Meet Ricky Shoebio | Creative Director, Photographer, Founder of Know Your Dope L.L.C

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

Hi Ricky, what was your thought process behind starting your own business?
Launching our own Agency was a big conversation. I was transitioning out of journalism, and wanted to still support alot of the contacts and relationships I’d garnered over the years.

There was alot of encouragement by alot of those relationships. That spoke to me letting them know how they could help once I landed stably.

So after a meeting with some of the closest people to me. I said there was no better way to support those relationships than starting a Creative Consulting Agency. And a year after that I split equity with those same people that helped me realize that was the business I wanted to start.

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
A cornerstone for myself and our team is to look to make greater space for Minority Creatives and to make sure we are involved in tellin “Our Stories” as well.

This is something that lives on both our Creative and Professional sides. Frankly there is so much advertising and marketing that’s geared towards us that we don’t have an ounce of say in. We won’t be on the client teams, we won’t be at the larger agencies assigned to the project, we won’t be a part of the production teams, and we are often lucky to be included as the talent. Even though there initiatives by some to reduce that as well. Yet the target may be our community for the product, service, initiative within this campaign. That’s never sat right with our team.

It’s something we combat daily with every space we enter. However, knowing and understanding the challenges of the industry is something we’ve been able to navigate well. So whenever our team is involved it’s a Black Owned Agency who predominantly hires minority Talent, Hair Stylists, MAU, Showrunners, Production Assistants, Gaffing, DP’s, Cinematographers, Photographers, and Post Production teams.

The greatest challenge NOW after saying that is not being marginalized into ONLY working on projects geared towards “Us”.

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 shout my counterparts at the agency. KYD (Know Your Dope) wouldn’t be the entity we are today with your work and sacrifice.

This is something I’ve stood by since split 100% stake of the company after the first year open in 2019. The time, effort, and sacrifice ya’ll have put in to ensure our success is greatly appreciated.

So to LC, TJ, Jabir and those related directly to the agency Devon, Sean, Dre and Jaime, I say thank you.

Website: Bigkyds.com

Instagram: Instagram.com/spacecampfresh

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ricky-shoebio-a9b828170

Twitter: https://twitter.com/RickyShoebio