The second year marketing major is the co-founder of Cokeem Media an up-and-coming production business where everyone is a celebrity.
It is an attention-catching website with an artistic feel that serves as a place to network and promote their business.
Animashaun is the creative director of Cokeem Media. His older brother and two friends serve as the financial planner, artistic director and photographer.
After dedicating their winter break to designing the website, Cokeem’s production team created a place to showcase all of the photographs and videos they have taken.
Cokeem Media’s website was launched on Jan. 17.
The group of self-taught production artists is full of momentum, Animashaun said. They are just getting started.
“Cokeem Media serves as an outlet for all the crazy ideas I want to get out,” Animashaun said.
All of their work is collaborative and each member has a niche, Animashaun said. His particular passion lies in film making.
“Each and every one of us has untapped potential and were going to try to bring it out and shine a light on everybody,” Animashaun said.
The name Cokeem came from a nickname an ex-girlfriend had for Animashaun. She said he was as addictive as cocaine. From there came the combination of cocaine
and his name Hakeem making Cokeem Media.
The team’s latest success was their coverage of Matador Nights last month. The video they created captured of what Matador Nights is all about and has served as great exposure and brought Cokeem Media attention and recognition around campus.
Animashaun’s love for capturing moments began with a Flip camera he carried around to preserve memories of his senior year in high school. He then edited and uploaded videos and received positive responses. This was when he fell in love with videography, he said.
The love for film slowly progressed. He wanted to capture special moments and events in other people’s lives and turned it into a business, he said.
He added that if there is a market for quality photographs and video then people will respond positively and so far people have.
“Cokeem is a name I can see on billboards and TV one day,” he said.
Animashaun hopes that one day the name Cokeem will be as popular as Nike.
His long term goal is to continue pursuing a career in the entertainment industry.
“I have the ideas, the energy, the passion and the look,” he said. “That’s what the entertainment industry is all about.”
The next step for Cokeem Media is creating music videos in the coming months as well as scripted shots that will include writing story boards.