Exploring Life & Business with Clive Salmon

Today we’d like to introduce you to Clive Salmon.

Hi Clive, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstory.
I was born in Georgetown, Grand Cayman, raised in Brooklyn, NY and developed into my truest self in Atlanta, Georgia.  I’ve worked a wide range or jobs–on Wall Street and have swept floors for a living.  And it has all made me a better person.  I’ve never been one to follow beaten paths and have lived my life paving the unknown.  Living my life that way hasn’t been easy.  It’s been full of hills & valleys.  All of which have served me by helping me identify my gifts and my life purpose.  It has taken me more than half of my life to discover that there is such a thing as intangible gifts! I’ve always been a people-collector and a people-connector. It’s an instinctual gift. One that I finally understand and fully use daily as a manager, producer and rainmaker.

My entertainment career began at Atlanta’s radio station, V-103 (https://www.audacy.com/v103) as an intern in their Promotions department. During my Junior year at Morehouse College, I crafted a plan to work in all four areas of the industry that interested me before I graduated: radio, television, film & theater. The first stop on the journey led me to V-103. It was there that I would meet and secure my first client, Malikha Mallette (https://www.malikhamallette.com/). I didn’t know that talent management was a career, but interning and later working with Malikha established what I loved doing most: helping people live out their dreams–and mine! During my internship, I also began volunteering with PushPush Theater (now known as PushPush Arts (https://www.pushpusharts.com/) and was given the opportunity to produce my first play, Pill Hill. Fast forward several years later, I am now a founding board member and we are creating an Arts Center in College Park.

My 4-pronged career plan led me back to New York because, at the time, Atlanta’s now bustling television and film industry did not exist here. While in New York, I pursued opportunities in both fields. I was often told that I had to pick a lane: television OR film. I didn’t believe that I had to choose, so I simply didn’t listen. My career credits are full with both television and film projects an assistant accountant and as a producer. I ignored the naysayers and created my own career path and I love it all. My life mantra is: Don’t talk yourself out. Talk yourself IN.

As a talent & literary manager within THORO Artists, it is the perfect merge of all of my interests & intangible talents. The Netflix documentary, The Black Godfather, about mentor and rainmaker Clarence Avant, was the first time I could visually identify how I saw myself internally. People collecting and connecting is not a tangible skill set. At its core, it is relationship management. Clarence Avant’s story helped me hone and appreciate my ability to herd bees to honey. Avant’s story is a version of my own life story. I aspire to mentor and support creatives at all phases of their careers.

I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle free, but so far would you say the journey have been a fairly smooth road?
Obstacle is not a word I identify with. I love learning, growing and doing “the impossible”. Knocking down walls and creating “that which has never done” and revealing things unknown is what drives me. Tell me it can’t or hasn’t been done, and I will 9 out 10 times choose that path just to prove myself right. LOL

Talent management and producing is wrought with daily unknowns. On the surface, it is mind-reading, advising & counseling. Peel all that back, and it is often a constantly moving navigation & rollercoaster maze of what your clients want and need.

Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your business?
My work is spread across multiple businesses and is simple: I am a lifelong lover of storytellers who manages talented people and helps creatives bring their words to life.  As a freelance assistant accountant, I work on movies and television shows.  Additionally, my Morehouse brother Adam Sean Bailey, and I founded our production company, companyX, LLC and have several projects in development and production.

Current THORO client list:
Okema T. Moore, writer/director/actress
Shaun M Mathis, writer/director
Langston Williams, director
Daniel R. Green, writer

Current companyX client list:
Mary Browning Rodgers, writer/actress
JER’MAINE, songwriter/artist/actor

Can you talk to us a bit about the role of luck?
Society often says that luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity. My personal definition of luck is intuition. We all have internal voices that talk to us all day, every day. When your gut says: call soandso, go to thisorthat and you LISTEN, usually that is “luck” nudging you toward what you desire and deserve. Taking action and moving toward what your internal voice whispers sparks and ignites what many call luck! Luck is created when you move toward what you desire. Get up, out and DO the work! Luck is waiting to reward you for your movement.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.thoroartists.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/cliveejsalmon/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thoro.artists
• Other: https://www.linkedin.com/in/cliveejsalmon/