Romeich talks positivity, self-reliance and being a leader at Dragon reasoning session
Published:Saturday | February 12, 2022 | 12:08 AMSade Gardner/Staff Reporter
It’s a warm Thursday afternoon at Romeich Major’s base at Campbell’s Boulevard off Waltham Park Road, where the multi-hyphenate’s brain is being picked by a group of young men from the HEART Academy. Major skips the formalities, pulls up a chair and is here to ‘hol a reasoning’ beyond details you can find in his bio.
The conversation, part of the Dragon Be The One campaign, hits the goal of sharing nuggets about positive masculinity as they delve into matters like self-reliance, taking risks, being emotionally intelligent and having moral courage.
The 37-year-old has come a far way from the teenager who would ditch classes at the Management Institute for National Development to find work. Now, he has his own clothing factory, manages top-tier acts Shenseea and Ding Dong, and has an entertainment company that produces music, orchestrates events and offers promotion. One guest pointed out the interconnectedness of his ventures, and Major said it came as a result of him wanting to be efficient instead of waiting on other moving parts.
“When your business can move quicker and cheaper, the more profit you make,” he explained. “My clothing is connected to the entertainment in every way. If I have promotional girls going out, dem cya go out naked, dem haffi have clothes, so that is two business mi go. If mi have the artistes a go a stage show, dem need clothes. So, everything just connected. Then yaa manage artistes, yaa build clothes, yuh start produce music. There is no artiste without music … . There is no way the music can go out unless yuh promote it. So we end up become promoters weh not only a spread the music by going to people, we a go events and we a keep we own events, so we turn promoter and everything just a add on. In life, people, nuh mek nobody tell you seh you can only do one or two or three business … . A just you haffi structure yuh life and yuh business however you want.”
He cited hard work and his sociable personality as keys to his success, but mostly chalked it up to God. But the journey has had its trials, leading some to wonder how he navigates failure.
“It depends on the type of failure,” he reasoned. “When you lose money in the business, it’s not good, but yuh haffi bounce back … . As a business person, when you make a mistake, and yuh haffi mek a mistake no matter who you be … you supposed to learn from that mistake and come back better and bigger … . Looking at my life from then to now, mi proud a myself, yeah, but mi get nuff fight then, and mi still get it as big as mi be now, but mi still haffi push through and be very positive.”
Having a positive mindset was a recurring message as he spoke, a mentality that comes in handy when dealing with criticism.
“Once it isn’t something illegal, no criticism is bad,” he said. “If someone come out and bash yuh song weh yuh produce or a bash yuh artiste and then it a spread all over the net, a good promotion yuh get man. Inna entertainment, criticism kinda help you sometimes.”
Major’s motivation is rooted in providing a better life for his loved ones, and he even draws motivation from his naysayers. Despite his many hats, he opted for the title ‘leader’ instead of ‘boss’ and encouraged the men to embody the traits they wanted to see in their spheres of influence.
Describing himself as a workaholic, the father of two is still working on taking time off, but said he always makes time for his family and is placing more effort into himself lately.
Speaking to The Gleaner, Arnaldo Martin, junior brand manager at Dragon, said Major was a perfect fit for the session, based on his multiple ventures in entertainment, a field Martin said is an option for at-risk youth. Moreover, Major’s managerial experience across the entertainment industry was beneficial to those who have ambitions of managing entities.
Attendee Collin Brown is eyeing a career in the auto business and said Major’s take on turning the negative into positive stood out the most. For Brandon Fowler, Major’s plea for youth to believe in themselves was the encouragement he needed.
And, for Major, it was another way for him to mentor youth, which he often does on his social media platforms.