Today we’d like to introduce you to Denkinesh Argaw.
Denkinesh, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
My involvement in the Ethiopian and Eritrean community in LA really began when I joined the HabeshaLA team for about three years. HabeshaLA was a blog dedicated to featuring and connecting Habeshas (what Ethiopians and Eritreans refer to themselves as) in the LA area, highlighting creatives and talent and then expanded to events. The necessity for a platform like this became apparent very quickly due to how rapidly word got around and the feedback we were getting for more events.
Due to the layout of Southern California and how spaced out everything is, it can be difficult for people, much more for Ethiopians and Eritreans to find a central space to connect outside of church and family gatherings. We were able to provide that through a series of events such as Summer Soul Sessions which featured artists such as Marian Mereba and Yonas Michael, a monthly party called Origins held at Los Globos and other events.
When the founder of HabeshaLA, Aida, had moved back to Ethiopia once again there was a missing element for Ethiopians and Eritreans in LA. After some time, Sire from Los Globos had reached out to me about bringing back a party for the community. I wasn’t too keen on doing a party at the time because there were a few other groups popping up with similar intents. That initial conversation with Sire had sparked an idea.
This is where 2591Worldwide was birthed. I wanted to create a platform that continued on what HabeshaLA started with highlighting creatives around the world. This, in particular, was extremely important to me because of the stigma in the community, especially with the older generation, that if you aren’t a doctor, engineer, lawyer or something along those lines then you have failed.
Ethiopian and Eritrean artists such as The Weeknd, Nipsey Hussle (RIP), Amine, Kelela, Lola Monroe and many others have proved that isn’t the case and for the many, many habesha creatives out there, we wanted to make that clear – that this is possible.
We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc. – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
So far the support we have been receiving is amazing. People who weren’t able to come out or heard about it too late were coming to us like “hey, man I wish I was there… heard it was awesome”. It’s just been a matter of staying consistent with content especially now that we’re in the works of developing original content.
Also, building a solid team is the core of anything with longevity and my partner Benny has been super helpful with strategizing and minimizing struggles along the way. I hope to soon expand the team so that we can handle everything content creation wise in-house so that will probably be the biggest challenge I see in the foreseeable future.
Other than that, it absolutely makes my day knowing that word about our platform has been going around and reading the DM’s we receive on Instagram from people around the world about how much they appreciate a platform like ours being around!
We’d love to hear more about your business.
2591Worldwide is an online platform found on Instagram, Facebook, and YouTube. We curate a playlist featuring music from Ethiopian and Eritrean diaspora artists around the world, feature playlists curated by the artists themselves of music they’re inspired by, we have a podcast featuring conversations with these artists and creatives about their journey and throw parties/events featuring their music.
Since our launch in November 2018, we have released three podcasts, updated our playlist monthly, threw a party for Ras Nebyu’s album release and shoe drive and we are launching a monthly social mixer called Selam on April 25th in collaboration with Selam Central, another prominent online platform for Ethiopians and Eritreans.
We’re currently working on developing original content in collaboration with other habesha brands and social media influencers to be launched in the near future. We’re hoping to increase exposure and visibility to these influencers and brands by creating a central platform for all habesha talent through collaborations. Our goal is to put our culture and artists on the map through memorable experiences and content.
What were you like growing up?
Growing up, I was the odd, cool – but odd kid. I always had my head in some books on every subject you can think of depending on the phase I was in – law, astronomy, nanotechnology, literature, etc. Curiosity could have seriously been my middle name.
If I wasn’t reading, I was doing something that probably would have landed me in a lot of trouble trying to satisfy my curiosity with my “experiments.”Some things never change.
Those “experiments” have only translated into the different ventures I’ve launched including a digital marketing agency called Modern Experiment (aptly fitting) and a candle line called Embeus which is launching soon.
Contact Info:
- Email: [email protected]
- Instagram: instagram.com/2591worldwide
- Facebook: facebook.com/2591worldwide
- Other: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCjoeU4xZuSP5s58YHojSDQg/featured
Image Credit:
Cydney Hardy
Getting in touch: VoyageLA is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you know someone who deserves recognition please let us know here.
