As the Grant Cardone Foundation continues on its mission, we are adding more allies to our cause. For that reason, we sat down with our latest teammate to better introduce him to all of you! Let’s get to know the latest GCF board member — the internationally acclaimed DJ Irie!
The St. Croix-born artist has made quite the name for himself in the music industry. He is the official DJ of the Miami Heat basketball team and has collaborated with A-list musicians…
The list of hip-hop legends Irie has shared the stage with includes:
- Jamie Foxx
- 50 Cent
- Cardi B
- And, Busta Rhymes
You may be wondering why this busy musician gets both his love for music and philanthropy.
Well, wonder no more!
DJ Irie kindly shared the backstory of both of his passions in our exclusive interview…
Shaped by Music and Mentors
Of course, we began our interview with DJ Irie with a question about music.
We asked the Miami-based DJ what was his earliest and clearest memory of falling in love with music as an art form.
The artist told us that it naturally developed in his childhood home in the Virgin Islands…
“Falling in love with music was easy and natural for me because I grew up in a musical household… We didn’t have a TV room in the house, we had a music room. And my dad had these HUGE speakers that went from the floor to the ceiling and filled the whole house with music. They would play everything from Bob Marley to Motown and I was in love!”
Also, Irie stated that being sent to boarding school in Jamaica was very influential in the direction of his career.
“I would go to the dancehall shows on the weekends and would just be mesmerized by the performances. And absolutely had to have the records those artists were putting out. I would save my lunch money and buy records, And after 2 years, I had an extensive collection of dancehall records.”
It is clear where DJ Irie’s artistry was formed, but his business and philanthropic drive came from a very special mentor…
“I was extremely fortunate to meet FUBU co-founder Daymond John very early in my career. Not only did Daymond support my dreams by being the first person to fly me out of Miami for a destination performance, but he also took me under his wing to mentor me on proper business practices and coaching me to develop into my full potential.”
And Irie went on to do his mentor proud…
DJ Irie Supporting and Empowering Young Entrepreneurs
Now that he has succeeded, DJ Irie doesn’t want other artists to make mistakes as he made early on in his career…
“There’s so much I would have done differently in hindsight. But the main thing would be my approach to money. It’s never too early to start to put your money to work for you. I was too consumed with saving when I should have been deploying my capital into safe investments.”
To that, we followed up by asking what kind of support can we provide to better support creative entrepreneurs.
“Building a business in the music industry is a costly endeavor at almost every level. The best support for young entrepreneurs is to help streamline the process to maximize their capital expenditures.”
Irie has worked with a list of organizations such as the Special Olympics and the Overtown Youth Center. But we wanted to know specifically what drew him to our board of directors.
“I feel very blessed to help support a number of incredible South Florida organizations. But what’s special about joining the board of the GC Foundation is the financial literacy and empowerment platform. I believe the GC Foundation is uniquely positioned to set the youth they serve on a path to financial independence.”
Naturally, we are honored he has chosen to be a part of our mission as well. And that initiative is to support the financial literacy of our youth.
So, we ended our interview by asking DJ Irie to give those kids a message….
DJ Irie’s Message to 10X Kids
“My message is to BELIEVE IN YOURSELF! You are no better or worse than anyone else. Yes, some people are born with more opportunities than others but that doesn’t make them better than you. It just means you have to apply yourself and work that much harder to create your own opportunities. Success lives at the intersection of preparation and opportunity.”
That was the inspiring conclusion of our interview with our latest board of directors member, DJ Irie. Again, we thank him for allowing us to get to know him better.
We look forward to our continued partnership with him to help educate future generations on financial literacy.
Check back to this page for future updates!
— GCTV Staff
Disclaimer: The Grant Cardone Foundation is a Section 501(c) (3) charitable organization, EIN 82-3244679. All donations are deemed tax-deductible absent any limitations on deductibility applicable to a particular taxpayer. The amount of a contribution that is deductible for federal income tax purposes is limited to the amount contributed, reduced by the value of any goods or services provided by the organization.
