We’re looking forward to introducing you to Waladi Ali. Check out our conversation below.
Good morning Waladi, we’re so happy to have you here with us and we’d love to explore your story and how you think about life and legacy and so much more. So let’s start with a question we often ask: What do the first 90 minutes of your day look like?
When I go to sleep on time at 10pm or a bit after, I wake up at 5:30am and take a breath outside. Earlier in the summer it was a bit brighter and blue outside, enough for me to look into the clouds and see the stars and the moon. Now in the month of August everything is much darker. Afterwards I go back inside get into some meditation and mindfulness practices. These practices can include affirmations, dopamine resetting, and guided/solo meditations. Afterwards I study and refine my French with guided activities and speaking lessons. After that, I turn on some motivational speech videos and connect it to my speaker and take a cold shower. Lastly, I clean up, brush my teeth, wash my face and make breakfast. Around that time its typically about 6 or 630 and my phone doesn’t turn off of DND until 7am, and then I can see what’s been going on with social media and the rest of the world, so I pass time getting some work done or otherwise. This is an ideal morning for me, I absolutely cannot say I’ve stuck to it recently as well as I have earlier this summer, but I tend to have quite amazing days when I get myself in an amazing place in the morning time. It works for me better than waking up later in the day, unless I had a long night of selling art or networking events, in which so I give myself grace to sleep in.
Can you briefly introduce yourself and share what makes you or your brand unique?
My name is Waladi Ali, I am a visual artist and graphic designer, and the CEO of “WBA Art LLC”. Above all of these though, I am a storyteller, and I love to encourage others to look at themselves as characters in their own story and decide how they want to tell it. This coincides directly with the mission of our business which is empowering our audience of creatives to tell their stories through our artwork. Whether we provide the work for them, collaborate in telling their story, or showing them how to do it themselves, empowerment through resonance is very important to us.
What makes us unique in what we do is the messaging behind our artworks and our constant drive to ask our audience of creatives in any medium of our work, “What do you have to say?” or “What is your story?”. While our artworks may look nicely rendered or very detailed, a closer look will always garner a visceral emotional response, touching something deep within the viewer. Because we draw all of our inspiration from real life and real stories we feel may not have been told just yet or gotten the proper representation it deserved.
A great example of this is our newly released book, “Heart & Brain, Book 1”, recanting the stories of the heart and brain in each of us, and how the trials they face individually, make them grow stronger as a team.
Great, so let’s dive into your journey a bit more. Who taught you the most about work?
My parents taught me the most about work in very different yet foundational ways. Starting with my Mother, when I was very young, she always encouraged me to become a doctor, because it was a safe and secure career. Though as I grew, so did her vision of what I would be able to do. She became more open-ended and supportive of any career choice I enjoyed doing, entrepreneurial or not. Though more than “what”, she always involved me in the “how” and assured that I was up to date with money management by the time I got to college, understanding bills and further responsibilities that would ensure a stress-free lifestyle. And these teachings were arduous to say the least, though I’m extremely grateful she put me through it, because it translates into how I manage my business along with others in terms of finances, and making sure we’re always in compliance with the government and state, and that I have access in my business and personal doings to whatever I may need.
Next, my Father, who has always led a path of entrepreneurship, was always involved in being his own boss. Whether things seemed to work out or not, they always benefitted him and my family. Other than his instillment of seeking God first before worldly pleasures, his teachings about work always happened to be more in alignment with what I was seeking from a hands-on perspective. A career based around what I was passionate about and self-governance. Not only that but making sure my family had space in the dream as well was always mandatory and making way for legacy beyond what I can just to do to benefit myself. Whether it was with his businesses or non-profit, he always kept me around to see the outer and inner workings, to ensure that instead of leaving me wealth in terms of money, he left me wealthy with knowledge and in the field experience.
What did suffering teach you that success never could?
I learned that all forms of “suffering” in my life has been self-imposed in totality. Either from misdeeds or the setting of expectations on any force beyond myself. I also gathered that “success” is self-imposed as well and that can look like anything I claim it as. Simply waking up in the morning is more successful than making rent for the month from art shows and sales. From lots of the studies and books I’ve had the privileges to read in the past 2 years, I’ve reckoned that both sides of “suffering” and “success” are temporary states as well, and not to identify with or get too attached to either. Simply being, although it doesn’t feel like it at times, is the best thing I or anyone can accomplish. Not a particular state, rather, just, being.
Sure, so let’s go deeper into your values and how you think. What’s a belief or project you’re committed to, no matter how long it takes?
I have 3 comic book series in my lifetime that I know I must complete. After that, I don’t believe I’ll stop drawing as a whole, but I know that my vision in this stage of my life will be accomplished, making way for whatever will come after that. One of the series is, “Justice Rain”. The other two have been partially read and seen by those who knew me previous to my freshman year at Morehouse college. No matter how long it takes to fulfill my vision of “Justice Rain” in totality and satisfaction in order to get to the other series, I will do my best. I’m super excited to hold all 3 completed series in my lap and cry. That will be a day I’ll celebrate everyday as if it has already happened, until we arrive. Which we will, arrive.
Okay, so let’s keep going with one more question that means a lot to us: If you laid down your name, role, and possessions—what would remain?
If I wasn’t a business owner, visual artist, graphic designer, entrepreneur, college graduate, African American man, or even Waladi Bashaar Ali, I would simply just be a smiling reassurance from the universe. A reassurance that better times aren’t simply up ahead, they are right in front of us. A smiling reassurance that is a viewer, a listener, and a reflection of what can and should be. Bringer of glad tidings, right?
Contact Info:
- Website: https://wbaart.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ida_law/
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/waladi-ali-15289419a/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/waladi.ali.7
Image Credits
Courthney Russell, Robin Martin, Ziglor Photos
