Kimani Peter

What Program did you graduate from and when? 

Digital Futures (DF) BDES, June 2019 

What is your current title or role? (ie. freelance designer, art practitioner, etc.) 

Founder, Product Lead at LOUD Army 

Why did you choose to attend OCAD U? 

Prior to OCAD U, I studied Industrial Design (ID) at Carleton U in Ottawa. While it was a great program, I didn’t feel that it was future-oriented. I wanted to be in the Tech industry. My good friend Andre Baynes was also studying ID with me in Ottawa and he moved to Toronto for Digital Futures at OCAD U. At the time, it was a brand-new program, but it didn’t take much time for me to see that this was everything I wanted in a program. I was interested in gaining tangible skills, shaking things up in the industry, having a self-directed education, a futuristic program and curriculum. I moved to Toronto and wanted to get started at OCAD U as soon as possible. 

Please briefly describe your current job/practice. 

I currently do a lot of Product Management. I am the Founder of LOUD. LOUD is an out of this world music tech startup that gives emerging artists, managers and small labels superpowers. We provide a remote studio service that includes a SOUND app containing a beat catalog with over 1500 beats and licensing to use an unlimited number of those beats. We also offer the use of the LOUD box which is a compact sound booth that transforms any space into an extension of their remote studio. I manage a cross-disciplinary team and am the highest authority in my start-up, which also means that if anything goes wrong, I’m responsible by default. Part of my duties include communicating with stakeholders and members, growing our client base and leveraging to build a network of potential investors. I also make sure my team is as engaged and inspired as I am to contribute to the journey of the company and where it’s going. My team is always involved in the process. I constantly think of questions like ‘what contributions do we have to continue to make to get to our goals?’ 

How did you get started in your career? 

I tried to launch LOUD at Carleton in Summer 2015. When I got into Digital Futures, I had the ability to launch because of the flexibility of the DF program and how much support I had from OCAD U. I had support from Dean Dori, who was my accessible mentor and Adam Tinsdale (Co-Chair of Digital Futures). To get into OCAD U, one of the jury members I presented my portfolio to was Adam. He conducted my interview and was my first point of contact into DF. During my time at OCAD U, Nick Puckett (Chair of DF) was always there to help and we set up meetings and goals, check-ins, 30 min meetings and so on. Nick helped me to resolve my transfer credits from Carleton U and was always an advocate for me, making sure everything promised came through. 

What were your policies regarding internships, volunteering, and paid work? 

Unpaid work 

My policy regarding unpaid work is NOT to do it. If someone, company, or organization values your contribution they will find a way to compensate you, and that compensation needs to be clear and measured in a dollar value even if actual money isn’t being exchanged. This is called bartering, if you decide to do it you should have a clear written bartering agreement. There are templates online, look up barter agreements. For example, if someone wants you to work on their cool new fashion brand but they can’t pay you, then barter with them. Each barter agreement is different but the main thing is to come to an agreement on what you’re going to get in exchange for your work and it should be of equal dollar value to what you would have been paid to do it. 

Things to consider

What’s the potential for this fashion brand? How much do you think the brand could be worth when it takes off? Do you think the founder and the startup team they’ve assembled has what it takes to make the venture successful? 

Be very clear on what they’re asking you to contribute. Consider asking for royalties, and/or sweat equity. Royalties would be getting a percentage (usually under 20%) of each sale that uses your designs. Sweat equity would be a percentage of the soon to be a company. The founder will want to own the majority of their company so it will be under 50%. Also, more doesn’t necessarily mean better. The more you ask for the more involved you’ll have to be with the startup for it to be justifiable. 10% sweat equity is very high anything under that is more than reasonable if you’re not planning on being very involved with the business. 

For a rough baseline, 10% and up would be fair if you’re planning to work on the brand full-time in a co-founder capacity. Under 10% would be fair if you're planning to work on the brand part-time in more of an employee capacity. 
 

The main thing is

How much would your contribution be worth to the brand? What do they have that they can exchange for your work that is of equal value to what you would have been paid? 

If you really like the brand, they could pay you in free swag! Just be clear on the quantity of swag and how much you value it at, you can base the valuation of the swag on how much you think it could potentially sell for. You can be creative with what the agreement is, just make sure there is some form of quantifiable compensation equivalent to what you would have been paid. 
 

Volunteering 

It’s important to acknowledge that not everyone is able to volunteer due to the economic disenfranchisement of Black and indigenous communities that continues to this day. Being able to volunteer is a luxury of white and class privilege that allows individuals with that privilege to form relationships within their field or in organizations by volunteering for organizations that they eventually want to work for. I would implore organizations to offer paid internship programs for Black and indigenous youth alongside their volunteer programs so that people who don’t have the privilege to work for free still have the same opportunity to make connections in their field. 

I do not do volunteering or unpaid work for companies or non-profits. The only unpaid work I would consider doing is for Black youth directly. I say directly because often organizations that have no connection to Black youth claim to be serving Black youth, meanwhile all the resources the organizations collect from donations and volunteering only benefit the employees and the leadership board of the organization. These organizations are able to receive large contracts from the government under the pretense that they’re serving Black youth when it would have been more effective to give those resources to Black youth directly. 

I would only consider working for Black youth directly or for organizations that a lead by Black youth. I would be open to supporting them in founding their own company, organization, or nonprofit. I am also open to providing mentorship if asked, but I tend not to offer mentorship because far too often it’s assumed that Black youth need mentorship when they are actually vastly experienced in their field but are simply denied opportunities due to anti-black racism. 
 

Internship 

I would not take an internship that pays below a living wage. As of Nov 2019, that is $22/ hour in Toronto. Living wage differs in every city is dependent on the cost of living and increases over time, so research what the living wage is in the location of the internship. You can find out the living wage of cities in Ontario by going to websites like Ontario Living Wage.

What do you enjoy most about your work? What is the most challenging aspect of your work? 

The most enjoyable aspect of my work is autonomy. I like being self-driven and manifesting my own destiny. Each day brings something new. I personally can’t imagine having to into the same place every day. I’m in love with the work I’m doing, so much so that I’m always doing it. It feels surreal that my work feels so natural ­ – it feels as easy as breathing. 

The most challenging aspect is that I have a habit of overworking even on vacation. This takes away from work/life balance. 

What skills or relationships developed at OCAD U helped you participate in your field? Is there anything you would have done differently? 

Mentorship from Dori, Adam and Nick really helped me. In terms of skills – everything I learned in Digital Futures, DF, was useful. Core DF courses got me to think about the world differently. I do wish there were more resources behind the DF program and that there were more professors and sessional instructors. I think DF would've benefitted from including courses on critical race theory and Afro-Futurism taught by Black professors who are well-versed on topics of systemic anti-Black racism. 

What are the key responsibilities you maintain for your practice? 

Everything related to operating a startup. As an entrepreneur, I wear many hats. My main role is product management, but I do bookkeeping, design, grant writing, event planning, etc. 

What are your personal and professional goals for the coming years? 

My personal goal for next year is to visit more Black heritage sites in Canada. I'm excited that I've already started. I recently went to Nova Scotia to visit one of Canada's oldest Black communities, North and East Preston. My professional goals are to hire two people on to LOUD by the end of 2020.