Creative Spotlight is a weekly feature highlighting Black creatives making trailblazing moves. In this space, your voices are heard and your hard work is celebrated. For consideration for a future feature, e-mail us at [email protected]

Name: Rebecca Ijeoma aka Dimplez

Age: 26

Occupation: Founder of IJEOMA Agency, Digital Strategist, Social Media Expert and Entrepreneur

Location: Los Angeles

Social/Website: TwitterInstagramMissDimplez.com – IJEOMA Agency

Bio: As seen on Revolt TV, MTV, and at SXSW, Dimplez is the Digital Marketing Maven behind your favorite artists and brands. Dimplez, born Rebecca Ijeoma, is a digital strategist, social media expert, and entrepreneur. Upon graduating from college, Dimplez and partners teamed with Cricket Wireless & Muve Music and DJ Green Lantern to present three of the largest independent South by Southwest events in the festival’s history.

Fast forward to present day, Dimplez now runs a self-contained marketing, strategy, and publicity firm, IJEOMA Agency, based in Los Angeles. Responsible for the development and growth of digital platforms for her respective clientele, for current and legacy clientele NE-YO, Ye Ali, Maejor, Terrace Martin, DJ Mo Beatz, Funkmaster Flex, The Smoking Section, Atlantic Records (Lifestyle Division); with noteworthy campaigns such as Dream Chasers Ent’s Free Meek Mill Campaign, Karen Civil’s Be You And Live Civil, and the AACA Clothing Relaunch & Kickstarter.

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EBONY: What prompted your start of the IJEOMA Agency and what things can you contribute to your success? 

Dimplez: My agency was kind of birthed out of necessity. I never really started with the intention of being a publicist or a marketer or anything like that. I was actually a blogger, and I had reached out to an artist. He goes by Maejor now, but at the time, he went by Bei Maejor, and I reached out to him because I wanted to do an interview. I remember his manager being like, “Yeah, yeah. We’re gonna schedule it. We’re gonna schedule it,” and it never happened, but they were like, “Hey. We see you do all of this other stuff. Can you help us get this song on the blogs?” That’s how I kind of started. The agency, as I grew with more clientele, I got more sure about what I want to do. The agency kind of developed from there. To credit my success, per se, I still don’t see myself as successful, which is weird.

But I would credit my mother, because my mom is one of those people where you’ll come at her with like a million problems, like, “I need this. This and this is wrong. I need to buy gas,” and my mom will have eight solutions, and that’s just kind of how I operate. You need something? Okay, well, here’s the solution to it.

EBONY: Can you give us some insight on being a woman working in the hip-hop industry?

Dimplez: I feel like being a woman working in the industry is a very… it’s a very interesting space to be in right now. Women, traditionally, are only seen in certain roles, and when it comes to hip-hop or the music industry itself, it’s very misogynistic. So unless you’re in the room as somebody’s girlfriend or somebody’s manager, there really isn’t a space for you. Just kind of like as a business professional, it’s very important that when I do walk in the room I introduce myself. “Okay, this is so-and-so’s manager, this is so-and-so’s publicist.”  There should never be any doubt in your mind that I don’t know what I am doing. That would probably be the insight into the industry. I hope I answered that correctly.

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EBONY: What are a few pieces of advice you would give upcoming artists about working with publicists, a marketing team or a manager?

Dimplez: Your manager and your publicist or your marketer, they are not your parents, and they will not do this thing for you. I say that because there have been circumstances in the past where it’s like, “Um. Hey, I have a $3000 budget, and, um, I want to be on Fader,” and it’s like, “Bro, that’s really not how it works. Does your music even match the aesthetic that Fader delivers, or do your friends even listen to your music?” Because a lot of the times people feel as though if they go hire PR they’ll automatically get on. If your circle around you doesn’t support you, doesn’t tweet about your stuff or if they won’t even show up to your shows that you do in your living room, why bother hiring other people?

To any upcoming artist who’s like, “Hey, I want to hire somebody. I need a manager,” develop something worth managing, develop something worth publicizing, and then reach out and find the resources. But then, even knowing and finding those resources, those people are only here to amplify you. At the end of the day, you need to be doing the work and presenting a product.

Dimplez - Creative Spotlight

 

EBONY: What are you brewing up right now? What’s next for you? That you can tell us.

Dimplez: New year, new platform. Wait for it….You’ll be like, “Oh, so this is what you were talking about?”

EBONY: What are five things people don’t know about you? 

Dimplez: 

  • No one in my family calls me by my last name. Only the feds call me by my first name
  • I played basketball and I ran track competitively. Club track, from middle school through college, and my discus record at Shadow Mountain High School in Phoenix, Arizona still stands
  • I played cello for 15 years
  • I was a choir geek in high school
  • I have a hundred cousins, like, literally a hundred cousins. I’m Nigerian, but I literally have a hundred cousins, so on my mother’s side, there’s 56, and on my dad’s sides, there’s 34.

EBONY: What are five goals you want to reach or achieve at the end of the year?

Dimplez: 

  • Triple my clientele
  • Liner notes on a Grammy-nominated album
  • I want to appear on TV as myself, not doing something ratchet on reality TV, but on TV as myself, just digital expert
  • Triple my capital goal
  • To be in the best shape of my life this year

To keep up with Dimplez follow her on Twitter, Instagram, and MissDimplez.com


Diahann “Dee” Williams is a photographer, writer, and Social Media Specialist for the EBONY brand. You can connect with her on Twitter & Instagram or DeexDee.com