I am Cornell Anthony Summers, but my friends call me Corey, The son of an African American father and a Caucasian American mother. I was born in Leesburg, Virginia, a place where it was uncustomary for persons of different races to interact let alone cohabitate. This combination of “Taboos” created an interesting challenge from birth. In school I was the kid with no culture. I was too light to be black, and to dark to be white. Around the community, I received the stares of uncertainty and sometimes disgust while accompanying my parents. Needless to say, during my pre-teen years I was very concerned about learning who I was. At times feeling very different than my peers. However, this social displacement actually worked in my favor over time. Due to the fact that I never seemed to naturally fit in with some of my peers I learned to be self sufficient from an early age. Coupled with the fact that I was an only child I become extremely independent. At times I also became somewhat competitive, feeling as though I had to fight to be one of the best at any given task just for acceptance of the few true friends I did have.
Those three attributes, independence, self sufficiency, and competitiveness, molded the person I became in my teenage years. By middle school I no longer hung onto the feelings of confusion and doubt. I had finally figured out what I was, and I most definitely knew who I was. I became confident in all my abilities, which lead me to become a starting forward for the basket ball team, I was the starting tailback for the Camp Springs Tigers (scoring multiple T.D’s a game ). Long gone were the days that I looked for acceptance with all the other kids. As I entered high school, music had become my world. Growing up, both my parent listened to music all the time, my father loved Otis Redding, Stevie, Aretha, Al Green and other artist of that same liken. My mother was into The Beach Boys, The Doobie Brothers, Albert Hammond and every once in a while a little Dolly Patron. Being that I came up in a household full of “Rock and Soul” my passion for music was inevitable. My interest in music ran so deep that listening to it was not enough for me, I chose to indulged myself in it.
One weekend over summer break I put on my best church outfit, grabbed my father’s briefcase I went down to the neighborhood community center and presented an opportunity to the community center staff that would help keep the kids off the streets, out of trouble, while providing a great time, and this could happen by them allowing me to use the gym for a concert (an idea that I had come up with the night before). Not only did the Community Center not know what I had planned, I didn’t either. To my surprise however they appeased me and gave me the green light for my neighborhood concert. With the help of my mother & some friends I came up with flyers and passed them out around the neighborhood for a couple of weeks advertising my concert (which still had no acts) Starring “Half-Breed & DJ Celow”(me & and a friend). Anyway, the day of the Concert came and I dragged dads Pioneer receiver and two 12” JBL 4312 speakers down to the community center. I plugged everything up to the Centers record player and mic. I put on Tribes "I left my wallet in El Segundo" and the rest is history! Your boy Half Breed packed that Center for the rest of the summer! I had become an instant music major player! (In my neighborhood, at least. lol)
Throughout my High School years, sports began taking a back seat, and music crept up into it place. By this time I had dropped “Half-Breed” and I became “Buck Roger / B.R. Starr” I started making beats and rapping at local talent shows and concerts. Things had begun moving so fast for me that the next thing I knew I was invited to hang out with “A Tribe Called Quest”. I couldn’t believe it myself; here I am this once lost kid who did not know who he was, now on stage at sold out arena concerts with “A Tribe Called Quest” while in high school. I learned a lot, and met many of the artists I looked up to. Life was great, how all this took place was still unknown to me (Thanks Mike). My senior year came, and graduation had finally arrived. I was well on my way to beginning a full time career in the music industry! Click here to hear some of my old music!
A year after graduation, Teauna Tyree was born {huge Smile}. That Beautiful 6lb 9 oz little lady quite naturally put the breaks on my career in music. Looking back now I must say with all sincerity “Thank You Teauna”. The experiences and lessons that life has brought me since your deliverance far outweighs anything my life would have been without you. Moving forward; I began working a few odd end jobs to make ends meet, while attending a few classes here and there in Community College. An innate feeling inside me always knew that no matter how far In life I might get or how much I may loose, it doesn’t matter because I am endlessly indebted to “more”. One night while staring at my daughter, who was lying on my chest I realized that the both of us were owed more out of life than a few odd end jobs and classes at a community college, although this was very difficult, I made up my mind to go retrieve what life owed to me. Shortly thereafter, I laced up my boots, packed a few bags and headed down to the land of palm trees, sandy beaches, and opportunity, “Miami here I come”!
I arrived in Miami without a plan or a place to go. In the beginning I still worked odd end jobs, just until I got some solid footing. However, this time it was much different. Although I didn’t have a plan I still had a goal. I enrolled into college and I started film school which happened to be a life long passion of mine. I completed this program and began my studies in musical engineering, another life long passion. After completing this I was able to open a full fledged studio with the help of some good friends. This allowed me to begin working for myself. Talk about an invaluable lesson. This is where I learned that the two most important areas of business are public relations and customer satisfaction. I also began meeting people that would help me achieve the goals that I had set forth. After some time, true to my nature I found my way. It wasn't all easy I must say, but without a doubt, Miami was a major building block in my journey towards success.
Miami was wonderful to me I must say. I found my fiancée there, we created our wonderful son Sean Corey. I made a gang of life long friends. I earned a wealth of knowledge, life lessons in entrepreneurship, and tons of connections in the music field. What more could I ask for. With all of this (and a few other things that don’t need mentioning at this specific moment) I packed my family up and headed back home, “DMV” here we come”!
With moving comes change, and change is great especially when it involves moving forward. I arrived in Virginia on a Friday evening. By Sunday evening my family was unpacked and settled into our new place. On Monday morning I hit the ground running! While living in the melting pot city of Miami I was exposed to many different cultures which brought with it many different styles of dress and fashion which sparked a flame of interest in me. In my spare time I began studying this field as well. I began reading up on various designers; I started researching clothing materials, I went as far as to comparing the different types of inks and printing processes for clothing. I tell you, when I’m interested in something I become a fanatic about it. The more I know about it the easier it is for me to determine how passionate I am about it. Well I was certainly passionate about fashion, so much so I got I job in the industry.
In order to fully understand the clothing business I intentionally sought out an entry level position at a t-shirt printing company in hopes of learning what all goes into mass production of clothing. I literally logged on to Craigslist.org under jobs and staring me in my face was a job offering that read “seeking an enthusiastic energetic creative mind to fill an entry level position at a t-shirt printing company, great pay and room for advancement"! I didn't even look further, I printed out the ad info and pinned it up against the wall next to my house phone with a note that read " Corey, call for job @ 8:30 " (yes I often refer to myself in the third person, it keeps me focused). The next morning I called the company and set up an interview for two days later. At this point I knew the job was mine (not to sound too cocky, but I tend to interview very well & I REALLY wanted this job!).
At 6:00am my alarm went off, I sat up said a brief prayer, and headed for the shower. After my shower I had two pieces of toast and half a glass of orange juice. I read two articles out of the Washington post and then went to get dressed (I know, I know who cares! But this has been my "land a job" ritual for years and it seems to work so why change up now). I opened up my closet and knew exactly what I needed to wear (always dress for the part). The ad I read called for an "enthusiastic energetic creative mind" so I knew earthy colors were all wrong. Today I'm wearing my longs sleeved candy apple green dress shirt with my cream triple pleated slacks, along with my cream and gold neck tie that holds a hint of sky blue rectangles trimmed with light green threads. I finished off this ensemble with my tan Stacy’s and matching belt “Lets Get Money"!
...Mr. Summers, your resume is impressive, your answers are assertive and on point, but so have the majority of the people we've interviewed for this job, what makes you different? I sat up in my chair as squarely as I possibly could. I slid to the very edge of the seat. I locked eyes with the young lady interviewing me and said “Maam, I'm here to help make this company even better, I want to learn this industry from the inside out… as a matter of fact ,”I will pay you if you hire me (lol)"! She leaned her chair back, cracked half a smirk and said “We may contact you this afternoon! I stood up, firmly shook her hand and went home to wait for my call; it came, and I started on Monday!
After some time of on the job training and personal research I started gaining a clearer view of the clothing industry. The biggest lesson I gained from my job was that there are numerous facets of the fashion industry to get into. This one piece of knowledge possibly saved months if not years of wasted time. It helped me to narrow down what I wanted to do, and focus on it. Being that I was working for a t-shirt printing company, I realized that I liked printing t-shirts. I was now faced with the question of what kind of t-shirt line I wanted to get into and why.
I started printing shirts left and right. Whatever my mind thought of I printed it. I loved it I was wearing my own ideas; the only problem was that I was the only one wearing them. My shirts were just shirts, they had no meaning, and they stood for nothing. They were just pieces of cotton with ink on them. This was extremely frustrating for me. Without a doubt I knew what I wanted to do, however, I didn't know why I wanted to do it. So I just stopped. My mind went dormant for months. I was bored with the work I did but my boss was cool and my home life was great because I was able to still provide for my family. So, I considered that a fair exchange and I actually became very comfortable printing t-shirts for other people.
Although I initially convinced myself that I had a pretty decent gig, I found myself unfulfilled by my current stage in life. As a father and provider, the idea of limits on what I could offer my family frustrated me. My t-shirt line had fallen drastically behind schedule by the standards set forth in my business plan, and I was simply tired of continuously running into walls & pit falls. My problem was too simple to fix, all I needed was a motive. Keep in mind that all of these thoughts are running through my mind, as I am printing other peoples t-shirts. For eight hours a day I would grab a shirt, place that shirt on a platen, prep the shirt, print on to the shirt, remove the shirt, and place the shirt in dryer, then place the shirt in "done pile" and REPEAT and REPEAT and REPEAT... After a while I felt like a machine. I had become a ROBOT, who justified this routine of complacency with the idea of a paycheck every two weeks.
Wait a damn minute “I am Cornell Anthony Summers, I embody the three attributes “independence, self sufficiency, and competitiveness”. I am “MC Half-Breed”. I am “B. R. Star”. I am “The High School Kid that toured with “A Tribe Called Quest”. I “owned my own recording studio”. I “have raised two wonderful children”. I “have beaten all the odds”. I “did not start this job to fill their empty position, I started this job to create my own positions”. “I AM NOT A ROBOT” if anything “IM A DOEBOT”… thus which spawned the idea of DOEBOTZ!
Sad but true, many of us are robots… human robotz, programmed by society & motivated by money (doe). However, now we have created a core group called the Doebotz. A Rebel-utionary group focused on the mission of seeking LIBERATION; from our own worst enemies… ourselves & our negative ways of thinking! I stumbled upon this way of thinking while working for that t-shirt printing company. It has now become my “motive” that driving force that I had been looking for when my brain feel asleep. Well, I’m up now and the world isn’t’ ready for me. In brief here my Doebotz philosophy…
… A Doebot is someone who understands that true motivation can not only be money. If you have a positive underlying motivation i.e., providing a better future for you family, making positive changes within yourself, giving back to your community, or anything that is sincerely honest and from your soul, will make you a true Doebot. If your underlying passion is your driving force, and you want to be financially stable or rich beyond your wildest dreams you can do it. Although “money” can be a useful tool in accomplishing anything you set your mind to acquire, the importance remains in becoming an internal TRILLIONARE, without question. Sorry if I seem preachy, but this is very serious to me. My goals are to continuously lead by example, teach empowerment, and prove that the good DOEBOTZ do not finish last. I vow to giveback to my communities, and I will continuously find ways to enrich those willing to learn with positive & helpful information that will equip them with the tools needed to become successful. DOEBOTZ is more than a hot clothing line; we are a way of thinking. We don’t just sell hot clothes, we teach empowerment, and give back to those who need…
But don’t get it twisted because we will constantly snap necks with the Hottest Street Wear fashion globally. If you find this to be far-fetched, consider yourself a certified ROBOT!
UNPLUG YOURSELF & JOIN US
WE R THE DOEBOTZ
