IAM262- Creative Provides Cultural Exploration Experience Specializing in Dance Fitness

Chermika Farkwar is the creative behind an organization which has created a vibrant community based on her life story and cultural expertise.

This was a live recording at the PurpleCon event.

• CEO Hack: Waveapp for accounting
• CEO Nugget: (1) Don't be afraid to fail (2) Be focused and flexible
• CEO Defined: Chief everything officer

Website: https://www.sokatribe.com/

Facebook: https://web.facebook.com/sokanista/?_rdc=1&_rdr
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sokatribe/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/sokatribe

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Intro 0:02

Do you want to learn effective ways to build relationships, generate sales and grow your business from successful entrepreneurs, startups, and CEOs without listening to a long, long, long interview? If so, you've come to the right place. Gresham Harkless values your time and is ready to share with you precisely the information you're in search of. This is the I AM CEO Podcast.

Gresham Harkless 0:26

Hello, hello, hello. This is Gresham from the I AM CEO Podcast and I have a very special guest on the show today. Chermika Farkwar of Soka Tribe. Chermika it is awesome out of the show!

Chermika Farkwar 0:36

Huh? Question was? Gresham is talking so fast, I can barely hear. I'm really excited to be here as well.

Gresham Harkless 0:44

Well, I have such a laser focus podcast, I have to talk really fast. So I can make sure that everybody hears all the awesome things that you're doing. So I know you're here at PurpleCon, and I want to hear how the event was going.

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Chermika Farkwar 0:45

PurpleCon is going really awesome. We just had a panel about storytelling. And I think a creative who likes my product is based on people being engaged in my why. And my story was just really powerful to hear a variety of entrepreneurs talk about the power of story and brand building.

Gresham Harkless 1:10

Absolutely. I think the story is you know, one of the biggest things that a lot of people usually start out with because it helps it correct me if I'm wrong, kind of build that emotional connection with somebody because you kind of hear exactly what they're going through.

Chermika Farkwar 1:21

Yep. And that's what people identify with. Because there's always another competitor or another choice, but only like you can be used so the better you are at telling your story or folks, the more likely you connect with your right consumer

Gresham Harkless 1:31

Makes perfect sense. So now I'm gonna put you on the hot seat. I want to hear what I call your CEO story since we're talking about stories. All right.

Chermika Farkwar 1:39

My CEO story started It's gonna be for You three weeks ago, started actually with Solutions by SF which was initially called Spring Forward Solutions, but Solutions by SF was the cheaper domain at the time. Talking about being an entrepreneur eight dollars, two G's, okay, here we go.

And I kept saying I'm going to change it and just hadn't happened. So Solution by SF, the goal was to be a growth strategy consultant focusing on taking whether it be an individual or an organization to the next level. So I don't know if you've ever tried to start a consultancy, but it's really based on what your client book looks like. What are basic business profits, but bigger than these costs, the cost of living? Which I'm ringing.

So as I was waiting for this awesome client book to build, I started doing something on the side. I was like, I'm gonna teach a dance fitness class to Soka Music because I'm actually an important part of my story. I'm a Brooklyn-born Trinidadian, what does that mean both of my parents were born and raised in Allah Trinidad, I grew up in Brooklyn, very much immersed in the culture.

And I just thought that was normal. Like, literally, it took I was in my 30s when I moved to DC, and I was just like, Wait, this isn't every day. tween time I'm no longer in, I would say the community of a workplace. I'm 30, something in a new city. So just trying to build these connections and not having that sense of home was really homesick.

So I'm gonna teach this class and what I realized, like, Well, I'm gonna get my fix Soka, whoever likes Soka Music is likely to show up. And fitness is a very, I would say accessible thing. Like, we don't need everybody to be the best dancer. We're just here to try and have a good time or you want to ever so often, I'm just going to do lists until I get this client book right.

Fast forward four years later, most people call me Soka niece, or Soka tribe upon meeting me. No one knows anything about Solutions by SF. I've taught in five countries, and 15 cities around the world. And it's just it took lifelong to film. And so that's the abridged version, now, possibly question.

Gresham Harkless 3:42

No, I absolutely love that I love because a lot of times I feel like some of the best business organizations are started because somebody is looking for something and then you realize that that's not here. So let me create it for myself. And then all of a sudden, you started telling one or two people and then they're like, Oh, I really want to do that. And next thing, you know, you have a business, yes, kind of overlap.

Chermika Farkwar 3:58

It's exactly what happened. And the interesting thing about it, and I would say the artist's printer, the creative in me, I just let it let the community kind of drive where things were going as well as how I was shifting. So as I got more into the dance space the fitness and dance spaces, I started dancing when I was four. And it's one of those things like I want the complete corporate role, like I was a management consultant to the big top form, like all of that. So I like to let that go to the side.

So now I'm back in his creative space, and I want to perform again. So I started so well, trying and converting, which is our performed division. And what's interesting is you'd be surprised how many adults had that love for dance and are willing to put in the time and effort. So right now, the convoy is 30 adults, and when I say adults, our youngest member is maybe 26.

Gresham Harkless 4:47

Awesome

Chermika Farkwar 4:48

Full-time jobs show up. Like last year, for example, we got to perform at the Kennedy Center right it's just about being dedicated to this idea of the Soka Tribe being in the community because that's where it started, right? I was homesick People want this class, I'm going to teach this class and like, I want more, and there's an appetite for more this community, it just started to flourish. Thinking about what's the meaning and the impact, I also started to be like, Why is carnival so important to me?

So I grew up in the mass camp, right? And, you know, I would say, I want to scream like we show our language of love is like service and working on things together. My dad had a mass camp, and we would all like the whole community and one for the community, like in terms of the pumpkin vine, uncles, and friends and family who work in the math camp.

Gresham Harkless 5:30

And what's a mass camp?

Chermika Farkwar 5:31

I was just about to say, welcome the mass camp, which is it's the actual quote, like the workshop or the site where these bands are the organizations that provide costumes for Carnival, that's where they congregate. That's where the building happens. From the olden day, things are changing a bit now. But that's what I grew up in, right? So like, every summer has the down hours and hours. And then you know, in New York, it happens around Labor Day. As a huge West Indian Day Parade, we get on the roll, and we're in our costumes.

Gresham Harkless 5:57

I've been there.

Chermika Farkwar 6:00

So it's just interesting. I started to then and again, like when you start to have the space to ask the questions and the room to grow in this creative way. So we had the fitness class and then we went to the convoy and people who it's not just it's a congress, literally open auditions, no experience needed a variety of backgrounds. So people are now being introduced to this culture, and they want to know more.

And I'm starting to ask questions like, Well, why do we do this? How long? How else can I bring this to the forefront? And when I first started teaching, I used to say, I wish I could bring everybody to the carnival with me. But since I can't let me bring a little bit to you.

And then I'm like, what? You know what? I'm proud to say that I am literally on the heels of my first Soka Tribe trip to Carnival Trinidad. That's awesome. So there were 13 of us this year that just passed. We all played math, we did the whole Fenton thing. We went to the reenactments like that, getting the actual insights into how the carnival started.

So it's a whole reenactment the weekend before carnival, it's just like, wow, so this idea of evolution going with the flow, thinking about it from a business perspective, brand extensions, how can we evolve with our customer? What else can we provide that we need? This kind of journey and now we are actually in the space of creating products? So yes, we've done we've been doing gear and T-shirts since like year one.

So that's easy to do. But thinking more so about the educational product, which will speak more to the mission of the brand, which is being a gateway community to the carnival culture, like how can we make sure that we're not losing the heritage by explaining and as we bring people in for the fun, but this is the history behind it. This is why we do these things.

Gresham Harkless 7:37

Right. I love that you said the gateway experience to the carnival culture.

Chermika Farkwar 7:41

Yeah, Gateway Community. Very much like come through come join us because carnival I would say why is it the great show? It's because it's a participatory sport like you need to get it. We're actually going to have a Soka power break after the next panel. So look, I might get actually watching you gotta get into

Gresham Harkless 8:01

Exactly, exactly. And people love that. And, you know, at the end of the day, because I feel like a lot of you know, I'm a big sports junkie, but I feel like the thing about it is just the joy of moving around and having that movement. So you probably same thing with, you know, being able to do soaking dance and things like that. So I wanted to ask you for what I call your secret sauce. And this is for you or your organization. Well, what do you feel kind of sets you apart and makes you unique?

Chermika Farkwar 8:21

I think my individual secret sauce is my story. So as alike, all the unique things that have brought me here, so I came into an industry that someone considers saturated in terms of the dance fitness market, so I have dance training, but I also have the cultural expertise, because I grew up doing these things for years, right? So I had that instinct, credibility.

My first job out of college was that Entertainment Weekly in their marketing department. So I had like, you're gonna put this push this marketing like I'm, I am nobody to Misty Copeland. However, I know, like, just from a marketing-like messaging perspective, like making sure that I'm putting a lot of me genuinely into the story. And I also think, being that transparent of why it started because I literally thought because I miss my people. And then what came to me were people who were also like, I want to connect Yeah, and it doesn't hurt that we are blazing in the studio burning up a sweat.

And here's a secret. I was like, I am not the one that's crazy about the workout. Like I like to live like this. We have to do these things. Which is also just very so good. Tribe workout is meant for the people who like to look the same as what I'm trying to do, but I'm gonna get the back like you know what I mean

Gresham Harkless 9:35

Always say take the L for the W

Chermika Farkwar 9:37

Exactly. And so I think that evolved into how the brand was able to be like recognized and just like then it was attracting so now they think about the brand, that consistency let people know what they're gonna get when it comes to their tribe. I do have two other instructors who are brought on and as I'm trying to grow with them, I've grown slowly from a staff perspective because I'm really big on the culture right because The culture if we go back to the unique art part of our secret sauce is what we're offering to people.

So I didn't want to dilute and grow too fast. So I'm literally right now battling through what's the right way to bring on more people into that space. And I think about the convoys, a whole bunch of people who are gonna be around, they don't get it, right? So in a perfect world, you come to class, you roll up like I'm gonna teach you.

Gresham Harkless 10:25

Exactly exactly what we'll see, yeah, we'll see what happens. But no, it definitely makes perfect sense. You want to make sure to maintain that culture and the vision that you have for your organization, I haven't stepped out. And that's always kind of like the hard balance when always bringing more people on.

Chermika Farkwar 10:38

Yep.

Gresham Harkless 10:38

That makes sense. So I wanted to switch gears a little bit and ask you for what I call a CEO hack. And this might be an app or a book or a habit that you have, but something that makes you more effective and efficient.

Chermika Farkwar 10:47

I love wave apps, let me tell you because this is about to be due. This is not due, it's I mean, it's the fact I still use the free version.

Gresham Harkless 10:57

And I do like invoicing and things

Chermika Farkwar 10:59

They do invoicing, you can run reports like your p&l statement, cat, like all the basic accounting statements they have there. So I feel like anybody who is not the greatest with staying on top of their stuff, it can work for you, I say it can work for you. But I also want to acknowledge the fact that I'm also an MBA it's, it's easy to. You attach it to your credit card the same way anybody like you know, like you if you're doing mint or something, right?

So if you don't have to do anything, you just attach it to your credit cards and the invoicing, you can put that to basic numbers, right? Or what you may want to support is what are these particular reports for, but I do think because the system has so many things going on, it makes it hard. But what it can make, I think for an entrepreneur with a little bit of time, it's, it's attached to these credit cards. And I also do I also say back to these hacks, I avoid cash at all costs.

Gresham Harkless 12:04

Makes perfect sense. So now I want to ask you for what I call a CEO nugget. And this is a word of wisdom or piece of advice. Or if you can happen to be a time machine, what would you tell your younger business self?

Chermika Farkwar 12:14

So if I can happen to a time machine, I would say don't be afraid to fail. Like I am a CIO, a bridge version, Marketing, Business School Management Consultant in a big firm education and ops and direction, right? Very structured. This is the right answer.

This is the input and the output. And then when I got into the entrepreneurial space, I had a white space. And I often was just paralyzed by Oh my God, there's so much so many things that I could do, what if it says the wrong answer, but the fact is, the time is gonna pass and then you can't get it back. And then it's gone. And like that's just in like, our biggest asset is our time and how we spend it.

So I would say, don't be afraid to fail, whether it be in the relationship and partners that you build, or the new aspects of things that you try to track the business because clearly, I'm gonna stop you. I'm gonna try this. And we'll see for work if we don't do exactly. With that. I'll actually tie it to my second point be focused and flexible, right? So when I first started, everybody automatically was like, You need to be the next Uber. And I'm just like, No, I don't because Uber has a Zumba.

First of all. And actually, one of the biggest Soka artists has a huge contract with Zumba and so good a lot about the music that you use. So for my hands, that's not exactly the direction I want to go. And what's important to me, is the story, right? So yes, I'm focused on growing, but I gotta be flexible on how I do that. Because you never know, right? Like, I'm still working with limited time and resources.

So what was really important is that I listen to people and be flexible and open to conversations, because I by no means no everything, right? But at the same time, I need to understand like, What's my goal? What's my vision for it so that no one's pushing me too far off, or I'm not being so flexible that I've completely lost sight of the vision?

Gresham Harkless 14:05

Right, exactly. And trying to figure out what, what, and how you got there. It's kind of like what happens when you sometimes go to social media and you're like, how did I end up? Sounds like, wait a bit. Wait a bit. Today was Friday when I started now. It's not it's Monday again. It's not a game. Exactly, exactly. So now I want to ask you my absolute favorite questions, your definition of what it means to be a CEO and we're hoping to have different quote-unquote CEOs on the show. So what does being a CEO mean to you?

Chermika Farkwar 14:38

Well, right now, the CEO is the chief everything officer. What it means to me is having an understanding of everything so that's where I'm going for like cheap everything. I used to be doing everything right now. I want to have an understanding of everything so I can appropriately delegate routine. Like I'm so excited to say that folks in the tribe stepping up and taking more leadership roles and ownership and it's like, you know, I don't need to be involved in everything I need to understand.

So I can make the important decisions, but they're free of that mind space to move forward and make the bigger business decisions because that's how you got to keep the company going. If I'm stuck in the weeds, it's just gonna go nowhere.

Gresham Harkless 15:16

Absolutely. That makes perfect sense. So I truly appreciate your time. What I wanted to do is pass you the mic, so to speak, just to see if there's anything additional. You want to let the readers and listeners know and then how best they can get a hold of you.

Chermika Farkwar 15:26

Awesome. Okay, guys, one Soka is a superpower. All right, first of all, and so thanks for listening. Definitely check us out on social media @sokatribe. That's also a website www.sokatribe.com We are gearing up for Trinette Carville 2020. So go over to our website, scroll to the bottom click Trinidad 2020 and we hope to see you there. You can catch us every Saturday on U Street for our fitness classes and the funk parade on May 11. You'll see the cowboy in full force.

Gresham Harkless 16:08

Awesome, awesome, awesome. I'll make sure to have those links in the show notes and I appreciate you again. Hope you have a phenomenal rest of the day.

Chermika Farkwar 16:13

You too. Thanks.

Outro 16:15

Thank you for listening to the I AM CEO Podcast powered by Blue 16 Media. Tune in next time and visit us at iamceo.co I AM CEO is not just a phrase, it's a community. Be sure to follow us on social media and subscribe to our podcast on iTunes Google Play and everywhere you listen to podcasts, SUBSCRIBE, and leave us a five-star rating grab CEO gear at www.ceogear.co. This has been the I AM CEO Podcast with Gresham Harkless. Thank you for listening.

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