Staff
Akio Kawahito
Co-founder, Director
Described by his peers as “eternally positive”, Akio has spent time living in Australia, Belgium, Japan, Spain, and the Netherlands. One year after graduating from Rhodes College with a B.A. in Economics and a Minor in Art History, Akio bought his first pair of Numark Turntables and a mixer. This seemingly insignificant purchase and the love for spinning records that followed, laid the foundation for the future creation of ConsciousFlowz.
In 2002, Akio created Collide-A-Scope Records, a consortium of DJs, in Nagoya, Japan and regularly put on events. During his travels through Southeast Asia, Akio was initially struck with the reality of living conditions in developing countries. This inspired him to pursue a Masters Degree in International Relations at the University of Amsterdam. Throughout his Masters course in the Netherlands, Akio maintained his passion for music, DJing throughout Amsterdam. His belief in music’s ability to uplift society spawned the concept for ConsciousFlowz during that long Dutch winter. Upon graduation in October of 2005, with optimism in his eyes and music in his heart, Akio began to breathe life into the project and teamed up with three young and passionate optimists to create the current ConsciousFlowz staff.
Akio has spent time as an educator in Japan and worked with the International Criminal Court in the Hague, The Netherlands.
Stephen Richardson
Co-founder, Director of Fundraising & Youth Education
Stephen is actively involved in the Middle Tennessee music scene as a percussionist, recording musician and educator. He holds a Bachelor of Science in Recording Industry Management from Middle Tennessee State University. In teaching high school percussion ensembles, clinics, and private instruction he has been able to share his passion of music through arts education. In addition to working at Compass Records, a Nashville based grassroots record label, Stephen co-founded S&J Entertainment, where he was involved in booking, promoting, and assisting new artists breaking into the scene. With combination of passion for music, education and arts administration, Stephen is looking forward to ensuring the financial success of ConsciousFlowz by initiating fundraising campaigns, benefit concerts, and grant proposals.
Jason Johnson
Co-founder, Producer
Jason Johnson is a songwriter and musician who composes music that speaks to the soul of all who take the time to listen. His compositions are inspired by his experiences growing up in Los Angeles and his concerns about current issues that affect his community and personal life. Jason's music experience stems from his exposure to various genres of music from gospel to trip hop. In addition, Jason was trained in classical music during high school and furthered his studies at the Musicians Institute in Hollywood, California. Music inspired him to travel to Japan where he performed original music with his band. This trip would also prove to be a blessing because he soon would meet Akio and form a friendship through their common love for music. Jason is currently involved with a non profit organization, Saints in the Hood, a grass roots organization that assists in raising awareness of poverty in America. Jason's love for music and understanding of its power to heal is what inspires him to move forward with the organization and its projects
Daan Visser
Director of Art
Daan has been painting, designing and drawing ever since he could use his hands. Still studying - his ambitions drove him to Amsterdam, where he met Akio in 2005. Both passionate about HIPHOP, but practicing different elements, they would share experiences. Daan showed Akio his graffiti works and visa versa, he would experience some of Akio's DJ jams. These differences within the same field of HIP HOP formed Daan's role within ConsciousFlowz.
Daan was originally involved designing the initial logo and t-shirt designs for ConsciousFlowz. In 2008, he visited South Africa to be involved in the tail end of the Conscious Connectionz project. While in Cape Town, Daan involved himself in the local graffiti scene and produced many murals all over the city. Sharing the same beliefs in music, he thinks that ConsciousFlowz transformed the essences of HIP HOP into a developmental organization - a beautiful thing. Daan joined Conscious Flowz aiming to create a proper visual representation of the organization.
Between 2005 and 2008 Daan graduated in graphic design education with an A and started to work for Corps (a Dutch Designer agency) where he gained experience as a graphic designer, working for governmental institutions and an other development organization as well. At the same time he started to work on his own projects under the artist name KLEURTERREUR, which is Dutch for Colour Terror, which means as much as his mission in live as an artist: being a positive radical.
