Today we’d like to introduce you to Joel Massicot.
Joel, please share your story with us. How did you get to where you are today?
I was born and raised on the beautiful island of St. Croix. An island that is part of the U.S. Virgin Islands. I grew up amongst a family of musicians and I started to play music at the age of eight. My dad bought me my first Casio piano when I was in second grade and my first trumpet when I was in third. Music was like heaven to me. I use to get exited just getting up every day to listen or play music. I played trumpet from elementary all the way to high school, but once I got into high school I started to focus more on the piano with the Jazz ensemble. On my way to high school I picked up saxophone and I played drums often for reggae and calypso bands, and in church. Music was my safe space and it fueled my ambition, which was enormous. I wanted to experience music through as many filters as possible and it gave me the energy to pursue my aspirations to see the world. I was also heavy in sports and spent high school within the Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps (J.R.O.T.C).
I fell in love with Salsa in high school. Dancing and playing music were the main tools that helped connect everything together as I entered into twelve years of military service. I did four years of J.R.O.T.C, then I did another four years in the Army band as a cornetist, pianist and a percussionist, while I was attending Howard University as a Jazz pianist majoring in Jazz studies. While stationed in D.C. I played with a number of the local Salsa bands and became well known around the scene because on my off time I was dancing up a storm. I went out every night for three years straight until I transferred from the Army into the Marine Corps where I did another four years as a Combat Photographer working in forensics, documentation and intelligence. I was also a Martial Arts Instructor for the corps training the Marines in the corps mix martial arts program.
I met my business partner, Ana Tinajero (also known as Ana Masacote) my second year in the corps. We met at a Salsa social in New York when I was visiting on leave. After getting to know each other, we realized that we had a lot of the same interests and passions and decided we wanted to start up a company that focuses on bridging the gap between music and dance, because at the time there was a heavy divide. For the first couple years we were just teaching small classes off and on throughout the community. I was still stationed in California while she was in Boston finishing school at MIT. My last year in the corps I got orders to be stationed in Okinawa Japan and the last six months Ana lived there with me as well. I immediately fell in love with the Japanese culture that I wanted to understand the culture from a first had experience. I decided to train in the culture’s roots of martial arts under Grandmaster Fusei Kise, a tenth degree black belt in Shorin Ryu Kenshin Kan karate.
Ana and I visited a lot of the Salsa clubs and made friends with the Japanese people easily. They were super nice and we enjoyed learning about the culture, their customs and the way they live. We started to share our love for music and dance with the locals and started to briefly teach salsa classes. This is where Masacote Entertainment was born. As the name started picking up, we started traveling back and forth to Tokyo and a number of neighboring towns like Osaka, Kyoto and Hiroshima just to name a few. Japan became home for Masacote Entertainment, but I was only there for a year before I exit out of the corps. Once my time was up, we moved back to Boston, where Ana was still finishing school at MIT, but Japan was now one of our strongest market so we flew back there for the next five years touring throughout Asia, traveling to places like Korea, China and Bangkok as well. Since then the company has traveled to over thirty countries around the world, performed at prestigious locations such as the Lincoln Center and Carnegie Hall, and has created a strong presence as one of the leading pioneers within the industry.
In 2010 I decided to go back to school to broaden my training in music, and to help expand the company’s direction. I got accepted to Berklee College of Music, majoring in professional music, but I also took classes in film scoring, philosophy and music therapy. My brain and senses were being pushed to the brink, but it was all worth it as it became a perfect integration in the help of building Masacote’s philosophy, values and work ethics. I am now studying Shaolin Kung Fu which brings in the mindfulness approach to wellness. Masacote’s presence within the Latin industry and the Boston community is highly visible, but we are just getting started. The company has been in business for thirteen years and so far we have received the 2009 Boston Dance Alliance R&R Fellowship award, the 2014 SBA Minority-Owned Business of the Year award, the 2015 New England Salsa Music Award, and is an alumna of the 2015 Goldman Sachs 10KSB National Program.
We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
The fact that we were living life within our passions, nothing felt like work at the beginning. We were working, but we were having so much fun traveling and sharing our love for the music and the dance. We were first operating our classes in Jamaica Plain, but we had to move because we were outgrowing the space. Our student base was picking up, and it was exciting to see the growth. It showed that we were on the right trajectory, and progress was building. We then moved into Harvard square and the space there became too small as well, which was another good problem to have. We were allowing the demand for more classes from our student base to be the indicator on when we needed to move into a bigger space.
We are pushing to finally get into our own studio, but our next stop after our second move was to the Cambridge at the Cambridge Athletic Club fitness center where we are currently located. Throughout the process of expansion into different studios and with the amount of travel, shows, workshops and attending Berklee College of Music with a full load classes, I started to notice an uneasiness in the amount of work load everyone had. For myself, the question that kept coming up was, “Why did it still feel like I’m in the military within my own company?” This was based on the stress level that was starting to build. The company had grown bigger than the amount of bodies we had to run it. It became a machine of its own. Ana and I were wearing multiple hats, switching through the different positions, roles, and personas of these roles till it felt like a juggle trying to keep everything up from falling. This was one of the reasons a number of us started to pull into a deep meditation. We needed to find a release point.
In my meditative process, scanning through my skill sets of analyzing energetic flow when it comes to teamwork and camaraderie building, I realized where the friction was coming from. By default, any artistic company that is running a business has to run their business with the corporate model of how to do business. This is the nature of the model that exists that most just see as a common way to do business. The problem is that this model is not compatible with artistry. Some way down the line you’ll run into a certain friction that deals with how the company operates. The main friction happens in the psyche of the artist on how he or she is aspiring to evolve within their career. How to stay true to your authentic expression within a structure that is not compatible with freedom of expression? How do you continually evolve without limitations? These are the questions every artist will have to run into.
The reason that this model is not compatible with artistry is because it is a hierarchal structure. Everything within the nation operates from this platform. I know this structure really well because of all the years I’ve spent in the military. The structure creates a superior/inferior complex that is stemmed from the separation of classes (upper, middle, and lower class), gender, race, and roles that are assigned to the status quo. What we are trying to create at Masacote is a more unified experience based on the way we view artistry. It deals with being open-minded to listen, understand, and create from a shared experience as one. No separation. This is how music and dance operates. So we had to figure out a way to strip the separation to fuse in a unifying structure keeping the authenticity of the artist intact. It fosters a potent attention to personal growth, while professional development happens on its own based on the individual’s growth. As a leader, I try my best to not have anyone perceive me as above them. I work from a place of empowerment, becoming the root or the foundation to help everyone evolve. So I train constantly. This is how we trained in the Marine Corps with my Marine brothers. It developed in me a hyper awareness of empathy for others because a Marine doesn’t leave another Marine behind, and the stress levels for Marines can be extremely intense at times. So I paid close attention to the emotions and the well-being of my brothers.
Once you view through the lens of sacred geometry, you’ll realize that the hierarchal structure is a masculine structure, but the feminine structure is non-existent. We martial artists always look for balance, and in order to have balance, masculine energies and feminine energies have to be operating as one. So I decided to utilize my military and martial art skill sets to create an infrastructure that operates in the feminine. Creating an experience of Yin and Yang. Even though we live in the hierarchy, we don’t have to operate from the hierarchy. The feminine infrastructure is based on empowerment and uplifting for ascended evolution. The nurturing of mind, body, and soul moving as one in an upward fashion. Fusing music, dance, and martial arts as one, creating a divine experience.
Within the feminine infrastructure I created a tri-center system that operates somewhat like squads. There would always be a key person managing each tri-center. Because of the way in which it is integrated, you get a full balanced experience of masculine and feminine as one, where the masculine or masculine energy is the base to the tri center and thus the support system for the feminine. This is how I view the dance. There is more listening and empathy that happens from this approach because like music, you’re trying to listen to understand so you can harmonize or synchronize with the other person. Unity. Oneness. This became the birth of Ultra Balance, my wellness company that is catered to my martial arts. Like Bruce Lee would say, “Be Water”. The feminine is the water that creates the flow where Masacote and Ultra Balance operates as Yin and Yang. The magic is in the groove. 😉
So, as you know, we’re impressed with Masacote Entertainment – tell our readers more, for example what you’re most proud of as a company and what sets you apart from others.
Masacote Entertainment is a music and dance company specializing in the genre of Salsa within the Latin industry. The company also has a strong interest within global arts, outdoor and indoor recreational activities, excursions and Martial Arts. Everything that the company stands for embodies the concepts of Mind, Body and Soul integrating as one, creating a holistic/mindfulness approach to business, entrepreneurship and the evolution of our craft. Our company slogan is “Dance, Music, Life”, which allows us to focus on a trinity concept within the infrastructure of how the company operates.
Our mission is to empower people to freely express themselves through Afro-Latin music and dance, and our vision for this is to nurture a loving global community. We understand that one person can make a difference, but a group of people with the same goals can create a movement. To achieve our goals we follow a specific value system that is integrated within our code of conduct. The infrastructure of the company operates in tri-centers, and we follow this system to build sub-systems like this throughout the entire organization. Everything happens in three’s, from our value system to the organizational roles and positions of the company. We maintain these values and code of conduct as our compass as we evolve within the company.
***Masacote Values*** Integrity, Mindfulness and Diligence
Integrity – We are honest and aim to leave an exemplary wake along the journey of life.
Mindfulness – We aspire to do good in the community and push for expanded consciousness.
Diligence – We strive for the best in ourselves through our craft, knowledge, and technique. We do not waiver when times get tough and push the boundaries of our artistic expression.
***Masacote Code of Conduct*** OPEN UP
Open Minded – Always stay Open minded
Positive – Contribute to a Positive atmosphere at all times.
Empathy – Always stay in a perspective of Empathy to understand others.
No Comparison – Strive for our best all times, with No comparison to others.
Us – Think of Us and work as a team. There is no “I” in team.
Present Moment – Aim to stay in the Present Moment.
My job in the company starts with overseeing the growth of the company’s infrastructure. This deals with a long term visionary process on the direction of the company that my partner and I work to see integrated with academia. It helps provide a strong foundation for the company’s goals and aspirations. Because of my training within the military and martial arts, my skillsets allows me to understand infrastructures from a bird’s eye view, where I see a type of architectural building within geometry, Sacred Geometry to be exact. It is important to understand the roots of any company, and the roots have to be strong in order to hold up the weight of what the company has to offer so it can grow efficiently.
Within the company I am the director of “Masa 2”, a track program that focuses on the personal growth process for dancers. It is designed for artist who are interested in pursuing a career with Masacote, training to either be coaches, staff members or performers depending on their interest. This is where we shape all perception and perspective of Masacote’s philosophy and training regimen. I am also one of the coaches within the dance school, where off and on my main focus is in doing Master Workshops. In spite of my heavy involvement with training and coaching as a dancer, I am more known for my musicianship. Music is the main filter that I operate through and I’m the band director and the head of the music program within the company.
With all my years of training and continuously aiming to improve myself, I’ve figured out a way to fuse all my arts into one place so everything can feel like my music. This is based on martial art concepts that deals with yin and yang that is synonymous of sound and motion. Now everything feels like music and I’m now engulfed in all my passions. It pushes a hyper reality that I call my “ultra-reality” of a high definition audio visual experience of life. This is what created my sister company Ultra Balance. I live in the waves of sound frequency, with an awareness of Chi energy from studying Shaolin Kung Fu and meditating upside down every day for close to an hour on an inversion table. This is all complimented with Tai Chi and Quigong practices. My hyper awareness to time, space and gravity from this type of meditation is what I use to nurture the infrastructure’s progress. Everything is music, and I’m now creating music from a metaphysical space utilizing the blueprint of sound. This blueprint is what we call Sacred Geometry. It is the geometry of sound, which is music, universal music that operates from a quantum awareness. An ancient system that was heavily used within Ancient Egypt.
What I’m most proud of with the company is the infusion of the holistic approach that we took with wellness. It created a feel of a dojo to some sense. The camaraderie, teamwork, loyalty and love that has been built through all the shared experiences the company has to offer, has created a tribe. We are a family of like-minded individuals that aim to live free within our passion of life. The family’s bond is strong, so strong that the brand of Masacote is now a global brand and our tribe is called MasaTribe. We push to stay as true as possible to the personal growth of ourselves, by maintaining a strong nurturing of our passions and our art. Quality over quantity. The shared experience of this is where all value starts.
So, what’s next? Any big plans?
The vision of the company has always been so huge. We live in our dreams and inspirations, and the ambition that stems from here is almost like jet fuel. It keeps the company thriving to create and inspire. Always striving to be original and authentic. We usually brainstorm on an idea for a while before we reveal it to the public, but we have a number of big projects coming up in the near future. Time is usually the paradox because sometimes our ambitions can get too far in front of us. It is good to have the ambitions strong enough so it can drive you to create, but it needs to flow at a pace with the company’s growth or you would have uneasiness within the organization based on a heavy work load. So we push to maintain a pace that is efficient to the personal growth of everyone on the team.
The company is expanding more into an entrepreneurial platform for the arts, bringing in a high end of creativity that is mixed with academia and supported by martial arts. Everything is still in its building stage so I can’t so much, but there is one project that I’m really looking for to. I am bringing back my band and I am looking forward to playing music again, but starting from a clean slate. I am interested in doing a project where I fuse Cuban Son and Reggae together, creating a sweet blend of the folkloric aspects of the cultures. In order to stay authentic to create from my interests, I want to make sure all aspect of my interests represents home. I can already hear the sounds and have been messing around with ideas, but it’s still in its infancy stage. Stay tuned. More to come.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.salsamasacote.com
- Phone: 617-286-6272
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/joel.masacote
- Other: www.ultrabalanceyourlife.com
Image Credit:
Roberto Matteo
Carven Boursiquot
Getting in touch: BostonVoyager is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you know someone who deserves recognition please let us know here.
