Quadriplegic Entrepreneur Puts Service To Others First

Benjamin Alessi is a quadriplegic entrepreneur working to make a difference in the world and he needs your help! He is raising money on his website.. Recently, I caught up with Ben to learn more about her work; here’s what he told me:

What is the social benefit you hope to achieve with or through your crowdfunding campaign?

The Naked Collective is a lifestyle company, currently it is made up of four art/fashion “collections,” and two musical “collectives.” Each “collection” and “collective” has a very specific social benefit, and we do not seek monetary goals when we prepare for any of our releases except to cover the costs and our time. Currently, we were able to scrape together the funds necessary to begin our four art collectives, and each one of them has a social goal attached to it. For example, all profits on purchases of any items in our “Local Legends” collection go towards Justina McIntyre, the mom of Ronnie Powell aka “The Truth” who passed away due to painkiller abuse. Justina, in turn, donates some of the shirts we send her, and any money raised towards a charity stopping painkiller abuse. This is just one small example of the good we are already trying to do, but let us get back to the goal at hand….

Our bottom line is customer satisfaction, and more importantly, community. The way we achieve our bottom line is through the arts, the true soul of life. The music we sponsor through our #restoretheradio program brings listeners to our website, where they can easily access many of the “lifestyle” features we provide for artists and art appreciators alike.

The “we” I referenced earlier is a community of customers, artists, musicians, and fans that extends worldwide, and includes producers, rappers, artists, collectors. listeners, customers, and fans that can be specifically accounted for in 39 states, and every continent (excluding Antartica.) Some of the people we have contacted, promoted or collaborated with in our “Naked Collective” include celebrities like producer Cardiak Flatline, comedians Heather McDonald , Tom Green and Brad Trackman and artists Afroman, Rone, Big Sean, Joel Venom , Carmine, and hundreds of others. Using the connections that we have established through hard work and dedication, me and my team of young visionaries have been able to establish connections, distribute product, and learn our craft. I am reffering to events llike Big Sean’s first ever concert in Philadelphia ( April of 2011, put on by Easy Threads Clothing in collaboration with companies like Def Jam ) , Wiz Khalifa “Be Easy” benefit concert for ,and the infamous yearly “Be Easy Bash”, which occurs each summer, and draws as many as 2,300 local artists, concert goers and visionaries like Paris Artelli, Dannie Phantom, The Smiling Lies, Millionz and Physicz (both artists w/ The Naked Co.)

One of the main purposes of The Naked Collective is community, and one of the biggest social benefits that The Naked Collective provides exists within this community. For this specific we have an objective that we seek to achieve. This objective is to restore the power of the radio to listeners, and to establish a morally strong, artistically raw, world-wide platform for artists and audiophiles alike. We believe the arts inspire innovation, generate happiness, and ultimately promote the collaboration that allows us break through social barriers, give individuals a chance for self-expression, and spreads ideas that change the world. Literally, we seek to strip the music industry down in order to illuminate the true beauty and sole of the arts. We hope to do this not only through the very first lifestyle app. ,but through two very unique collector’s “mixed” tapes and our #restoretheradio agenda.

By putting on local artists with A-list celebrities, establishg the connections needed for success, providing cost-friendly clothing for fashion-friendly folk and matching their purchases to clothe those truly homeless or without clothing, and spread the gifts of music and art.

These are the “naked” objectives.

How much money are you hoping to raise and why? How much have you raised so far?

We need to raise $70,000.00 cover the costs of TWO very important projects.

These two projects are called “The 40th Parallel” and “The Chronicles”, and they both will be made available by your donations via the lifestyle app. that we will be using part of the funds for as well.

The 40th Parallel is a music collective under the Naked Collective umbrella. It’s name comes from latitude line that runs through Philadelphia. The purpose of the collective is simple: support, grow, and promote the music and art community of Philadelphia. For the first project, 17 Philadelphia area artists submitted songs to put on a compilation album. Some of these artists have been featured in magazines like “Rolling Stone Magazine”, and others have not yet gotten any press. All of them have donated songs worthy of radio play through our #restorettheradio program.

The 40th parallel will be helping hard-working artists in the area get their name out, connect artists together, and overall tighten and support the Philadelphia music community. In the future, we hope to release seasonal compilation albums and host live pop-up shows featuring these artists.

We thoroughly believe and know that the music we gathered from artists in local Philadelphia deserves to be heard on the local radio. We want to grow a #restorethemusic campaign that restore power to the music that the public truly wants to hear. So far, the collaborative is being promoted so far by WXPN’s “The Key” , WCU Radio 91.7 “the Curve”, NYC Radio 99.3 “TAZ Radio” and there will be a FREE download for anyone on The Naked Collective website, as well purchasable collector’s cassette tape , and CD options.

$30,000.00 of the money we raised would go to covering the costs of press, live shows, merchandise (hats, shirts, stickers, etc.) , as well the costs of making 5,000 playable cassette tapes, complete with cassette case and cover and printing a limited edition “40th Parallel” magazine, full of helpful tips, numbers, leads, pictures, and stories.

If we reach our $30,000.00 goal for The 40th Parallel, we also will have enough money to host our first ever #restoretheradio March at the end of November, in which we hope to get our hundreds and thousands of fans on board to picket, call in, protest, and endlessly request “The 40th Parallel” is played at 104.5 FM, Pennsylvania’s alternative radio station.

Of the remaining $40,000.00 that we are seeking … $30,000.00 is to fund the release of “The Chronicles”, a collector’s hip hop mixed tape that The Naked Collective founder, Ben Alessi (also known as Trill Humble Clinton) has been collecting tracks for since his accident 02/15/110. The album boasts tracks from artists across the world, including:

• Afroman – (http://www.afromanmuzzicc.com )

  Cardiak Flatline – (http://www.cardiakflatline.com)

  Carmine – (www.carmine.co)

  Big Sean -(http://uknowbigsean.com)

  Dannie Phantom – (http://hiphopsince1987.com/tag/dannie-phantom)

  Joel Venom – (http://www.deificink.com/meet-the-artists/joel-venom/)

  Mr. Cunningham – (https://soundcloud.com/mrcunningham)

  Rone – (http://genius.com/artists/Rone), MIllionz (https://www.facebook.com/MaximilianDaMillionz) Prin$e Alexander – (http://iamprincealexander.com)

And over 20 other artists!

The Chronicles is not only a Hip-Hop collector’s must own album, but it is a masterpiece, and provides listeners with a chance to hear Hip Hop / Rap music from a different perspective. The Chronicles provides the listener with morally-balanced songs promoting a positive kind of Hip Hop / Rap music that is virtually impossible to find nowadays, both on the radio and online. The album also is part of our #restoretheradio program, and if the financial goal we have set for The Chronicles is reached, we will launch our “attack” to restore the radio on both Wired 96.5 FM in Philadelphia and Q 102.1 FM.

The $30,000.00 we are asking for this campaign covers the costs of TWO live performances (most of the artists we are booking right now are asking around $7,000.00 for a performance) by A list artists on The Chronicles, as well as THREE live performances by other artists affiliated with The Chronicles.

The money will also cover 2,000 free hard copy CD’s of The Chronicles (not including shipping), and 3,000 unique USB’s pre-loaded with The Chronicles tracklist , and appearing to be a retro cassette tape. The rest of the costs will cover merchandise (beanies, crewneck sweaters, stickers, etc.) ,and promotion costs.

The remaining $10,000.00 that we are seeking to raise money for is to create an app. , available for download on both Iphone and Android. This app. will include all the songs on both the 40th Parallel, and The Chronicles, as well as a user-friendly interface with features like a calendar containing all the performance dates of artists on the collaborative album.

All together, our $70,000.00 asking price will help create and release two full length albums, and a “lifestyle” app. that will promote local music and therefore local economy.

Whom are you trying to help with your project and why?

The 40th Parallel and The Chronicles will benefit local artists and local community the most, while simultaneously providing these “local” artists with a world wide platform to showcase their art. On the surface, our project benefits artists and art appreciators most, but the affect that our project could have is worldwide. Not only do all of the collections we currently promote have a direct social benefit, but with the money we are trying to raise, we hope to create a virtual app. that will change the world!

What rewards, if any, are you offering to your supporters?

For all donations of less then $100.00 we will reward our supporters with a hard copy version of both The 40th Parallel and The Chronicles, as well as a tee shirt from one of our collections (www.thenakedco.com) , and a thank you email from The Naked Collective president, Ben Alessi.

For all donations of above $100 and below $1,000 we will reward our supporters with a hard copy cassette version of the 40th Parallel, as well as a CD copy, a USB and CD copy of The Chronicles, two shirts from our collections, as well as stickers, hats, other collector’s items of BOTH The Chronicles and the 40th Parallel releases, AND an access code to our lifestyle application (available on both Android and Iphone.) A personalized Tweet, Facebook post or email is also available.

For all donations above $1,000.00 we will give the supporter ALL of the aforementioned items, plus a customized print autographed by a celebrity involved with The Naked Collective, and a hand written personal note from each member of The Naked Collective.

Check out the campaign:

Visit the website.

Follow on Facebook.

Follow on Twitter at @thenakedco.

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