Meet Tom Pepe | Artist & Professor

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

Hi Tom, can you walk us through the thought-process of starting your business?
We didn’t think of KnowMads as a business, at first, we thought of it as a movement. There was a real community in the hip hop scene, when we were growing up in Seattle, and we felt like that was what we were creating with our music. Another branch of the hip hop community – it wasn’t until we were making money from streaming sales and merch that we thought of it as a business. Still sometimes I want to give away our merch, but alas one must deal with a capitalist world in order to survive.

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
For the past two years I have been doing a Fulbright Fellowship in Colombia. One of the greatest personal accomplishments for me has been developing the ability to communicate my personality and self in a second language. Realizing how the world is fragmented into nations that inherently feel foreign, through the lens of language, culture, ideology – and yet we are far more similar and connected than these external layers may have one misbelieve. Peeling back the layers of my own positionality and understanding has been a deeply rewarding process. I will be teaching as a professor at a Colombian university next year, and I am considering diving deeper into this path as I deepen my perspective whilst narrowing the separation between “North” and “South” America on a personal level in the classroom.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
I would check out “Your Mom’s House” they are constantly bringing cool acts to the city. I recommend the 5 points area. But the most wonderful part of the city is being able to begin without a hardset plan and finding yourself meeting new friends and discovering your afternoon along the way.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
I want to give a shoutout to Brandon Anthony who is an incredible inspiring human being

Website: knowmadfam.com

Instagram: instagram.com/knowmadfam

Twitter: twitter.com/knowmadfam

Facebook: facebook.com/knowmadfam

Youtube: youtube.com/@knowmadfam

Image Credits
Kelley McKenzie