Today we’d like to introduce you to Cleveland Robinson.
Thanks for sharing your story with us Cleveland. So, let’s start at the beginning and we can move on from there.
I have been in music and advocacy since I was eight years old. I began my journey musically when I use to sing at church at an early age. This musical passion was fueled at home since both of my parents are music lovers. On any given day, music that you would hear throughout our household would be Frankie Beverly and Maze, Stevie Wonder, Aretha Franklin and many of the other greats. This began my journey to become a soul music fanatic. In addition, to music and the arts, my mother was very pro-community action. As a child, I would accompany her to nursing homes and rake leaves for the elderly. By the age of 10, I officially did my first official service project when I applied for a grant through the Do Something Foundation. This grant allowed us to adopt several elderly people in the community in order that we could do household chores for them. It was an eye-opening experience for me and allowed me to see how service to others can be a catalyst for change.
As the years went on, I continued to fine tune my service oriented actions into a more focused approach. I was really big into youth ministry and street ministry. This is something that I continued when I went off to college in Nashville, Tennessee at Fisk University. There I worked with a nonprofit by the name of Light House Ministries and worked with individuals who had had issues with long term drug use. By working with this population, I realized then that I wanted to become a counselor and help people out with their issues that they were coping with in their lives. However, life has a way of throwing curve balls at you. I thought about attending graduate school to become a counselor after I completed college but I still was fighting with what direction I wanted to go into. I also still loved music and at one time had a strong desire to pursue a career as an artist. However, my focus was all over the place and I sparsely performed around the Nashville scene, throughout those years that I was there.
Over a decade passed by and many states later, I finally was in a place where I realized that my life was not headed in the direction that I wanted it to go and I was not fulfilling my purpose or dreams in the least bit. I was sitting in my car one night and I remember yelling at the top of my lungs that enough was enough and so in a moment of desperation to get away, I joined the military. When I tell this story, people are like where did that come from. For me it made sense. I needed to get away and the opportunity presented itself. I was a reservist, so going away for 7 months and then coming back to Georgia, which is where I lived at the time was good for me. When I came back to Atlanta for training, I had a clear mind and I was more focused than ever. I immediately got in grad school and began my education as a counselor. Upon completing my counseling degree, the one thing I realized that was missing was still my music. So, I began to work hard on fusing my love of helping people and music together. As I looked around the industry, I began to look for other licensed counselors who were also an artist.
At that time, I realized that I was in a lane of my own and began to forge ahead. I released a mini-series called #closure and also began to speak around the country about mental health. Around that time I also began to perform around the Atlanta music scene and do showcases as well as release several singles. However, I was not getting the traction that I really wanted. Several years later in the fall of 2017, I decided to move to Dallas to get a fresh start and things have been going very well since then. I am a spiritual person and I really prayed hard on what would be a place that I could go to and find a voice as well as a clean start for myself and my craft. Since being here, I have been focused on pushing my brand as an artist advocate and have released my first mixtape called “Beats on the Internet” as well as have begun advocacy as a mental health advocate by opening my private practice called Robinson House Behavioral Health Services, as well as beginning an outreach project called Pop Up Conversations. Pop Up Conversations is an advocacy project that goes out into the community and speaks with people about the importance of mental wellness. I have done this advocacy project in both South Dallas and Pleasant Grove. I look forward to being a voice in the Dallas musical scene through original and thought-provoking music as well as through my advocacy for mental health by being a voice for the many individuals who suffer in silence daily. I truly believe in the old sayings that music is a universal language and that conversation rules the nation so why not bring those to ideas together to bring about change.
Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
The road has not been very smooth, the thing that I have learned about entrepreneurship is that it is a marathon and not a sprint. Consistency is definitely what you need to be successful and that being distracted can definitely cause you do not complete your goals. When I realized that I was my own ally and enemy, I realized that in order to reach the success I had to become more engaged and consistent then things began to take off for me.
The Robinson House – what should we know? What do you do best? What sets you apart from the competition?
My company is called the Robinson House. Under the Robinson House, I have Robinson House Behavioral Health Services and the Robinson House Brand. Robinson House Behavioral Health Services, is a counseling practice that focuses on children, families, and individuals who need assistance with learning to live a better quality of life. Things that I focus on are various mental health disorders as well as individuals going through life transitions.
Robinson House is my brand for my music and urban influence products such as my soul music apparel company called Soul Ambassador Brand. What sets me apart from others is that I approach my artistry and advocacy from both a place of personal practice and expertise about my subject matter both musically and through understanding the underlying issues that are the catalyst for many of our social dilemmas in both Dallas and Abroad. When I couple my formal knowledge and training with my personal experiences and passion, I feel like this is where I set myself apart in my own lane.
What moment in your career do you look back most fondly on?
The proudest moment of my career has been to create a vision and actually see it come into fruition. I have always been a self-starter and self-promoter. To date, bringing my counseling practice and completing my first studio project has been a big blessing.
Contact Info:
- Website: incrhouse.com
- Phone: 404-670-0573
- Email: cleveland@incrhouse.com
- Instagram: @realsoulambassador
- Facebook: @realsoulambassador
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