Joshua Walker “AMG”

Joshua Walker

He  is the CEO/Founder  of AMG (Avenue Music group).  His slogan is…  “Make it Happen”.   He’s 21 years old and he started his company 2 years ago.  I can definitely see him in the bright lights and his future is even brighter.  He is Joshua Walker.:

SKII: Who is Joshua Walker? Tell me something about yourself..

Joshua:  I started my company 2 years ago only after working a 9 to 5 job and I really didn’t like the way they treated other people.  I always had an interest in music and I thought I needed to do something else.  I’ve always been a business  savvy person so, I just wanted to fuse those two together and that was when AMG was born.   I’ve worked with and manage artists; host events and do radio.  I try to set artists up on a platform to give back to the community.  That’s who I am..  I’m  nice and I’m down to earth.  

SKII: So you’re a young 21 year old entrepreneur. Where did you go to school?

Joshua:  That’s an interesting story.  I’ve graduated from James Madison High School in Brooklyn, NY.  I was on the football team my  first year of high school.   I don’t think the football team really took school that serious so I  fell off too.  But then I began to realize how important school was so I began to  work my butt off to get a  98 average in my junior year and a 103 average in my senior year of high school. After graduating  I decided to go to Brooklyn college. Brooklyn  college wasn’t my first choice of schools.  I always wanted to go away but I wasn’t able to  I  became very focused about  my  education.   I joined various club organizations.  I stopped with social media.    My main focus was to do well while in college.   I had to get high grades  because I had an internship.   Eventually,  I was able to get a 4.0 in Brooklyn college and then  I  transferred to Hofstra  University where  I stayed on campus.  It wasn’t what I expected.  I really didn’t like the experience very much.  I wasn’t very fond of it.  So, I went back to Brooklyn College for my third year.  The funny part is that while  I was ready to graduate in just two semesters, that was when I started my company.  I started to see where my company was headed.  I began  helping people.     I started to see how I was engaged with helping people outside of school, .  I began doing outreach work outside of my academic environment.   I don’t deny the importance of school.   But if your there, just be there for a reason.  I  began focusing  more  on my company rather than to continue my education and finishing  school.  That’s the story of my  education.

SKII: Where do you reside?

Joshua:   I grew up in Bedford Stuyvesant in Brooklyn NY.  I was raised by my mother and my grandmother.  It was really nice having female role models around me.  They kept me on the right path.  My grandmother is very religious.  She goes to church every Sunday.  I never got into any trouble.  Never got into any type of gang violence even though it surrounded me.  I grew up positive. There’s a lot of gang violence and drugs in my neighborhood  but  I never got into any of that.  Thank GOD I was able to grow up with my mom and grandmother.   That’s what kept me away from that negativity.  I focused on school and the positive  things in life. 

I have one little sister on my mom side.   Her name is Monei.  She’s very smart.  Right now she has a 90 plus average in school.    I’m really proud of her.  I have a little brother named Malik on my dad side.    He just graduated from high school.   Also through my dad, I  have an older sister  Lisa. 

SKII: You invited me to a Christmas show for the community which was held by you at the Queens Library.    Is that your current place of employment? 

Joshua:   Actually, that is not where I work but I am the Vice President of a friends group.  The Friends Group consists of people that is very engaged with working with the community.  We have fund raise’s  for books and we  try to enhance the look of the library.  So being the Vice President of the FRIENDS GROUP, I thought I could  better serve the library by bringing  different artists to the forefront of creating new programs and events.  The library is a really important place.  It’s a safe haven for a lot of people.  I got involved with the library to help bring the community together.  Libraries have a lot of  different things.  Some libraries have recording studios that most people would not even know about.  It’s a really nice place to be and I am trying to get our youth back involved in the library. 

I started working with different youth groups.  I love to see them smile.  I never had a lot of positive influences while growing up.  When my  school had career day and people from different organizations  came into the school to speak to us, I wasn’t impressed with what they did.  They were twice our age or older and  they were already successful.  I’m only 21 years old and most of my people I help are under 25 years old.  They are young and  they are ready to do something with their life.  I try to bring that positive aspect to them.   Everything we do benefits some type of community organization.   

SKII:  How did you come up with the name Avenue Music group (AMG)?

Joshua:  It’s funny.  When I first started AMG, I Knew I needed a name for my company.  I came up with different  names for the my company  like;  Infinite Music Group, E&J Music Group, J&E was another name I  came up with but all of those names were taken.  So as I sat in a chair at a pizza shop,  I came up with the name Avenue Music Group  (AMG).  The acronym sounded great.  I looked it up to make sure the name wasn’t taken and no one  had that name.  Avenue is that road people could take to get to where they need to go .  That’s what AMG is about.   AMG  that avenue people need to use if they want to have an event; or  if they wanted to network.   That’s what I’m  about.   

SKII  Where is your company based?

Joshua:  We are based out of Brooklyn.  We have events in Brooklyn, in the library for the community.  We’ve done events in queens.   In Staten island.  We haven’t done anything in the Bronx yet but, it’s coming.  We are basically all over.  California and Europe will be my goals to do events in 2015. 

SKII:  I initially met you at a networking event in john jay college.  Were you performing that night

Joshua:  No.  The event was thrown by my friend Scott Morris.  He is the creator of Dean’s List Tour.   I was a judge tour.  I helped pick the people that actually made the tour.  30 people made it.  I also work with Artists Management.   My job was to create different classes to let the artists know what they had to do outside of their music.  They need to know that music is only 10% of a music career.  A lot come from networking, marketing and promotions.  I had  to teach them that aspect of the business.  I don’t sing or rap or anything.  That part skipped me.  But my dad (Bryant Andrews) owns a dance company.  The name of his company is Energy Dance Group and Creative Community Educate CCE.  He’s based out of Kingston  New York.   His dance company has  travelled to Europe, North Carolina and Florida.  My dad’s company is basically a program  for kids.  He  teaches them how to dance.  He  is an amazing dancer.  My brother and both of my sisters are amazing dancers also.  I may not have been  blessed with  the entertainment aspect  of dancing,  but I am good when it comes to managing business.   

SKII:  Do you travel with The Dean’s List Tour? 

Joshua:  I actually found out about the Dean’s List Tour this year.  One of my artists – Rebecca was performing  at Hofstra University.  That’s when I first met Scott Morris.   He knows a lot of people.  We became friends immediately.   He’s like a brother to me.   We both are doing a lot of positive things.    He’s doing things with college and I pull him into the library for events.  I recently had an event  and he was there.  We both love to talk to the kids.  We inspire them and motivate them.  I am blessed to be able to travel with The Dean’s list tour this year.  I’m really looking forward to travelling with them. This year,  we are travelling to Texas. 

SKII:  Do people react  differently  towards you because you’ve started your own company?

Joshua:  You know, you are making me emotional right now.  It’s funny.  I actually spoke to my girlfriend about this last night.  Things like this really hits a spot in my heart.  I’m the youngest person working in the library as a Vice President of The Friends Group.   I own my own company “AMG” and we try to find people in the community who are trying to showcase their talents.   We let them perform in the community library.    So when people say things like,  “you’re a positive role mode”,  it really touches my heart to hear that.  Whenever I went to a conference within the library and I would stand up and speak, people would say, OMG.  They can’t believe that I’m so young with a high position at the library.  “I am the Vice president in the queens library Friends Group”.    Another thing that got me so emotional was  a woman called  Ellen Young.  She works for the main library “Queens Central library”.  I only know of  her by becoming friends on Face Book.  Everyone  are friends on  Face Book  because of the library notices.  Anyway, she  doesn’t  know anything about me other than that but she reached out to me and asked if my girlfriend was ok?   I was baffled about her question.   I  posted on Face Book a quote about my girlfriend being sick and that she was in the hospital.   She then  said, I really like what your doing.  Your so positive.  Things like that really touches me.  I am so grateful to have people like her supporting me. 

SKII:  Who do you manage?

Joshua:  I only manage three artists right now.  A.R. Stylez, R. Q. Tek – both are male artists  and  Rebeca Sol.   I co-manage them with another person in Philadelphia called – Blue Monday People.  They are an Indie Rock Band.    I’m trying to set them up with a tour this summer.  I want AMG “Avenue Music Group”  to be the “Go To”  Management Company.  I want AMG to be like Def Jam, Bad Boy, Universal Sony and Roc-a-fella.   I want the  name “AMG”  to be a household name.  I have a saying;  “Education, Collaboration and Equality.  “Education – People should self educate themselves everyday”,  Collaboration – I want to collaborate with different people  and Equality – I want the same opportunities and support for entertainers..  I love to see other people succeed in life. 

I want to succeed in life  Some people want to become a dancer, rapper, drummer, singer, etc.  Because of  our society, people sometimes become what society want them to become  and they wound up being unhappy.  Here’s a few examples…  A doctor, a nurse, a lawyer, teacher, Policeman/woman.  These are professions people become because of following their parents footsteps or because they have to get a job.  No matter what it is.   People should have equality to become what they want to become.  Look at  Jay Z.  He’s a good example.  Jay Z is from Marcy projects in Brooklyn.  Born and raised there.  People (society) might have thought he was going to sell drugs and that is what typical things are said about people who was born and raised in Brooklyn projects.  Jay Z was a drug dealer and then when he had enough money, he began to turn a negative thing into something positive.  He gave back to the community  he grew up in.  You can hear him through his music about his upbringings.   He made it out of the projects.  Out of his surroundings.   I experience  that same stereotype.   He’s the only rapper out there whose been selling his rap songs for 20 something years.   So I get inspired by him.  

 I am currently doing a project right now called:  The Dream Project.   The Dream Project is – a project for under privilege kids especially during the holiday seasons.  Kids that are in shelters or they might have parents that aren’t well of.  The Dream project – will take the load off from three kids  parents who don’t really have money to purchase special things for their children.  This year, we are taking three kids from P.S. 28  ( my mom school ) and giving them a day to remember for Christmas.  We had every  student in my mom school write a letter,  telling us what they want as Christmas presents.  We pick the best three and take them for a day on the town.  My company “AMG”  would take them to a local community restaurant to eat,  (Common Ground) is the name of the restaurant and they are sponsoring the meals.  Then we will take them to the city to ice skate and then to a movie.  We also take them to a wax museum –  Madam Toussaint and finally to  Toys R Us  for a shopping spree to get whatever they want.   We give them the opportunity to pick out a toy for their charity group or hospital.  So, its going to be awesome.  

I love what I do and I want to thank everyone who was involved with sponsoring my company “AMG”.  I am working on a project to take ocer the library and  the school system, in changing its culture.  I’m working  on bridging the gap between local artists in giving back to the community.  We are offering event performances, local artists workshops and unique talent panels based on Educating, Entertaining and Engagement.  You can check us out on WWW.AvenueMusicGroupAMG.com for further information.