An afternoon with stars

Artist Darnell Kirkwood '07 and his wife Danielle Premone Kirkwood, designer and fashion stylist, took time to engage with students inside BrandStar Studios at Lynn University. During the meet and greet, the Kirkwoods delved into their backgrounds to provide lessons of perseverance and success.

Darnell Kirkwood was a business major at Lynn, graduating with a B.S. in business administration. A previous member of Lynn's basketball team, Kirkwood described stories of the past when he frequently visited the College of Communication and Design to step inside the recording booth and keep his career aspirations as a rap artist alive. It was through these interactions that he established a friendship with Andy Hirst, production coordinator at Lynn. Kirkwood used this story to emphasize the importance of building relationships and leveraging all the amazing opportunities that students can encounter during their time at Lynn. Another example that is a testament to this philosophy occurred when his teammate and roommate, Hans Schur '07, '08, helped him earn a spot as a professional basketball player in Denmark. Kirkwood played professionally for two years in Denmark before an injury led to his early retirement.

Kirkwood moved on to pursue a modeling career earning opportunities with magazines and even billboard spotlights in Times Square. The opportunities blew his mind as he always viewed himself as "just a dude from Kansas City." Despite his humble mindset, Kirkwood had the awareness and foresight to implement vital marketing principals that served as building blocks to his new career.

"Marketing starts with the self first. You need to know the story you're telling before you can go out and tell it," claimed Kirkwood. "No matter the field you're entering, the one thing you're always bringing is yourself, so focus on developing that."

In his early modelling career, Kirkwood signed with Model Mayhem with the help of Lynn's very own Lisa Benedict, fashion and retail professor. Kirkwood moved on to sign with different agencies over the years until making the risky but necessary business decision to move to Los Angeles. Once in LA, his life soon became far too busy as he attempted to balance both modeling and acting. Ultimately, Kirkwood chose to develop his acting career.

The global pandemic gave Kirkwood the opportunity to hone his craft as an actor and cultivate his passion for art through storytelling principles—his strongest quality, or "superpower" as he tends to refer to it. After three years in LA, he created his game–changing brand, Solo the Artist and can be seen in Paramount's blockbuster, Top Gun: Maverick.

"Think outside the box. When you reach out to others and introduce yourself to a potential collaborator, you should first ask 'How can I help you?' 'How can I add value to you?'," said Kirkwood.

Throughout his speech, Kirkwood gave much credit to his wife, Danielle Kirkwood, for always offering her honest opinion regarding his artwork and for bringing a feminine perspective to it. She has been able to influence her husband's art by studying trends and palettes that best shape her fashion style. He prefers to refer to his wife as a "curator" rather than a stylist. According to Kirkwood, his wife does much more than just style her clients, "Danielle truly puts the pieces of the puzzle together."

While education is a very important tool, Danielle Kirkwood recognized it is not everything. She believes that traveling and gaining real-world experiences is what normally provides the best path to success. Starting off her career as a makeup artist opened the door to the fashion world and allowed her to make important connections in the industry and develop skills that would lend themselves to other markets. She used her background as a makeup artist to springboard her career and earn opportunities to style celebrities and even create her own jewelry line. Along the way, she learned an abundance of marketing tools which she applied to her business and her own personal brand. Above all else, she emphasized the importance of being genuine.

"Build relationships genuinely and help others with no expectations—ultimately this will be your business card and how you will be remembered."

Communication is changing in exciting ways. For more information, visit the College of Communication and Design.