StreetMeet’s Pierre Funes Focuses on Helping Others

It’s past time we remixed the entrepreneur archetype. The tried-and-true definition of an emerging or aspiring business owner feels tired. The modern entrepreneur is a mover, shaker and doer who’s not content with simply breaking all the rules. Our 52 trailblazers featured in the October issue are rewriting the rules, tearing them up and doing it all over again. It’s creation at its purest, because the fruits of one’s hustle are not actualized overnight or by following one jet-lagged recipe. It’s no longer adequate to measure entrepreneurs by the brick-and-mortar spaces they manifest or the jobs they create. Those are all important elements but fall short of what it truly means to build something — often with blood, sweat and tears. Whether you’re revamping the vintage clothing industry, introducing a fresh dining concept, cultivating an advocacy-focused creative agency or advancing the cause of equality for the LGBTQ+ community, the only thing that matters is freedom — the freedom to march to the beat of your own badass drum. Read our full rundown of trailblazers here. 

Pierre Funes is the founder of StreetMeet, a grassroots organically-grown collective of  photographers + creatives.

Advice that keeps you hungry
Always try to help others if you’re in the position to be able to, that’s how you get real friendships and relationships.

Early bird, night owl or in-between
I’m definitely a night owl. Around 1-4 a.m. is when I get most inspired since everything is asleep and it’s unapologetically quiet.

Burning question for an iconic trailblazer
I don’t really look up to any “iconic” entrepreneurs since a lot of the times they get their success from exploiting others which is the world we live in unfortunately. If there were a question I would ask, it would be, “What was the turning point you realized you are straying from your original idea? Did you make the conscious decision to value profit over the change you thought you were going to make?”

The current soundtrack to your life
Without hesitation Daft Punk’s “Alive 2007.” It’s an album I can listen to back-to-back.

@pierre_funes; pierrefunes.com // @streetmeetdc; streetmeet.com/smdc

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