Meet Kenn Michael of RTEKA in DTLA

Today we’d like to introduce you to Kenn Michael.

Kenn, please share your story with us. How did you get to where you are today?
I’ve had a love for technology and content creation since I was a small child. My Mom sang and danced with The Godfather of Soul, James Brown for ten years. My Dad is an accomplished and genius jazz drummer who played with Betty Carter and Nina Simone. My step-Dad owned Blank Tapes, a big recording studio in New York City. I was in the perfect environment to develop my artistic and technical skills. I was engineering my own music-making sessions in my Dad’s studio from the age of 5 on. When I was around 8, I realized I needed to make money to buy my own studio gear instead of getting equipment hand-me-downs from Blank Tapes. I needed to fund my gear habit so I started acting in commercials. I ended up doing campaigns for Bubble Yum, Pepsi, Lego before appearing in movies with Joe Pesci, Eddie Murphy and Halle Berry. All the while, I taught myself filmmaking – how to shoot, edit, sound design and compose music to picture. This was all in the 1980s and early 1990s – way before YouTube and the incredible wealth of information we have at our fingertips now! The common thread in all my creative work was the constant collaboration with computers and being at the forefront of digital technology. I ended up landing the role of Robert Townsend’s oldest son on The WB’s first family sitcom, The Parent ‘Hood – which moved me to Los Angeles. I was also music composer on the show for the last three seasons. After The Parent ‘Hood, I went on to do a lot of voice over and cartoon work while continuing to make films and branch out into freelance directing, composing, sound mixing and editing. I was an early evangelist for digital filmmaking and began consulting production companies in digital camera systems and how to develop digital film post-production workflows. I’ve been blessed enough to work on a diverse set of projects – from being nominated for a Daytime Emmy as a sound mixer for cartoon series on Cartoon Network to executive producing docu-series at BET. All the while, I’ve also been on my own Spiritual journey, fascinated and drawn to multiple healing modalities, raising my own consciousness and the mechanics of the Universe. Almost ten years ago, I had an inspiration to combine my love of technology, art and Spirituality and see what came forth – and that is RTEKA.

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?
Obstacles and challenges – well, I learned early, being a child actor, about rejection. Auditioning and auditioning endlessly before landing a job. I had to learn to not take the rejection personally. Same thing as a filmmaker and composer – some people are going to dig what you’re doing, some won’t. I found that with my art, I had to make it for me first and see what kind of audience it would find. There’s a difference between ‘work for hire’ where you are being paid to manifest someone else’s vision, versus manifesting your own vision. Having that inner vision ends up being so important when creating something that requires resources outside yourself because there are so many no’s and naysayers. Sometimes it’s easier to give up than to keep pursuing your inner vision and inspiration. That’s on the art and content side, but the same goes for developing new technology. I’ve been told so many times that what I was trying to accomplish was purely impossible, but I would trust myself over other voices and the ‘impossible’ would be proven possible. How strong is your vision. How bad do you want it? That’s going to determine how you let the obstacles and challenges affect your process.

RTEKA – what should we know? What do you do best? What sets you apart from the competition?
RTEKA is my media and technology company that provides innovative tools for human expression. It not only encompasses my services as a media creator (director, producer, composer, editor), and a technology consultant, but I’ve also been developing a groundbreaking new software platform and electronic instrument for sound healing – RTEKA’s first product: RESHI. During my Spiritual journeys, experiencing powerful sound baths and learning about how sound and resonant frequencies interact with not only our physical cells but also our energy centers, I started experimenting and incorporating that knowledge in my own music. I quickly found that there were no good tools for this — so I taught myself how to program in 4 different languages to bring these sets of tools to fruition. Everything RTEKA does has a healing component to it. The intention is raising the consciousness. Transmuting from low vibration to high vibration. Through music and sound, through storytelling and visual content – and through technology.

Let’s touch on your thoughts about our city – what do you like the most and least?
LA is a great place to innovate. The diverse creative talent and thought systems that exist here are so inspiring. Love love love the weather here in LA. Super cliché but oh well! The other thing I love is the geography. Beaches, canyons, deserts, lakes, forests – all a drive away. Having all that nature readily available is really great for creativity and visioning. What’s not so great is the traffic of course.

Has luck played a meaningful role in your life and business?
What some people call ‘luck’, I see more as synchronicity and destiny. ‘Bad luck’, just like ‘good luck’ indicates that you’re where you’re supposed to be. I’ve had plenty of experiences of thinking I missed out on an opportunity, only to be available for a much better opportunity that got me closer to my goal.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.kennmichael.com | www.rteka.net
• Email: [email protected]
• Instagram: @kennmichael | @reshiworks

Image Credit:
Kia Labeija

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