We had the good fortune of connecting with Dre Period and we’ve shared our conversation below.
Hi Dre, what was your thought process behind starting your own business?
Honestly, I was sick as a dog inside my college dorm room and graduation was an imminent and I didn’t dig too many of the jobs I had lined up for me. I knew that upon leaving my university, I needed to be leaving with something more than a sheet of paper that proved my attendance and participation in academia. I needed a foothold I could stand on, grow through, and believe in once I graduated. And low and behold, Tha HuEmans was created.
Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
In terms of art focus, I make music, I perform, I do video, I do graphic design work, and I curate a variety show as well as other creative events. When it comes to my art, I center it around bringing different concepts of joy into art. Now thats not to say, I don’t have content that leans more on the melancholy side, it just means that the underlying focus of my art in some way shape or form has to deal with joy. Be it embracing it, describing it, the pursuit of joy, the lack of it, etc… I got to where I am professionally today through networking, willpower, and consistency. It was definitely not an easy journey. There are so many times where, on this journey, I have find myself alone in company. Imposter syndrome is a very real thing, and overcoming that was the key to me moving ahead.
From experiencing all that I have thus far, I have learned some powerful lessons (what I call RealiDREtions) that have and will continue to help shape me into being a better artist, business own, and human being overall. One of the biggest lessons I have taken is to stop creating limitations for myself, especially considering the fact that life itself already takes care of that aspect of things. Creating around the limitations makes the limitations just another tool to use to help manifest your ideas.
Tha huEmans brand strongly adheres to the fact that creativity can save the world just as much as it can change it. Ideas don’t belong to any one type of person, they come from any and everywhere. But all too often, people think that if they don’t have some grand accolade like a piece hanging in a museum, or a showing at a theater or something of that nature, they have no business feeding their creative side. But the brand just wants to emphasize that there is a difference between being an artist and being a creative. The difference is that everybody is creative and anybody can be an artist. The question is, what do you do that makes you you? You answer that question by expressing your huE. Your huE being whatever it is you do that makes you… YOU.
Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
If my best friend was coming to Chicago, we would have a numerous amount of things to do. I would use Monday and take them to the studio for a music session, and then we would go and get some jerk food from Jerk 48 or Aunty Joy’s after. On Tuesday we would stop by the south shore neighborhood of Chicago and go to the Southshore Community Center as well as a few other special locations not too many know about and end the night with an open mic or comedy show going on in the city that night. On Wednesday we would relax and go to brunch in Hyde Park and end the night at The Promontory. On Thursday they would be helping me prepare for the Variety Show I’d be throwing that night and then attend the event. On Friday, we’re going to one of the art shows going on in the city that night and ending the night at Redline VR for some virtual reality gaming in Ravenswood. Then on Saturday we’d to a party in West Loop and Sunday we would have brunch in South Loop.
The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
Every single person I’ve met during my life thus far has helped to bring me to this point in my story. More specifically though, I want to give a very special shoutout to my team and friends Tha Hues for having my back through the highs and the lows and seeing and taking to the vision first, my loved ones for the unyielding support, and my mentors for pushing me into a growth mindset. Without these people behind me, I would be a lot further back in my efforts.
Website: https://linktr.ee/dreperiod
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thahuemans/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/dreperiod
Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kdVW-PectP0&ab_channel=Dre%2CPeriod.
Other: https://www.instagram.com/dreperiod/
Image Credits
VISION NOIRE LLC THA HUEMANS LLC