THEO BROMA
“
Your heart tells you everything, your brain works out the analytics. Your heart is your first brain, use it!”
Chief Happiness Officer of HöL Parts
The constant desire and drive to have our lives mapped out seems to be growing incessantly. Did you get into the college you need to? Did you get in at the right job? Do they have the right benefits? It seems that for the majority of people, there’s this river flowing and everyone needs to be checking off the list as they jump in the boat and head off downstream. Where this project has given me energy, is meeting people like Theo who are deciding that path isn’t for them. They are happy to swim upstream, start a new journey in their own life and do what they really love, instead of what people believe they should do.
Theo’s had the humility to start and restart a few new chapters of his career. Today he finds himself inspiring people to make healthier life choices in his current role at HöL Parts.
Jonathan : Hey Theo, so what do you do these days?
Theo : So in this chapter of my journey, I’m Chief Happiness Officer of HöL Parts along with being a sustainable designer/activist and some would say I’m a plant based ‘influencer.’ I’ve yet to come to terms with that title or spent the time to know what to call it, but I’ve been educating Black & Brown communities in veganism and ancestral medicine for nine years. I’ve been vegan for 12 years.
How is this message being received in your community?
Slow and steady wins the race. I believe that change comes in waves. I was lucky to be exposed to veganism and sustainability early in life, so it’s become very intersectional for me. I believe big legacy brands working with purpose driven, sustainable designers and makers creating solutions are the first steps in overhauling and restructuring the system. Veganism will change your life, free all living beings, no beings shall be oppressed.
Where did you start your career?
My first job was at shoe store The Wiz as stock boy, then I worked at The Gap and then ironically at McDonald’s.
So, what did you study?
Middle school and high school, but I rarely studied. I was into art and music. I never cared for school. I went to a historically Black college, Shaw University. I spent two years there, then I left to be a musician. I was pursuing a career as a hip-hop artist. I probably tried for 3-6 years on and off after leaving college.
I got accepted to FIT, the Fashion Institute of Technology, and decided not to go because I was from a really rough neighborhood in Newark, NJ. I knew the backlash I would get from my environment, so I was like, I’m going to pursue music instead, even though fashion has always been my first love. I always saw myself as a clothing designer.
From there I started interning and became an A&R, which stands for artist and repertoire.
So I was talent scouting and working with the label to get them recording. During this time, I started promoting hip-hop showcases to subsidize my income. I would book about twenty acts for ‘underground Tuesday’s’ showcase. Then with the registration fee I would pay other A&Rs to be judges.
I spent five years working across A&R, A&R assistant, executive assistant, duplication, operations, and customer service before deciding corporate wasn’t my thing.
Was it hard to come to terms with that decision?
Yes and no. The emotions I felt was an emptiness of not being able to be creative. When you understand inside of you who you truly are, there’s times you won’t flourish because a career is not giving you what you need in terms of support, creative identity and work culture. It’s very depressing. After that I started managing artists for three or four years, but that started feeling unfulfilling, not very exciting.
What was it that was unfulfilling?
Managing artists was an area of the music business that I had to learn and prior to testing the waters I only had corporate knowledge of how the business operated from within the building. Once you’re outside of that machine structure you quickly learn the flip side of the business from a managerial and artist perspective.
Around that time I became a father, so I went back into corporate working for Omnicom Media in operations. I ended up getting fired, which sent me back to the creative world four years ago and into sustainable fashion.
Did you take any specific courses for this? How did you find your sharp point?
When I decided to only design sustainable, using repurposed garments and textiles, I came across a lot of workshops and seminars that started these early conversations of ethical and sustainable design. There are so many new modalities being created right now as we chat. I’d love to see what courses are available by 2021.
What would you tell your teenage self, looking back on what you know now?
Everything you’re looking for; you already have it! Only fear will stop you from becoming what you want to be, because you are that person already.
If a person is interested in sustainable fashion, or healing through food what would you suggest?
Start anywhere. You don’t need to have markers. ‘I can’t start because...’, or, ‘I want to do this, but I need...’, or ‘I wish I had more money, because I’d start...’ It’s all fear. Follow your heart, not people. Your heart tells you everything. Your brain works out the analytics. Your heart is your first brain, use it!