An Interview With: Ernie Valladares, CEO of The Lucrative Youth

October 24, 2022October 24, 2022

[Studio session @ The Lucrative Youth headquarters]

Ernie Valladares is the Founder/CEO of The Lucrative Youth. A creative agency based out of Miami, Florida who are changing the music industry with their one-stop-shop approach to artist development. They’ve worked with some of the biggest artists in the world down in Florida, and they’re only getting started. I hope this exclusive interview gives you guys some insight into what they’re doing, and hopefully inspire the next generation of creatives in the game.

Q: What’s up Ernie! Tell the people a little bit about yourself and The Lucrative Youth!
Ernie: What’s up Colton! First of all I wanna thank you for giving me this opportunity. I’m Ernie, a kid born in Miami into a Colombian family who is lucky enough to chase my dreams every day. The Lucrative Youth is more than just my company, it’s a family we’ve spent years building and still have a long way to go.

Q: What is The Lucrative Youth and what do you guys do?
Ernie: We’re a creative agency & independent record label looking to be a major player in the revolution going on in the industry! It’s really hard to put us into a box because of the amount of services we actually offer varying from recording music in our studio to music videos & hosting events. We pride ourselves on being a 1-stop shop for all needs an independent creative may need.

Q: What made you want to start a creative agency and how did you get started?
Ernie: Honestly, I didn’t even start off with a creative agency. When I started Lucrative Youth it was just a platform to showcase local creatives. We had a series called “Into The Mind Of” in which we would speak to artists, producers, & creative people. Then from doing interviews we started co-hosting and hosting our own events. The whole time we kept growing our brand & community while having a better understanding of what artists really want and need, from the ground up. That was when we decided we needed our own creative space, which would include a recording studio & place to record more content. We moved into our first location in Summer 2019, unfortunately that didn’t work out but we kept the train moving and ended up landing in our current location.

Q: Tell us about your team!
Ernie: We have a really small team, but I like it that way. My partner Fordo Filmz is a videographer & photographer who is responsible for 99% of the content we’ve produced since day 1! Jbo is the first artist to join the LY family. He is an artist, songwriter, producer, & plays a couple other roles as well. Also a major shout out to Valentina my girlfriend who has helped with various roles such as helping direct our music videos, & creative directing our brand. Also a major shout out to all my engineers and producers I’ve ever worked with!

Q: Who are some artists that you work with down at the Lucrative Youth headquarters?
Ernie: Where should I start? It’s honestly been 1000+ artists we’ve interacted with since our first day but I’ll narrow it down to some of my favorites. Jbo forsure, Jay Millz an artist out of Houston, Redda the young goat, Finesse aka Jay Ajayi, Cglizzy, Joseline Hernandez, Hymn Marley, Skippa Mak Marley, Stro Marley, K Charles, SK, Izzy Drake aka Fake Drake, YoungBreed, OhTrapstar, even latin artists such as Crissin, Adso Alejandro, Falsetto.

Q: Running a studio has got to be tough sometimes, what are some of the challenges you face running Lucrative Youth?
Ernie: If I’m being honest with you I feel like being in this game means that as the levels go up,the challenges do as well. One of the toughest challenges I faced was the week before I was supposed to finally open doors to my studio. In the first location I opened up I dealt with some bs permit issues that caused me to have to leave that spot. In the second location everything was going great and I finally finished remodelling my first studio room. The plan was to have a release party this weekend, but that was ruined when a person halfway across the world that same week in March 2020 ate a Bat. Covid came around and prematurely caused me to close the doors before I could even open! This situation caused my opening to be delayed by 4months but better late than never because once I was finally open the blessings began to rain down on us.

Q: Do you have any advice for younger creatives who might want to open up a creative space in the future?
Ernie: Just jump into the game! I can’t sit here and give advice because the reality is I’m still learning myself. But the most important thing I’ve learned on this journey is to just jump head first and figure it out as you go. Everybody has their own unique journey and until you give it a chance you’ll never truly know where you can take it.

Q: What is your ultimate goal for The Lucrative Youth?
Ernie: Revolutionizing the industry! I believe in our company because we offer a service I know that many artists all over the world genuinely need. Being that 1-stop shop would solve a ton of headaches for creatives and allow them to further develop their careers. I won’t go to deep into our exact goals but I promise you as the years go by you’ll understand the bigger picture clearer.

Q: Tell us a funny story about something you’ve encountered running a studio, I’d Imagine there are a few?
Ernie: Oh man. There’s been way too many funny moments and some I can’t even mention here hahaha. But one story I love to think back on is with a group of 4 guy rappers and 1 girl singer. The entire session the artists were rapping about “Money this get money that” but when it came down to pay the studio tab all that energy suddenly disappeared. Between the 4 of them they didn’t have enough money to patch up $75. It was honestly a hilarious situation when we watched the girl have to pay the last $75 and the embarrassment made it all even funnier.

Q: Anything you want to let the people know?
Ernie: Chase your dreams. Lock in with tunnel vision and watch how easy it is to make everything a reality!

That concludes our interview with The Lucrative Youth, I hope you guys enjoyed it! I’ll attach some of the work they’ve done below, along with links to their social media in case you guys want to connect with them. Thanks for reading. – Colton Kopacz

Stream their music on Spotify: