Chief Executive Officer - James Hastings
James Hastings is the founder and CEO of JimShoes, LLC. He is also the founder and CEO of JimShoes Entertainment, now one of three major brands through which JimShoes offers its product line and services.

As CEO of JimShoes, James Hastings is responsible for business development, strategic planning, logistics, direct marketing, creative services, branding, licensing, retail growth strategy, and the overall leadership and direction of his company.

Gifted with a keen entrepreneurial mind, an appetite for success, and a cutting edge business model, Mr. Hastings has overseen the growth and development of JimShoes since the beginning. Today, the company is a youth lifestyle market entity that offers a broad range of competitive products and services, including apparel, marketing, consulting, talent management, and entertainment.

Background
James had early training attending multiple seminars in Chicago, Los Angles, Indianapolis and Atlanta before starting off on his first company, JimShoes Entertainment. James proved a sharp businessman even in his early years, coming up with creative ways to make a profit, such as hosting house parties. His keen business sense and unrelenting drive for success led him to pursue and make the most of his friendships, including that of Brian and Dennis Westbrook of The Jones' Production Co.

In 2003, James's alliance with The Jones' landed him in a position of researching how to be successful in the music industry. Through his research, James quickly realized that he had a new calling.

"...I decided I wanted to play with the majors. Just get into the game. I was not really in the business because at that time I wasn't working for any big company."

James started to seek out internships, seminars and began attending different speaking and music engagements. He got lucky and met Mark Winkler, a talent agent with United Talent Agency in Los Angeles. Mark gave James a shot, and James finally got the opportunity to sit down and talk to Mark about direction. He received valuable advice on how the industry works, as well as insider's knowledge and insight on how to be successful in the music business.

Impressed with the self-starting young man's work ethic and his closeness to the urban youth culture, Winkler began giving the eager James more advice and direction to network and connect with other successes in the industry.

"At that point I was already managing rappers and producers ...After meeting with Mark in L. A., I just went full throttle as far as getting my management company, JimShoes Entertainment, up and running, which did pretty good."

James realized the importance of building relationships. Coming back to the Midwest, he was conscious about building strong relationships with everyone from the President down to the intern, including the DJs, promotions people, and marketing people.

"I've done a great job at that. Just getting out more and meeting people and keeping in touch with people, even if it's just calling someone to say happy birthday. I'm an entrepreneur at heart. Just doing business in general is something that always intrigues and excites me. Just seeing what's going on in the music business. I watched Puffy in his early days, Russell Simmons, things that they were doing. I also had peers that were close to me as I was just getting started in the business."

James started out managing one local artist. From successfully managing that one artist, networking, and accomplishing other music contacts, his reputation began to spread among the local talent. James started networking with local businesses throughout Indianapolis, Champaign-Urbana, and the quad cities area. Once he had established and branded the Jimshoes name, it opened a lane of opportunity that attracted and got the attention of other local artists that wanted him to do the same for them.