Today we’d like to introduce you to Michael Hawthorne Jr.
Alright, so thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?
Back in 2021, towards the end of the year, I was working with a music artist and landed in the studio with Atlanta’s premier and billboard-topping super music producer, Mr Hanky. And as the studio session went on, he realized that I didn’t look like the typical rap artist manager and asked what I did and I explained that by trade, I’m an environmentalist and that I worked on climate and energy policy issues. And I immediately saw his facial expression change with shock as he explained that I didn’t look like a typical environmentalist.
At the same time that this was happening, I was in the climax of trying to figure out this idea I had brewing inside of me. It was more of a question that I’ve been trying to answer for years through my years of working in the environmental movement which was how do we accelerate getting Black people participating in the decisions about their energy.
The movement even today despite the rapid expansion of electric vehicles, sustainable fashion, and smart homes is still lacking serious adoption in Black communities so I wanted to change this.
And as me Mr. Hanky kept talking, he asked the magical question that changed everything. He asked “What would it looked like if got I involved?” and that’s when it clicked for us, it became crystal clear to me that we needed to make Clean Energy a cultural lifestyle and that’s when Klean Energy Kulture was birthed.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
While it seems like an eternity, given that we have less than seven years to mitigate the pollution, especially from our utilities, according to the IPCC’s most recent report, things have taken off fairly fast, and we anticipated that it would go even faster. We spent the first year just having an endless amount of conversations with community leaders, music artists and execs, philanthropic foundations, climate tech entrepreneurs to the White House and Corporate Execs.
I guess what has been the pain of challenges is getting funding. Even with what we were and the excitement that we carried, it was still not enough for folks to start writing checks. So to get around this, I stopped reaching out to funders and decided that I would have our team concentrate on our why, which was the people were trying to serve Black pop culture. So to do that, I told the team “How about we just launch our first campaign and just start doing the work”. From there, I came up with the idea of lets launch the “Electrify the Club” which immediately caught the attention of folks who heard the name of the campaign.
We launched the pilot event and at Rose & Rye Rooftop Bar sponsored by Uber who provided codes for people to pull up to the club in premium comfort electric vehicles and it was a whole vibe. It didn’t take me long to realize that we were on to something big.
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know?
Klean Energy Kulture is a not-for-profit environmental lifestyle entertainment company leading the charge to position clean energy as a Black pop culture lifestyle.
We produce dope music-influencer campaigns and PSAs that drive demand for clean energy within Black pop culture.
What makes it so different is that we are actually producing music (which our first song is coming soon) and experiences that actually make this clean energy thing cool and hit like a brand. The climate movement has approached things always from a grassroots campaign organizing framework, which is cool, but it’s not going to activate the culture in the time frame we need folks to be engaged, so our approach is to approach it from a consumer standpoint and make it desirable.
And what can I say; it’s working, and it’s like we damn near created a movement. Our fans and supporters are literally beating down our door to get involved, which in my ten years in the environmental experience have never seen that….. ever.
So, for those who have been curious about what this clean energy thing is about, we are the perfect hub to come connect with. We are literally the translators that make it make sense for everybody.
Can you talk to us a bit about the role of luck?
I feel like it hasn’t been so much the luck, but it’s been the seeds along the way that I had to plant that is just now starting to sprout that has got me to this point in my life. I lost a lot along the way, and it’s been scary for me at times, and there have been moments where I asked myself what am I doing.
But I never gave up, and I knew that I couldn’t turn around, given the nature of how Klean Energy Kulture was taking off. I had nights where I felt crushed and didn’t know what to do but pray. If it wasn’t for my faith pushing me through the unknown, I couldn’t say I would be here. The higher this thing went, it just seemed like the pressure just got more intense. But I started back running, doing yoga and doing things to keep me grounded.
So I can’t call it luck, I just call it tenacity. And I’m so glad to be where we are.
Contact Info:
- Website: kleanenergykulture.com
- Instagram: kleanenergykulture
- Linkedin: kleanenergykulture
Image Credits
Dominque Baker (The Drone Goat) – (pictures with the step and repeat) Mercedes in backdrop – akache marcino Profile picture in blue with black hat – Eboni Key
