Meet Dulayne Cumberlander | CEO, Kirkwell Partners

We had the good fortune of connecting with Dulayne Cumberlander and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Dulayne, how do you think about risk?
I believe that risk taking is an important aspect of everyone’s life, not just their career. For me, risk taking allows you to be vulnerable and honest to yourself and those involved in the risk you take. Some people fear taking a risk because they are afraid of failure. Yet, when you take a risk there are only two outcomes… a successful risk and a failed risk, so there is a 50/50 chance with the outcome. With that 50/50 chance, the one constant variable is learning lesson. Therefore, in taking risk, you will always learn something. Life is about growth, so if you do not put yourself in a position to learn, adapt, and implement change when necessary, then its impossible to grow and be the best version of yourself.

Taking risks has played an important role in my life. My career and my personal life have become what it is because I was willing to take a leap of faith. I’ve had failures and success, but I always use my failures to avoid mistakes in the future. In turn, when I take a risk and succeed at it, I am able to build towards the next level of my career and/or life.

Can you give our readers an introduction to your business? Maybe you can share a bit about what you do and what sets you apart from others?
Kirkwell Partners is an Independent Entertainment Group with a focus on music publishing, licensing, artist development, and development of an internal music catalog for artist distribution. The thing that sets us apart from others is our focus on crossing all genres to offer independent artist a home to explore their true artistic self; while branching into other areas to help them step “outside their box”.

The thing that I am most proud of is our approach towards being fearless and taking a chance on different types of artist, while tapping into every lane within the industry. This allows us to create multiple arms within the industry to create revenue streams and maximize the exposure of the company and our artist.

I am also proud of the team and artist we have. Joining an independent entertainment group is a leap of faith; therefore we have been able to gain the trust of our associates, while aligning on our vision of success for Kirkwell. With that said, nothing comes easy. It takes time, resilience, patience, and belief to stay the course and trust the process.

When abiding by those points, you have to apply transparency and collaboration to ensure that the light at the end of the tunnel is foreseeable for all parties. So learning to properly communicate everyday and allowing other’s voices to be heard has helped our team continue to push forward.

I believe that the world should know that Kirkwell Partners is and will continue to be innovative in our way of thinking, implementation of business practice, and become the best at what we do; while opening our doors for any and every artist that is ready to work and be the best version of themselves.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
Oh man, this is interesting because there are so many spots outside the perimeter and inside the perimeter. Lets say I had someone visiting on a Monday. I would pretty much lay low during the week, but focus on some of the lunch spots around North Atlanta. It would be a mix of my favorite Jamaican Spot “Ya Mann” off Winward Parkway or a quick sports at one of my favorite sports bars for food, Irby’s in Buckhead. Leading into the weekend, I have a young son, so my wife and I would probably take them to Downtown Alpharetta to hang out in the green space and enjoy some outdoor patio drinks and live music. Food wise, I have to show them Charinga’s Caribbean Style Wings. Then if we were jumping into the weekend and I was getting out and about, it would all depend. A good steak from Hal’s is always a must if you are trying to show someone quality food and a cool high end vibe. Then from a social perspective, I always like to tap into my younger self and get some good music and drinks at 5P… then hop over to 30. If there is a good DJ performing, I would definitely have to take them to District, because District never misses with their DJ lineups .

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
I’d like to first send a shoutout to the Entire Kirkwell team. That includes, Brandon Campbell (business partner), Dre Amer (VP of A&R, Lead Engineer, and Lead Songwriter), Carly Morris (VP of Operations), Taylor Lauren Sanders (Recording Artist), and DENI (Recording Artist).

Each of these individuals play a vital role in our independent entertainment group’s development and growth as a business. With the completion of our first EP, Taylor Lauren – “Untamed”, being finished and distributed within a year of inception, a ton of hard work and sweat equity hours helped this come to life.

Website: www.kirkwellpartners.com

Instagram: @dcumberlander90 and @kirkwell_partners

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/kirkwell-partners

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@kirkwellpartners

Other: TikTok – @Kirkwell_partners