From Centre Stage to behind the scene: how rapper Remar went corporate
In recent research on startup businesses, I realized that so many are being started by young professionals — dentists, doctors, attorneys, aeronautical engineers. I even highlighted one in my most recent article for this publication, a young dentist who started a creative business in the self-care industry.
This week, however, I had the chance to speak with a young creative who did the opposite and launched an agency that broke him into the corporate world, moving him from center stage to behind the curtain of some of the largest companies.
Dominic Remar Weekes, better known under his stage name Remar, is a Guyanese artiste who has already been able to command and conquer the performing arts. Over the span of his career, he has honed his craft, working with the likes of Timeka Marshall, Jacki Jaxx, Kes, Konshens, Chinese Kitty, Grammy Award Winning Producer Izy Beats, and production duo “Wallis Lane” out of Los Angeles.
On the Performing Arts in Guyana
“My experience as an artiste in Guyana has been both challenging and interesting. Creatives struggle to find a place to fit in here, in Guyana. My pursuit to make it in music on a global level has always been seen as a pipe dream by most people here until maybe about 5 years ago. We lack most of the fundamental things that make up an industry, like laws to protect your intellectual property. Beyond that, revenue from music is unpredictable and slow. Being able to earn a comfortable living from something I love was important. I love creating, so the natural step was to find a way to monetize my creativity. If not through music, then by channeling it in some other way.”
So on June 19, 2020, at the height of a global pandemic, Weekes decided to channel his creativity into the world of business, launching Meridian Concepts, a Creative Consulting Agency. In their first year of operations, Meridian Concepts has serviced and is on retainer for some of the largest corporations in Guyana, including, ExxonMobil, GTT, Beepat’s, and most recently the Ministry of Human Services and Social Security.
So, what does a creative consultant do?
I will not lie, I googled it. One of the definitions I found really clarified the role for me, it said that the creative consultant balances the commercial viability of a project against the goals or creative elements of the project. So, in layman’s terms, they use art or a mixture of art forms to make you money.
Meridian Concepts really takes a holistic approach to a company’s creative needs, “At its core, Meridian Concepts Listens to, translates, challenges, supports, and ultimately executes the creative ideas of brands and businesses ‘, says Weekes. “We handle everything from creating television and radio ads, voiceovers, writing jingles, conceptualizing ideas for billboards, posters, and other printed marketing material, public relations, and
Dominic Remar Weekes Rapper Founder of Meridian Concepts
brand image consultancy.”
Weekes married his innate creativity with his life and work experience, to birth not just an interesting business concept, but a viable and lucrative one at that. While creatives, particularly in Guyana, are forced to do it for the love, it must be incredibly satisfying to be able to generate ideas and work that creative muscle while making a living.