Meet Dale Alexander | Marketing Consultant

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

Hi Dale, where are your from? We’d love to hear about how your background has played a role in who you are today?
Im from the Caribbean, a small country in Central America called Belize to be exact. I moved to Los Angeles permanently after category 5 hurricane called “Mitch” in 1999. Y2K was the thing at the time and the world was partying hard. Technology was a constant in conversation at the time. I spent a few summers in New York and got to witness Biggie & Wu Tang album rollouts, summer jam, park fest and just life in the big apple. I also spent time in Washington DC you know the DMV area where I became in love with museums, education, politics, history on a whole. Our elders exposed us to wide range of cultures, disciplines, and a global social network that lead to me wanting to attend school abroad.

Knowing we are a small developing country of less than half of million citizens, there is a huge economic responsibility as a born Belizean and coming to “states” was seen as a privilege; therefore we migrated, assimilated, got educated in hopes of advancing. I didn’t realize then that there were tons of entrepreneurs in my family. My 1st unpaid job was bagging and delivering shark panades with my aunt near Yarbrough in Belize City. My 1st paid job was watching my uncle car and filling the parking meters while working with his eviction company in Washington D.C. I made $5 but to me that was $10 in Belizean dollars, but I knew if I took it to the bank I would get a little more. In retrospect, it was at this point I should have realized I was destined to be a forex trader but i was only 5.

Belize wasn’t trending as a top vacation location at the time and I never wanted to leave paradise; but my mom did see there were limited economic opportunities at the time. Los Angeles had and still to this day have a huge Belizean population; so it made sense this is where my grandmother lived. Entertainment and silicon valley technology industries was always been my focus since migrating and thats how my mom convinced me to move from Belize.

Nowadays I smile when people ask me “where you from” but growing in LA in the 2000s that wasn’t a phrase you wanted to hear too often. I came to America for school and got dropped smack in the middle of gangland. It was a culture shock and a-lot to learn at the age of 8. I would follow my uncles around construction sites, sit in the classroom with my mom, help my grandmother with her child daycare. Entrepreneurship kind of runs in the blood so I try to incorporate authentic life experiences into my business or when consulting others.

What should our readers know about your business?
I’m a serial entrepreneur who started many businesses with the various degrees of success.

We Love Belize (WeLoveBZE) is my most recent venture and serves a nonprofit resource center that’s is raising natural disaster funds for Belizeans and the many who enjoy my birth country.

Dope Approved is my media brand & creative community which services many of the artist I have attached my self to since 2010.

I’m a co-founders of Golden Eagle Radio & TV; which is now owned by The University Times of my Alma Mater Cal State LA.

Paul’s Unique Choice is a herbal importer I stared with my cousin in 2006 which brews many herbal remedies use in holistic healing.

The Promo Life, LLC the marketing consulting firm has been my most successful venture to date. Started in my college dorm at Cal State LA in 2010, but really took off in 2015 post graduation. I spent my 20s freelancing between several marketing agencies and found a way to integrate my versatility across my many skill sets into a viable business. I was everything from a social media manager, event production assistant, to a brand ambassador.

2016 While working at SXSW ‘s FADER Fort in Austin Texas I got to meet the rest of The FADER staff. I worked out of their parent company satellite office in LA while the rest of the Cornerstone team was based in New York. Soon after they informed us that they would be cutting the field activation marketing, representatives and dismantling their lifestyle marketing department I knew I had to make some changes to my own company.

As soon as I got back to LA I went to every agency I serviced since college and asked if they wanted to join my union. The Promo Life became a think thank, a brain trust for my former employers and coworkers. I already knew most the major players at several companies so it was easy to reinsert my self as an advisor.

I saw many changes coming to our industry from facebook algorithmic changes, artificial intelligence generating content, streaming and a shortage of a socially integrable work force. Due to the uniqueness of our guerrilla & experiential marketing services I organized my company to fill in the gaps in operations, sales, and legal departments of the companies I already worked for.

The Promo Life became more of a conglomerate of marketers across several disciplines, markets, and price ranges allowing our clients more flexibility & continuity when strategizing their advertising campaigns. Each agency went from competing with each other to working together to minimize burnout; alongside the expansion of services offered we implemented pricing standards to prevent price gouging or sandbagging. Lastly I identified areas of growth for each member and sorted equipment & personnel to best fit each campaign.

Essentially I became the strategist for 5 separate emerging companies without too much blowback despite the obvious conflict of interest. It’s truly an amazing accomplishment that was a testament to my contributions over the last decade marketing in Hollywood.

I got to exercise all my skills, relationships, and innovations in a way that allowed me to work on some of the most groundbreaking projects in education, technology and entertainment simultaneously.

In the world of music my most memorable contributions were made on Nipsey Hussle’s major debut album Victory Lap album which received a Grammy nomination. Snoop Dogg, Jane Hancock, Anderson Paak, Ice Cube, 21 savage, Lil Uzi Vert, Shoreline Mafia, Megan Thee Stallion when it comes to Hip Hop im all over it. I even got to coordinate a campaign to bring Rolling Loud Festival to the LA market for the 1st time in 2017 & Complex Con in 2016. Hip Hop truly saved my life but of-course that is not all I do.

In education I contributed to a partnership between LAUSD Beyond The Bell & LADWP to bring a student incubator called High Intellectual Preparedness Program to a new campus. Most recently broke into technology with the help for my good friends over at TEC Liemert & thier Black to The Future convention.

As a consultant I’ve contributed to thousands of projects while based here in Los Angeles; and hope to continue working with non-profits, startups, small businesses, government organizations who value my opinion, experience & out of the box approach to problem solving.

Since the pandemic I’ve expanded The Promo Life to Las Vegas, San Francisco, New York and recently Minnesota with more of a focus on mobile based outdoor advertising. I hope to one day have a nationwide advertising agency.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
You can’t run out of things to do or see in Los Angeles. Boy a week is definitely not enough to experience Southern California to its fullest. The views the landscapes alone would warrant a drive to some of my favorite look out spots: Top of Topanga, Hollywood Bowl outlook & Runyon park hike to start. We gotta spend sometime drinking at Hermosa Beach or on a rooftop in DTLA.

It’s a lot of culture and diversity in the city and I’m here for it. AfroBeats more specifically Amapiano music has been growing on me heavily over the the years thanks to working closely with Blaq Pages from Ghana. Foreigner, a Trinidadian DJ introduced me to Junkyard Jouvert, this crazy party full of fun free minded islanders like myself. 2Deep another long time friend of mine started Reggaetonlandia a blend of reggaeton & latin EDM which also become one of my favorite hang out spots. I’m a promoter so i could go on forever about the nightlife.

Surprisingly one of my most memorable dates I went on was at the LA Athletic Club but if you know me you know how much I love pizza…pasta…Italian cuisine on a whole. Delicious Pizza in West Adams district is like home base for me. I spend a lot of time there and frequently attend a lot of their events like PeppAseed, Boomyard LA & West Adams Block Party because it’s a perfect mix between Caribbean culture & Hip Hop which is basically me.

I love museums & historical sites and LA got a lot of memorable ones to attend.
I’ve been saving a few activities like snowboarding in Big Bear or a boat ride to Catalina Island for special day & person but i plan on knocking those out soon.

I really need to do more touristy things but I’ve lived in South LA since 1998 and have seen and done so much I’m about ready to explode another city like Vegas or The Bay honestly.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
I owe a huge shoutout to my Aca-Deca family; especially my coach and entertainment law instructor Donald Singleton. Over a decade ago during my senior year in High School he challenged me to join the United States Academic Decathlon competition with a 2.2 GPA. I was smart but was really depressed and unfocus due to finding out i was no longer eligible to play sports after having a life saving surgery while on vacation out the country. My fellow USAD alum and current competitors know its all about hard work and consistency, you know constant repetition. After 9 months of reprograming how I learn, and intense studying with the help of my teammates I broke the high score record for Dorsey High. Since then that community has embraced me throughout my college journey and I often contribute my confidence level to knowing anything is possible after the complete 180 turnaround from where my life was possibly heading. Up until the 2020 pandemic I mentored and eventually became an administrator at William Cather’s High Intellectual Preparedness Program; which helped other students prep for USAD & AP test.

A huge part of my professional life outside of entertainment & marketing revolves in education and those who invest in themselves are to be acknowledged. My mom & biological dad were both teachers so I guess it’s only right that I have always tried to share the knowledge. Parents if you want to get your kids into some top universities consider academic decathlon as an after school activity.

Website: ThePromotionLife.com

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thepromotionlife/

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dalexan

Image Credits
Kxnya The Fader Dvlopd. Bad Bradd Jus legendary CCM