Today we’d like to introduce you to Sean Rush.
Sean, please share your story with us. How did you get to where you are today?
The story starts with my move to Atlanta when I was 18 from my hometown Milwaukee, Wisconsin. I originally moved to attend Morehouse college as a biology pre-med major. After taking a few courses in Biology, I quickly realized that it was not a true passion for me. I heard on the radio one day this new hip-hop station was starting.
It was, in fact, Atlanta’s first hip-hop station Hot 107.9 WHTA. I had no radio experience at all, and me and my best friend who is now my business partner Kenton decided we would go to an event they were holding and ask to work for the station. We corned the marketing and promotions director Leonard Mcgee and begged him to give us a chance.
During our internship interview, it was about 100 degrees outside and the station barely had air conditioning on old national. He purposely left us in his office while he went to lunch and took another meeting to sit for 2 hours. I remember being so hot, but we refused to leave because he said he was coming right back. When he came back and saw us sitting there hot and sweaty, he gave us the internship. He said he told his peers if we stayed in the office when he got back we had what it took to make it in this industry.
We worked there for a couple of years, some notable people that started there at the same time was Lala Anthony and Ludacris at the time Chris Luva luva. We all came up together through that station.
I eventually got noticed from the people at Harris Publication who had just started a hip-hop magazine called “XXL”. I became the Southeast rep for the magazine. Myself and Kenton. Our mission was to grow the magazine through events, parties, and networking. This was before the internet was poppin so people didn’t even know about the magazine they were familiar with the Source. But XXL was fresher the writing was better and the photos were better. So we would hit cities like Nashville, Memphis, New Orleans, Atlanta, Miami and take the mag on the road and build up the presence.
After that, a group of guys was starting to bubble with this new clothing line called “Enyce” and “Lady Enyce”. They saw what I was doing with XXL mag and wanted me to do work for them. I quickly became the rep for the line in the SouthEast under my mentors Chaka Wilson and Tony Shellman (look them up pioneers in the fashion industry). They taught me some of the most valuable lessons on marketing and fashion and event planning.
My life got really regular around this time, I decided to take up corporate life and work Bellsouth and then my life changing job was at a company called Career Education Corporation working in the marketing department.
Adversity hit me hard not only financially but also my identity. I had been working in the quote unquote “industry” for over ten years moving and shaking and now life lead me to a cubicle wearing khakis. The 2009 crash forced me to move to Chicago as my job consolidated positions. During this time I was promoted up in the marketing department and began managing over 15 million in marketing and advertisement budget per year. Eventually, I moved up to lead the marketing department and manage a 36 million dollar budget. I launched many multi-million dollar national branding campaigns. I learned so much on this job but felt I was missing the excitement of the industry. Now that I was financially stable I jumped back in the industry and started a magazine with my former partner Treagen entitled “KISS”. The publication was a high-end publication that focused on African-Americans in the fashion industry, models, designers, stylist, and industry trendsetters. It is amazing to see publications now using people of color to push magazines, we were doing that years ago before it became trendy. The core team from KISS Magazine: Charles Thomas, Tony Cash, Keaira Monique, Davielle Chandler, Candice Johnson all are doing very well in their fields. We knew we had something special and wish we could continue, but the print industry is losing steam so we decided to stop the printing of the magazine.
My corporate job laid me off in 2015 and this is where the next phase of my life begins. Over the last three years, I have been building several companies. My holding company “East Locust” invests in smaller promising companies. Our marketing company MODI Group focuses on Branding and Marketing strategy. We work with several companies in a variety of ways. Our production company Park Hill Multimedia focuses on content creation and full-service productions. The future is promising; I have never been as optimistic as I am now. Being an entrepreneur is an up and down battle, you can’t meme your way to success and you have to be mentally tuff. I’ve always said,”In order to truly be great, you need to have a deep-rooted Faith into something higher than self. On everybody’s journey to the top you to the top you will ask the question “is this something I REALLY am supposed to do?”
We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
Some of the challenges that I have faced is validation. In today’s social media climate people check your social profiles before they decide how to deal with you. Follow count is important or the body of work on social media. This is just the era we are in, it is the new resume but in a digital form.
I have had to adjust and get with the program. A lot of people from my generation have not adjusted well and they say negative things; however, I love the internet and the possibilities it has especially for business.
So let’s switch gears a bit and go into the MODI Group story. Tell us more about the business.
East Locust Ventures – Venture capital firm that invests in small businesses with financial and the tools needed to grow them.
MODI Group – Branding and Marketing agency that focuses on strategy and digital marketing campaigns.
Park Hill – Full-service production company that focuses on content creation and full-service productions.
What sets us apart from others is that we are a one-stop shop for all things business.
Has luck played a meaningful role in your life and business?
I honestly don’t believe in luck, but let’s just say there is this thing that is called “Luck” or “God’s Timing”. Whatever we want to label it. I will say that there have been times when bad luck has struck me but through it, valuable lessons have been learned to set me up better. Good luck has played a role in the sense of momentum. I recall we were working a job with Park Hill and it just so happened to have one of our now biggest clients on set. If we never would have taken that job, we wouldn’t have met one of our biggest clients who today we are so grateful for.
Contact Info:
- Address: 384 Northyards Blvd., Suite #190
Atlanta, GA 30313 - Website: http://www.modigroupllc.com
- Phone: 6785953757
- Email: seanrush@modigroupllc.com
- Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/seanmrush
- Other: http://www.parkhillmultimedia.com
Image Credit:
Andrew Thomas Clifton – Personal Photo
Christopher Jamar Payne – photo image at the bottom
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