Today we’d like to introduce you to Raymond Howard.
Raymond, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
Right after graduating high school in 2013, one of my closest friends, Ben Wegmann, came to me and pitched an idea of throwing this big party with local musicians and artists. He had found a venue, hand picked the talent that would be performing, calculated the capacity and what we would need to charge for each individual, etc. By the end of the conversation when all information was given and everything was on the table, the final numbers and potential profit were unbelievable. Fast forward a few weeks later and the next thing I remember was performing with Ari Disreali(who at the time I was just his MC) on stage looking into a sold-out show with over 1,500 people just having the time of their lives.
After that night, Ben, I and the other managing partners had realized that that was the beginning of a new journey & the birth of City Light Events, LLC. For about the next two or three years, we continued to grow as individuals and as a team. We remained consistent with our work ethics but still managed to push the boundaries of what others believed to be impossible in the music industry. Continuing to sell-out shows with just local talent, we eventually became successful enough to where we were able to book professional artists & fly in musicians that got us involved with electronic music to begin with.
Later down the road, we parted ways and started pursuing different things in life. Nothing bad had happened that caused us to go one way or another. I think we just wanted to do different things with our lives & all of us respected each other enough to handle it professionally. Although we decided to take different routes, I genuinely loved what we had been doing.
During that time when CLE was active I was very fortunate enough to meet a lot of great people, one of them being Wes Trimble. Wes is the owner and founder of NextLevel Events & Elevate Promotions. From the first time meeting him, he was very humble and open to everything that we had been doing & ended up being a great business partner. After City Light Events was put on hold, I made the transfer over to his team and became the Assistant Director of Marketing and Creative Director for both NextLevel and Elevate.
The same thing with Wes, he and Ben gave me a lot of opportunities and took me under their wing & showed me more of the managing & marketing side of things in this industry.
Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
Definitely has not been a smooth road. With that being said, I believe that’s a good thing. I feel that if you’re coming across certain struggles and problems in your career, that you’re progressing and testing the limits of specific things while being able to overcome the situation entirely. Sleep is the biggest challenge of doing what we do. There is just so much preparation and so many tedious things that have to be factored in. During the day, your mind is juggling a million different things & at night you are doing everything you can to make the artists, fans, managers and your own team proud.
Tell us about your company. What do you do, what do you specialize in, what are you known for, etc. What are you most proud of as a company? What sets you apart from others?
All In Management is a marketing company consisting of some of the best promoters & leaders in Dallas, TX providing discounted tickets, giveaways for shows, concerts, festivals and more. The motivation behind A.I.M. was that even though we may have a smaller company, we hand-selected a team with a high skill set and capability, that allows us to compete for the toe to toe with other major marketing and influential companies in the music industry here in Dallas. What separates us from others is that we are able to achieve the same results & high ticket sales, if not better, with a smaller but more determined team. We pride ourselves deeply with that, especially when other partnering teams are consisting of twice or 3x the amount of promoters.
If you had to go back in time and start over, would you have done anything differently?
I wouldn’t change a single thing. I think that things happen for a reason, and I’m confident in knowing that I and All-In Management give everything that we have to offer each time an opportunity is presented. Sure, there have been moments that have been stressful than others, but at the end of it all you have to take it for what it is. Thankfully over the last few years, I have had great friends that help me in the process & have shown me a new appreciation for everything, whether it be good or bad.
Contact Info:
- Address: 3111 N Houston St.
Apartment 2801
Dallas, TX 75219 - Phone: 214-608-2733
- Email: [email protected]
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/rayyhowardd/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/raymond.howard.16
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/rhoward37
- Other: https://twitter.com/AIMTexas
Image Credit:
Frankie Ramirez
Drue Pines
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