Alloysius (AJ) Lloyd on Inspiration and his Warhol

Alloysius (AJ) Lloyd is a millennial investor deeply ingrained in the Regenerative Development Movement. Lloyd is focusing on influencing culture and inspiring the youth as well as making a difference. As the co-founder of Kiji Ventures and as the owner of an original Warhol, Lloyd is creatively finding ways to maximize his social as well as cultural impact. Having grown up in poverty and experienced a difficult childhood, Lloyd is intent on utilizing all of his resources across art, fashion, finance, and technology in order to help improve the conditions for people who need it.

This is why, along with his reverence for his single mother who raised him, Lloyd introduced a mandate for himself to exclusively invest in females, especially females of color, for the next 12-14 months and is committed to facilitating ‘exposureships’ in order to open up professional space for underrepresented individuals.

With specific goals to facilitate creative, profitable, and philanthropic projects that help marginalized communities as well as push culture and art forward, Lloyd is doing very innovative things at Kiji Ventures and with the Regenerative Development Movement. Lloyd knew he’d need to find friends and allies in all industries if he’d want to have the influence he intends on having. In order to make a difference, inspire the youth, and advance art culture, Lloyd left his comfort zone and moved across the world as soon as he could. Now Lloyd is deeply involved in the art, technology, and business scenes in some of the most impactful cities in the world -- Paris, London, Geneva, Singapore, Seoul, and Tokyo.

By traveling and networking in the way that he has, Lloyd is now fully vertically integrated in a great many fields from high art to global finance to social & environmental impact to innovative technology. To that effect, Lloyd recently received his first book credit, in the form of a congratulatory ‘thank you,’ from award-winning Alec Maxwell, Founder of KLOSS and Digital Director of Vogue. Further, Lloyd is blessed with an incredible creative mentor, artistic savant Michèle Lamy; Lloyd and Lamy were recently seen together at Art Basel for her performance with Ryoji Ikeda as well as at Paris Fashion Week for the Rick Owens Runway Show in Paris.

Lloyd’s experiences have put him in the position to be both an international mogul as well as a creative consultant and technical advisor for an unnamed African Country. Having grown up in a poverty-stricken DMV neighborhood, Lloyd is a walking embodiment of someone who is realizing his potential and building an empire.

In addition to the direct aid and investment he provides with Kiji Ventures, Lloyd hopes his story inspires the youth in general as well as inspires children from marginalized communities specifically. Emblematic of his journey -- and his success -- is the original Warhol that Lloyd recently acquired.

This Warhol is not only a perfect symbol of Lloyd’s success as a black millennial running an 8 figure international business, his artistic sense, his joie de vivre, and his socio-economic mission, it also puts him in the rare company of Jay Z, Swizz Beatz, and only a few more, as the only black owners of an original Warhol. Lloyd is truly a living blueprint for any kid who grew up in the midst of poverty or marginalization and wants to bet big on themselves

While, as an art collector, Lloyd is excited about this acquisition, he also believes his purchase can serve a larger purpose. Lloyd has aspirations to work with large brands, hotels, and potentially the Warhol Foundation in order to create an NFT project with the express purpose of benefiting marginalized kids. Lloyd knows that this will not only help people, but these projects focused on philanthropy and art will also inspire other people to merge cultural caché with philanthropic efforts as well as inspire kids to follow their dreams.