27 Nov 2019 An Energy Focused Entrepreneur DJs His Way to a Sustainable Business
by Adebola Malike Adigun, owner, Curate Entertainment
Note: This is part of a series of columns written by members of the Second Muse cohort working in partnership with the Southwest Florida Community Foundation in Collaboratory. SecondMuse is a company that helps support and nurture “homegrown” entrepreneurs. These are people from our community that are working hard to establish or grow businesses here in our neighborhoods. They have identified needs in our marketplace and are standing up companies to meet them, while strengthening our community. SecondMuse and the Foundation believe that people are the core of our economy and that is an important step in Southwest Florida philanthropy, to help people establish businesses here, to create jobs here and keep the talent and enterprise here.
To put it simply, SWFL saved my life and I intend to pour that same life back into it. If you would have met me 15 years ago and someone told you that I, Malike Adigun, would have built one of the largest most requested entertainment companies in SWFL you might have laughed at them.
As a child, if there was one thing I was known for it was the large amount of energy I displayed on a daily basis. The hard part about it was that that energy was not being channeled into positive ways. For this reason the school system intended to put me in an alternative learning center. My now deceased, amazing mother Olayinka Akingbade decided to move me and my older brother to Cape Coral, FL. for a better life.
This changed everything, and gave me a new perspective on myself, my life and what I could do with it. I realized that the same energy could now be channeled into positive and life-giving things. This is when I started a journey to love and build up this beautiful place we call Southwest Florida. When I first got here, there was constant negative talk about how “uncool” or “uncultured” this place was. I constantly saw people move away with the excuse that there wasn’t enough life here. Or that it wasn’t fun. It frustrated me to see talented and creative people leave this area.
I started DJ-ing weddings and private events my senior year in high-school. I fell in love with weddings specifically because of the difference I felt I was able to make in people’s stories. I would forever be stamped in their life because of the energy, joy, fun and excitement I was able to bring on their big day. Fast forward to 2015, I was doing 75 weddings a year. It helped pay my way through college, after my mother and father passed away, after I graduated high school. From 2015 to 2019, I was pouring my energy into way too many things at once. I was ambitious and didn’t have a focus. I was trying to solve too many problems at once.
At this time, I got connected with the team over at SecondMuse and they were able to help me focus in on what I was really after. It wasn’t an easy process though. We had numerous tough meetings where they challenged me to pinpoint my vision, mission and what results I actually wanted to see come from all of my hard work. I knew I needed to focus my energy on my strength and what was working for me. Working with them has helped me do just that.
Fast forward to today. That focus I found, has propelled me to finally launching my company Curate Entertainment. It currently consists of 8 DJ’s, multiple musicians and bands that bring life to our area with high quality entertainment and culture. We provide people the best day of their lives by creating environments that are fun and filled with energy. I believe we add large amounts of love and pride to this town by filling the voids of boredom…by filling dancefloors. Whether it’s throwing silent disco parties at Millennial Brewery or making people dance at weddings, we’re committed to bringing fun and energy to no matter what occasion. We pride ourselves on 3 things: Fun, a custom client experience and high-quality service. All we want is to raise the bar on all forms of entertainment for private and public events. People come to us because they want to have fun at their events.
What I’ve learned is that. It’s all about what you do with the energy and gifts you have. You can channel energy into negative things, like how I did as a kid; or you can channel that energy into a town you love, a dance floor or someone’s special moment. But sometimes you need someone like SecondMuse to come alongside you to help you channel that energy and direct it into building something so life giving, just like Curate Entertainment.
About SecondMuse and its Partnership with the Southwest Florida Community Foundation
SecondMuse is an international company that collaborates with visionary governments, corporations, foundations and startups to build 21st-century economies. At the core of our economies are people, communities and networks. From Brooklyn to Bali, our programs span geographies, sectors and size of business. We tackle essential challenges in manufacturing, energy, capital, education, mental health, data, civic engagement, food, blockchain, disaster risk and more around the world. Located in Collaboratory and in partnership with the Southwest Florida Community Foundation, SecondMuse launched in February 2019 and is currently working with its first cohort of local entrepreneurs.
