• About Us
  • Bylaws
  • Black-Owned Business Directory
  • COVID-19
  • Keep Akron Local
    • The Co-op
      • About the Co-op
      • Our Board of Directors
      • Member Spotlights
      • Our Vested Co-Owners
      • Bylaws and Definitions
    • Arts

      Arts

      See All

      Millennial Theatre Project brings “Rocky Horror” back with a glam rock edge

      Review: Folk Songs of the American Wood Elf offers something completely different

      Independent Urban Horror returns to Akron

      • Books
      • Movies
      • Theatre
    • Community

      Community

      See All

      Akron’s Very Own | Making sense of Akron’s Black history

      Arthur Treacher’s: A life’s work kept alive

      Tenants at two East Akron housing complexes form unions to fight poor living conditions

      • Housing
      • Local Economy
        • Small Businesses
      • Public Health
        • COVID-19
        • Recovery
      • Equity & Inclusion
    • Culture

      Culture

      See All

      Akron’s Very Own | Making sense of Akron’s Black history

      Arthur Treacher’s: A life’s work kept alive

      Tenants at two East Akron housing complexes form unions to fight poor living conditions

      • Civic Engagement
      • Food
      • Local history
      • People
    • Music

      Music

      See All

      Review: Folk Songs of the American Wood Elf offers something completely different

      The Buffalo Ryders are back with a new album

      Hell Van: The Motion Picture Soundtrack review: local artists bring back horror soundtrack

    • Columns

      Columns

      See All

      Akron’s Very Own | Making sense of Akron’s Black history

      Day Trip | Firestone Metro Park

      Grown-up Trick or Treat: Wine and candy pairings

    "Sometimes the hustle hurts!" - Wesley Bright, entrepreneur and philosopher (PHOTO: Shane Wynn)
    Home
    Community
    Civic Engagement
    Civic EngagementfeaturedSmall Businesses

    Why Wesley said ‘no’ to Cleveland

    September 1, 2016
    4 mins read
    0shares

    An important message to our members

    Read More

    (Hint: He’d already said ‘yes’ to Akron)

    words by Chris Horne; photos by Shane Wynn

    DSC_2206During a commercial break, Brent Wesley came over and said he wanted to do a wrap-up, debriefing kind of thing after the show. “I want to explain why,” he said then darted off to his seat at a table he shared with his mom. I was confused.

    This was at the packed-house watch party for his episode of “Cleveland Hustles,” the LeBron James-produced reality TV show about helping rebuild a struggling neighborhood in Cleveland. Akron Honey Co. had been picked as one of the handful to compete. Going by Wesley Bright, which is also the stage name for his justifiably popular Northern Soul act, he was pitted against a leathercraft couple who call the CLE home. I’d figured he wouldn’t have invited us to all come out if he hadn’t won, right? What did “I want to explain why” mean?

    There were some tense moments during Aug 31's episode of "Cleveland Hustles" featuring Wesley Bright and Akron Honey Co. (PHOTO: Shane Wynn)
    There were some tense moments during Aug 31’s episode of “Cleveland Hustles” featuring Wesley Bright and Akron Honey Co. (PHOTO: Shane Wynn)

    As I’d expected, Akron Honey kicked ass. The sales target set by his entrepreneur mentor, Greenhouse Tavern/Noodlecat restaurateur Jonathon Sawyer, was $800, which is a lot of honey to move during a 7-hour pop-up, especially in a place where Wesley doesn’t have roots like he does in the AK. Well, he nearly doubled the target and added a skin care product line in the process. No surprise Sawyer wanted to invest $100,000 with our dude, right?

    Before the show, we had a short interview with Wesley about the show. He said the point of the show was to get a big investment and start a flagship store in Gordon Square in the Detroit Shoreway neighborhood of Cleveland. I jokingly asked if that meant he’d be changing the name of his company.

    “No, it would be Akron Honey Co. North. It’ll always be Akron,” he said.

    Serious. It got intense, y'all. (PHOTO: Shane Wynn)
    Serious. It got intense, y’all. (PHOTO: Shane Wynn)

    Sawyer and show host Bonin Bough sat down, and before they could get a word out, Wesley started talking about how, even though he’s happy with the sales they did, he thinks they left a bunch on the table. Sawyer lit up like a cash register at Christmas. That’s exactly the kind of thing he wanted to hear.

    Then Wesley said no to the investment. #Stunner

    “The whole set went silent. It was awkward,” he told the watch party crowd afterwards. Clearly, they weren’t expecting that.

    He was nice about it but you could tell Jonathon Sawyer was, eh, unhappy about Wesley's decision. (PHOTO: Shane Wynn)
    He was nice about it but you could tell Jonathon Sawyer was, eh, unhappy about Wesley’s decision. (PHOTO: Shane Wynn)

    On the show, Wesley explained that his family had a lot to do with it. He missed his two little girls and his wife, who he called on the way up to Cleveland to shoot that final scene. Even though she was saying she’d support whatever he wanted to do, he could hear something in her voice saying “don’t.”

    It matched what he felt in his gut. This would be the wrong decision. On the show, he told Sawyer and Bough that he wasn’t ready. That had something to do it with, certainly, but he explained to the rest of us that he couldn’t just open a store in Cleveland. So much of what he does — what Akron Honey Co. is — depends on community involvement. This is a guy who got into beekeeping because he wanted to turn an abandoned lot into something good for his neighborhood. When he opened up other apiaries, he had the same goal: bring more life to Middlebury and work with the kids at St. V’s. That wasn’t part of the deal in Cleveland.

    No matter how tired that dude is, Wesley loves to have fun and it always shows. (PHOTO: Shane Wynn)
    No matter how tired that dude is, Wesley loves to have fun and it always shows. (PHOTO: Shane Wynn)

    “I don’t think Cleveland is going through a renaissance right now,” Wesley said after the show. “It’s already had its renaissance, and I could jump on that train, but Akron’s renaissance is just starting.”

    He pointed around the room at all his fellow small business owners and entrepreneurs, shouting them out one by one — Sweet Mary’s, St. Augustine’s Soaps and Suds, Not Yo Daddy’s, NOTO, Akron Coffee, and on and on — and calling on them to keep this thing going. You could practically hear the strings section swell.

    Wesley is not from Akron, but last night, he did the most Akron thing possible. He said no to the easy way.

    “If I’d said yes, I would have had two to four investors,” he said. “But if I do this in Akron, a whole city has my back.”

    There’s more he can’t tell us. He has plans. He always has plans. And surprises. The one thing you can be sure of now is that he wants you to be part of it, Akron.

    PS — I’d be remiss if I didn’t acknowledge somehow all the work McKenzie Beynon did to help Wesley create new products and get his pop-up store going. She was there at the watch party in her trademark hat, being awesome as usual.

    This slideshow requires JavaScript.

    Akronakron honeyakron honey companybrent wesleycleveland hustlesLeBronmustard seedtvwatch partyWesley Bright

    Previous ArticleThe Wanderer: New and in Fairlawn
    Next ArticleNever Count the Cost
    Chris Horne
    Founder of The Devil Strip

    A native of Macon, Georgia who's made a home here in Akron, Chris Horne is the founder and president of The Devil Strip, and the co-creator, with his wife Heather, of Madeline, a real fascinating little human.

    Related Posts

    For students, COVID-19 is the new normal. Meet two young people facing big pandemic challenges in the new academic year

    H.L. Comeriato·
    CommunityCOVID-19featuredPeoplePublic HealthUnderstand
    ·October 6, 2021·447 views

    Artist gets a new job from the LeBron James Family Foundation after mural was vandalized

    Abbey Marshall·
    ArtsCommunityfeaturedPeople
    ·September 14, 2021·4834 views

    Gorge Metro Park Offers Visitors a Unique Geological Sanctuary

    Sonia Potter·
    CulturefeaturedParks & Rec
    ·August 23, 2021·962 views

    First female Akron Public superintendent takes office ahead of a year recovering from and adapting to the pandemic

    Abbey Marshall·
    CommunityEducationEquity & InclusionfeaturedPeople
    ·August 23, 2021·1294 views

    Top Posts & Pages

    What does saying ‘devil strip’ say about Akronites?
    Why do we call fried potatoes 'jojos?' An investigation
    For Akron’s Wiccans and Pagans, ‘it’s all about the process’
    An important message to our members
    Davey Treen to be featured on Food Network’s Kids Baking Championship!
    Beware the Capybara

    More stories

    An important message to our members

    Millennial Theatre Project brings “Rocky Horror” back with a glam rock edge

    Akron’s Very Own | Making sense of Akron’s Black history

    Day Trip | Firestone Metro Park

    Arthur Treacher’s: A life’s work kept alive

    2021 The Devil Strip
    • About Us
      • Meet Our Team
      • Our donors
      • Our policies
    • The Co-op
      • About the Co-op
      • Our Board of Directors
      • Bylaws and Definitions
      • Member Spotlights
    • Arts
      • Books
      • Movies
      • Theatre
    • Community News
      • Housing
      • economic development
        • Small Businesses
      • Public Health
        • COVID-19
      • Equity & Inclusion
    • Culture
      • Civic Engagement
      • Food
      • Local history
      • People
    • Music
    • Columns
    • Black-Owned Businesses
    • Local events
    Type to search or hit ESC to close
    See all results
    Username
    Password
    Remember Me
    Enter username or email
    Cancel