Meet LiV Warfield | Founder and CEO

We had the good fortune of connecting with LiV Warfield and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi LiV, what was your thought process behind starting your own business?

It was important to me to take what I’ve learned artistically and turn it into action in my community. My organization is called LenaBlu Foundation. Named after my Aunt Lena. She had Blue hair, was the life of the community, and made sure to pour in to everyone she met. She had the ability to recognize talent when others weren’t able to see the gifts they had within themselves. So, I wanted to create an organization/foundation that carried the values she instilled in me.

I also was thinking much like my Aunt Lena, “How can I give back to my community and make the arts more accessible to the ones who really need it?” The arts are what brings communities together. It bridges the gap and creates mindfulness and stimulates our mental health.

Creatively we try to pay it forward. LenaBlu Foundation is an organization built to support creative artists. One important part to note is that I wanted individuals to see themselves in art at any age. I started my art very late in my life. Which is ok. I surrounded myself with creative artists that helped take my passion and turn it into my career. Now it’s my turn to pay it forward.

Thats what we do here at LenaBlu Foundation! I’ve created an amazing board of strong women who stem from all creatives forms – television, production, fashion, education, and engineering. We want to help pour into that energy where ever we can help. We want to provide opportunity and affordability to all. We inspire creatives to see themselves in art. Everybody has something – everyone is creative in someway. They just have to find it!

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?

A Liv Warfield show is like no other. It’s like watching Tina Turner, Sade, and James Brown all in one, but she is uniquely her own artist. Liv’s powerful vocals and enormous stage presence is why she has been invited to perform and record with music royalty from Prince to Cyndi Lauper and Nancy Wilson.

Liv has delivered show-stopping performances on “The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon,” “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” “The Late Show with David Letterman,” and “The Arsenio Hall Show.”

She is a Soul Train Music Award winner and was nominated as a BET Best New Artist. She has brought down the house with her electric performances at major festivals such as Montreux Jazz Festival and Essence Festival.

Liv is prominently featured on the Prince release, Welcome 2 America, the latest Nancy Wilson release, You and Me, the Joon Moon project, and is sought out by musical titans such as Ray Angry, Nuno Bettencourt, Dave Stewart, and The Roots’ Black Thought for collaborations. She just released “Live At Cafe Wha?” album January 2022, With Star Tribune making it one of top 6 albums to listen to at the top of the year. Her studio album is set to be released 2023.

All of this was and is not easy. I started singing at age 21 and I very much took a grass roots approach to my art. Hands on from song writing to tour logistics, but I never stopped. I was very persistent and learning as much as I could through artists, musicians, painters, and all around creatives. I’ve learned to stay authentic and to never be afraid to try a different way or a different way of creating.

I want people to pour into each other as much as Aunt Lena poured creative life into me, because with those tools I am able to continue my career – constantly being reminded to create your own way, but don’t forget your people. LenaBlu is me doing just that.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
We aren’t really affiliated with one particular city. Everyone everywhere should see themself in art.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
“Everybody’s got a LenaBlu” is the mantra of this organization. LiV Warfield’s 2014 album “The Unexpected” features a song dedicated to her community driven, arts loving, blue hair sporting, fire cracker of a woman – Aunt Lena. Growing up in Peoria as a black woman, LiV only saw her future success in sports (or like all other locals: Caterpillar). Her Aunt Lena was always pushing her towards the arts, but it wasn’t until LiV moved to Portland, OR and could see a vibrant arts community that she truly understood what her Aunt Lena was saying. Lena lived her whole life in Peoria – and WAS IT A LIFE! In the 40’s, 50’s, and 60’s, Lena was immersed in the arts world that truly did exist in Peoria at the time. Peoria was THE stop between St. Louis and Chicago. Peoria had the train station and was a natural port city off the river. Lena worked as a waitress at one of the premier music venues of the time. Family archives are filled with photos, vinyls, and stories of the strong, thriving, black arts community. The Warfield’s were involved in many community organizations including the Elks Club, Prince Hall Freemason, UAW – Local 974, and the family church. Inspired by her family history and the immortal spirit of her Aunt Lena, LiV Warfield created the LenaBlu Foundation to inspire and enable others that may not have an arts community and/or see artists that look like themselves in the world. We wish the blessing for everyone to have an Aunt Lena in their life, and for those that don’t – LenaBlu is there for you!

Website: https://lenablu.org

Instagram: livwarfield

Twitter: livwarfield

Facebook: livwarfield

Youtube: livwarfield

Other: https://livwarfieldofficial.com/

Image Credits
Phillip Tawanchaya Warfield Family