Former varsity basketball player plans to manage fashion, sports, and music
Photo by Moussa Sangaré-Ponce
Dimitrios Seymour plans to be a star manager.
The fashion, sports, and music industries are some of the biggest factors in today’s modern pop culture. Some have conquered one of them and even fewer have conquered all three. The entrepreneurship student and former member of the University of Ottawa’s men’s basketball team has his eyes set on becoming one who conquers all three.
As president of Dimitrios Management Group (DMG), Seymour says, “I see DMG being a major player in the industry. The goal was to become a sports agent with music and fashion around it, but funny enough the music is taking off.”
He is currently managing the young up-and-coming R&B singer Maurice.
“I met his brother on set of a movie. We just got to talking and he showed me his brother’s music. It was good but I didn’t think much of it,” Seymour says. After adding him on Facebook, Seymour saw a video Maurice posted and was blown away, so he messaged him asking if he was looking for a manager. “We met at a local Tim Hortons and the rest is history.”
The two recently travelled to New York City to meet with Atlantic Records representatives. They went to the studio, saw the CEO’s house, and met with Kid Cudi’s artists and repertoire (A&R).
His company not only has a hand in music, but also in fashion. Seymour manages two fashion labels, Beaucoup Fashion House and KEN|YA. Beaucoup has designed for stars like Drake and The Big Bang Theory’s Kunal Nayyar, while KEN|YA has found a niche in some New York stores and caught some interest overseas, notably in Berlin. Seymour does much of the day-to-day management for the labels as well as their press and marketing.
“I do pretty much everything but make the clothes,” he says.
Once he graduates, Seymour plans to obtain certification to become a sports agent.
“To become an NBA agent you need a degree and to become a Euro league agent you just need to write some tests,” he says. “If you know the game and the business, it shouldn’t be difficult.”
Last summer he met LeBron James’ agent Rich Paul who gave him his contact information. He wants to continue building his network of agents and team executives during the NBA summer league in Las Vegas.
“They are the ones who will sign players I represent,” he says. “It’s not really what you know — it’s who you know.”
Although no longer part of the basketball team, Seymour stays in touch with his former teammates. He’s still included in most of the team’s group chats and head coach James Derouin, who was his coach in high school as well, texts him to see how he’s doing.
Being in management seems to be in Seymour’s DNA; both of his parents are managers. His mother, Angie Sakla-Seymour, discovered Ryan Gosling when he was nine.
“Growing up we never had a kitchen table because there were so many papers on it,” he says. “My parents would always talk business. The only thing that changes now is that I am more aware of who our talent is. She mentors me a lot too. You could not ask for a better mentor.”
Growing up, Seymour looked up to Michael Jordan, Dennis Rodman, and Bruce Bowen. He also admired Donald Trump. By the time he was 13, Seymour says he also looked up to IMG, a firm that represents the Manning brothers in football, Justin Timberlake, Gabrielle Union, Taylor Swift.
“They manage artists, athletes, models and they own sports leagues overseas,” he says. “They do everything and I am modelling DMG after them. I want to be a conglomerate.”
