Life & Work with Christopher Meek

Hi Christopher, we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself
My professional path is eclectic. I always thought that I would end up in music. In a round-about way, I eventually got there. I started violin when I was three, piano when I was four and wrote my first song when I was six. By my tweens I was writing music, signing up to perform in school plays, and reaching out to industry professionals to pitch demos. It may be cliche but in high school, I started a band, while also doing a solo project, and by my sophomore year, I got my first synch placement for commercial radio. It all stopped by my junior year in high school. Worried about how invested I was, and concerned about income stability, my parents channeled my energy to preparing for university and getting a “real job.”

I didn’t touch music again until two years later. After a semester in college, I left for Tokyo, Japan on a two-year service mission for my faith. Some leaders heard me play and sing during some free time and asked if I’d be willing to do some concerts. I agreed and spent a stint of my time doing small community events. It was the first time I realized that music is a universal language. My Japanese language skills were mediocre at best. The lyrics I sang were in English. Somehow we were still able to connect.

After my time in Japan, I returned to university and worked full-time to put myself through school. I eventually graduated in international relations with a focus in Near Eastern and Asian studies. I intended to pursue international law or a master’s in organizational behavior. Entertainment was far from my mind by this point. Then, I was presented with an opportunity to evaluate franchise investments for the royal family in Saudi Arabia. I wasn’t sure what to do. Consulting with my admissions director – he said to take it – that the experience gained there would outweigh what I would learn in graduate school. And, if I wanted to return, there’d be a place for me. From there I launched into a 25-year career that began in the Middle East in the venture capital and private equity space. It stretched me professionally and culturally across 63 countries and more than 20 verticals, including an eventual path back to the entertainment industry.

In my VC and PE work, we needed to build start-up and regional enterprises into brands that could scale nationally and globally. That resulted in negotiating and creating branded entertainment integrations through tv, film, music, fashion, theatre, and professional sports. My work in business strategy and entertainment expanded into opportunities to serve as an artist manager, producer, executive producer, and executive advisor for creatives in entertainment and business leaders. I continue to serve in these capacities today to business and talent associates in Nashville, LA, and New York.

I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle-free, but so far would you say the journey has been a fairly smooth road?
My career began on the other side of the world, not being a native speaker of the local language, and working in rich but complex socio-economic and cultural dynamics. I was accountable to local Arab leaders and staffed with a melting pot of Indians, Iranians, Pakistanis, Filipinos, US ex-pats, and many others. There were organizational and cultural hierarchies; systems that added layers of nuance to navigate. I was required to work and understand within each system, bridge understanding, and facilitate collaboration.

When we acquired a car armoring business from Columbia and brought their team to Kuwait or built our own VoIP telecom business with talent from India and Southeast Asia – the learning curve was steep – not because of the business models but because of cultural complexities. The portfolio of companies I engaged with across the Middle East, US, Europe, Central America, and Asia was a lesson in developing understanding and leading with cultural awareness and sensitivity across diverse stakeholders.

In 2008, the global financial crisis was a low point. We acquired the rights to launch a French luxury company in the Americas. At the same time, we invested in the CAPEX of several other new enterprises. Liquidity wasn’t an issue. Then, the crisis hit. It was painful. Trying to keep staff paid, managing all of the liabilities, and then personally losing everything – it was a hard lesson in balance. Balance in abundance and balance amidst crisis: both are needed to maintain clarity and direction.

In another private equity opportunity, I learned the importance of communicating value. I was number two going in to launch a consumer tech company. I formed the go-to-market strategy and, in 14 months, validated the business model. We were in 80% of the specialty department stores and, revenue exceeded $14 million. One of our capital partners had a representative join the team. This individual had a hard time grasping the category. We developed an antagonistic relationship – so much so that I distanced myself from him – including involving him in the articulation of strategy. When our viability became apparent, he believed, but it was too late. The capital partner invested more, he became president, and I was out. It was my mistake and loss. I should have taken the time and invested in the work to help him understand but, I let my feelings get in the way. That experience was formative and emphasized the need to communicate value and prove with data while engaging everyone.

Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
What I do and why I do it is foundationally built from my eclectic background. I worked with enterprises ranging from luxury manufacturing and retail to oil and gas. It includes: launching a telecom joint-venture with Yahoo! and HSBC with my business partners; being trained in Antwerpen in the cleaving, polishing, and grading of diamonds as part of understanding and working to scale a high jewelry company; crafting turn-around strategy for a car armoring company; working on the capitalization of a $1.2B oil refinery; to creating partnerships with brands like Swarovski and Ferrari; and launching a renewable energy company in a new consumer category that reshaped how people adventure off of the grid. Each experience offers problem-solving perspectives that enable me to foster solution-oriented collaborations.

From these experiences, I adopted a mantra that came from a business partner. At every negotiation, in his French-Lebanese accent, he would say: we choose what we do and with whom we choose. It was a powerful statement about choice and the importance of who we elect to partner with. When life is naturally complicated, why choose to further complicate it? My work is guided by specific purposes. Those objectives require collaborating with persons possessing certain attributes, qualities, and value systems. Any absence of these characteristics challenges purpose. Ultimately, it’s about outcomes that improve the world around us.

An example is an enterprise that I am working with now that is making an immediate difference in the kid-to-teen tech space. I serve as the VP of Business Development for a new growth company, Gabb. We’re creating an ecosystem of devices and services that allow kids and parents to stay connected – but safely – without the worries of screen addiction and access to inappropriate content. In fact, our Nashville team is responsible for building out a kid-to-teen music streaming platform free from explicit content called Gabb Music. We’re strengthening the bonds of kids with their families and communities through age-appropriate technology.

We’d love to hear about any fond memories you have from when you were growing up?
My childhood memory consists of a persistent theme: tolerance. My mother is Japanese and, my father was a blonde-haired California surfer. Growing up, across the country, and internationally, my mixed ethnicity was a challenge. In New York, I was five, playing in a sandbox with a boy that I had played with before. On one day though, his mother came out and told me I could no longer play with his son because I was a “jap.” I spent time growing up on a Ute Indian reservation in Ignacio, Colorado. My brother and I were regularly chased home from school by a group of boys, encircled, and beaten up while being called “Ronald Reagan” and “the white man that took away their land.” We moved to Utah, and for several years I was identified as the “spic.” Even going to Japan, to visit my Japanese grandparents, our grandmother was careful to not be seen with us because she was still embarrassed that her daughter married an American (she was disowned by her parents for ten years for marrying outside of honorable bloodlines). This period of approximately 12 years is a blessing. It taught me the value of diversity, the need to understand and foster, not just tolerance, but understanding.

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