Some songs may remind you of your favorite Kittie song while others may be screams over a heavy drum and bass beat. I grew up making music, surrounded by it actually. My older sister who practically raised me was always into something, whether she was singing in the bathroom, freestyling with her friends in the living room, or in her room with 3 monitors and multiple computer drives working with people from all over the world through yahoo, I was there in the middle, literally sitting in her lap. The first song I ever learned to sing was “I’ll be there” by Micheal Jackson and the first time i was ever recorded was by my sister on one of her songs when i was like 7. In retrospect I grew up battle rapping, freestyling and singing but i always had a love for MTV. My sister wonders where this alternative brat came from, but little does she know it started when she introduced me to Evanescence. In high school, my best friend at the time was my biggest supporter. She was alternative, she played guitar, and she screamed, she taught me a lot about screaming and introduced me to a lot of bands a little black girl in the south would hardly ever hear. She would watch me freestyle and one day she was like “dude! let’s go to the studio.” and she paid for my first ever professional recordings. I left home at 17 right after graduation and started my journey to New Orleans. When moving to the city it was to open me up as an artist and help me grow into a better one and it did. I was able to be free and find my true self. I got into a pretty toxic relationship and lost my voice and the sense of self i worked so hard for. While on the journey trying to find me again i released 3 songs, all three were different sounds, a club song, a hyper pop song, and a trap metal song. Everyone liked them, not me I archived them all. My life changed and with the change I couldn’t make music the same it didn’t feel genuine like my feelings weren’t being felt through song and that’s when I chose to switch up my sound. I personally feel like vocalist in bands get to have more intimate connections with their music and i wanted that so i went for it.

Is there mission driving your creative journey?

The thing driving me, and our brand is our background and everything we’ve been through and came from. We never had the upper hand, i grew up poor, without much parental support. Everyone expected me to be in jail, or dead, you would’ve too if you got to see the cards that were dealt. My girlfriend is a two-time convicted felon, everyone looks at her like a number not as the beautiful soul she is. When people face adversities, society likes to bind them to that, but we are here to let you know, no matter what they think, no matter what they say, no matter what they do, you are the only one that can make the difference in your life you need to get even. Maybe you did fuck up, maybe you did fail, that’s okay because at any moment you can change your fate. Now understand when the odds stack against you, it will not be easy but it is worth the fight. To beat the odds and get even is to choose the path for yourself no one thought was possible for people like us. B.T.O.G.E. is the brand for all underdogs, even the broken ones, we are the hope that people are still searching for.

We’d love to hear about how you met your business partner.

It’s an odd story, my business partner is also my life partner. It started off how things start in this day in age and that was the internet. We followed each other, but never interacted with each other. In time I realized we shared mutual friends. One day in Cleveland I went to a bar and seen Gogo for the first time we were playing around slamming each other into pool tables and stuff, but nothing came of it. A couple of months passed by, I was trying out dating (hated it) she asked me out and I said “NO”. Then a few weeks later some crazy stuff happened to her, at the time our mutual friend was living with me and she asked if she could come stay with us for a bit. She was crashing on my couch and one day and I was watching her and I wanted to make her day better, so I asked her on a date (I know how that sounds but I genuinely wanted to make her happy and stress free and love her). The rest was history. She is so creative, talented, and most importantly fearless. She teaches me to bring things to life instead of thinking of it. B.T.O.G.E. was truly hers before we met, she lived by that every day, and when the doors closed to NOVEM she opened the doors to our new brand, project, and journey which is B.T.O.G.E.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: yumissocute
• Youtube: YUMISOCUTE<3
• Soundcloud: YUMISOCUTE<3
• Other: YUMISOCUTE<3 on all platforms

Image Credits

Sarah Smile Photography (@sarahsmile_photo)