Although she is best known for her musical and actin Alicia Keys has just added the title CEO to her resume by joining forces with a Toronto based jewelry company, the Barber’s Daughters. On Dg skills, triple threat ec. 15, the Grammy Award-winning singer-songwriter will release her latest album, “The Element of Freedom,” featuring her new single, “Doesn’t Mean Anything,” and such tracks as “Try Sleeping with a Broken Heart,” “Put it in a Love Song” (a duet with Beyoncé), and “Empire State of Mind (Part II).” She will be performing a duet with country singer Tim McGraw on a special holiday edition of “The Oprah Winfrey” show on Nov. 30 . Speakeasy caught up with Keys at the launch of the new jewelry line to hear her thoughts about inspiration, jewelry and being a business woman. Edited excerpts are below.
The Wall Street Journal: Tell us about your new jewelry line with the Barber’s Daughters.
Alicia Keys: I [worked on] it with a beautiful artisan named Gisele, and I love how individual the pieces are and [how] they’re meant to inspire the wearer to feel it and love it and get into it.
What got you interested in becoming a businesswoman?
I’ve always been a businesswoman, because there’s no way you can be in the music business and not be a businesswoman. It’s always been a part of ever since I began in music, Since I was 16. I’ve always been very inclined to really just take control of the things that I want to see happen and to really be proactive about it so to extend and to expand into different ventures my entrepreneurial spirit has definitely been calling to me just because there’s so many ways to express yourself and
jewelry is such a beautiful expression, it’s a self expression.
Can you tell us a little bit about your company AK Worldwide?
It’s my hub, it’s my home, it’s my offices that really house everything that I’m doing through music and as it extends outside of music. I really decided that I wanted to invest and architect in businesses that inspire and that is what I realized calls to me. That’s the things that i want to be a part of. AK worldwide gives me an opportunity to explore these ventures, to really be supported while I’m doing it and to do it in the way that I envisioned it from day one so it’s very empowering. I love it, I’m so proud of it and we’re just getting started.
What is your role at AK Worldwide?
Head honcho, baby!
Nice! Can you give us a rundown?
Really what it is is for the visions that i have, the ideas that i have, to have A place they can be developed and fine tuned and executed. I have a great team that’s around me that helps to bring ideas to me, feed me with new thougths, new possibilites that fit into the criteria of what we’re trying to do. It really allows me to take the visions and make them come to life.
How do you work to keep yourself relevant to the world around you?
I’ve always been very conscious about what’s going on in the world and especially in an economy where it’s difficult for all of us, it’s a very difficult time in the world, it’s obviously transitioning in so many ways so I think it’s really important to be sensitive about that and for me, I always have been. I am an everyday woman [that's] just like everyone else out there trying to find their way through this journey, so [in all] the things that I do, I try to reflect that.
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