Written by Tanya Terry, with photos courtesy of Dusable Lewis Jr.
Featured photo: Claressa Shields (left) had her younger brother Dusable Lewis (right) work security for her after one of her fights when Lewis was 21 years old.
Flint Native Dusable Lewis Jr. is the brother of Major World Championship Winning Boxer Claressa Shields and has worked behind the scenes supporting her career while building his own business ventures. As founder of Griiim Marketing, Lewis recently discussed his own journey in becoming the entrepreneur and media strategist he is today with the Courier.
Lewis told the Courier that he intentionally stayed behind the scenes to learn the industry before stepping into the spotlight, turning down an early interview opportunity with Celebrity and Entertainment Talk Show Host Tasha K when Shields convinced him he wasn’t ready.
Lewis stated: “So I’ve been marketing my sister really closely. And while I’ve been really covering my sister, her behind the scenes is mainly what we do. So my sister pays me and my company to go behind the scenes and get pictures and edits of pretty much behind the scenes. There’s usually a three-man team for us to cover everything, and we’re really supplementary to her main media company, her main media company is actually headed by my mentor, Daniel Curtis Lee. He used to work on Nickelodeon as a kid.
“So I’m happy that I took a really long time, like all through my childhood and everything really studying,” continued Lewis. “And I’m really happy that when I thought I was ready a couple years ago, Claressa really kind of showed me like, you’re not.
“She ran me through some mock interviews, asking me questions that Tasha K or anyone else might ask. And while she was asking me these questions, my answers were not the best to say. I don’t really remember the questions, but my answers were were freaking terrible. And she was like:’ yeah, you failed, bro. Like, you don’t need to go on any interview’ And every so often, we would just meet up and she’d give me an interview again. And she was like, ‘nope, you don’t need to be doing any of that yet.’
“So yeah, she doesn’t have me under like a contract or anything, but her being my big sister, I really just trusted that.”
Growing up in Flint, Michigan, Lewis faced bullying in school related to his sister’s fame, which led him to participate in boxing and MMA before ultimately focusing on business.
“I didn’t really know how big the Olympics were,” shared Lewis. “I was a kid, so I didn’t know about world news. And that’s a world event. So, when I was at school, a lot of people just started picking fights with me. I didn’t really understand. Then eventually people start picking fights and saying words. Some of them just started hitting me for no reason. But it was like: ‘hey, this guy told me to punch you. See, if you fight like your sister, think quick and talk face to face.’ My school record is full of hundreds of fights because ‘you fight like your sister.; So my school life was absolutely horrendous.
“After seventh grade, going into eighth grade, I figured I’d get strong and do sports,” continued Lewis. “So I got strong, did sports, boxing, MMA, I did all of them. I excelled at all of them, too.
“But every boxer has to really realize you can win a fight and still go to the ER. You can win a fight and don’t remember it. You can just wake up at home and be like, ‘oh, did I win? Yeah, of course you won, buddy’. Any boxer who don’t want to come to grapple with that, they should stop. That’s what I did. I stopped.”
Lewis shared that he believes Flint’s tough environment shaped his understanding of competition and entrepreneurship.
Lewis’ primary company, Griiim Marketing, operates as a full-service media and marketing firm offering various services including content creation, consulting and artist management.
“Flint, Michigan needs a lot of help,” Lewis said. “It doesn’t have a lot of jobs because a lot of big companies moved out a really long time ago. So, we really started pushing out a lot more boxers and content creators in Flint, Michigan.”
Lewis’ latest major project is launching a music app called Griiim Music, designed for independent artists and labels with a 30% revenue split model. Lewis said artists can earn up to 50% if they grant exclusivity to the platform.
The app will launch in 2027 and prioritize user privacy without collecting personal data. It will be available on iOS and Android.
“The application is going to be like Apple Music and other awesome platforms that are far beyond what I’m doing right now. It’ll be just like those ones. You see who you want to listen to, you press it, you hear an ad, you hear high quality music. My music is not going to be downgraded to save space. Every single artist that you want to listen to is going to have their own unique platform.”
Lewis is also developing a portable music player device in partnership with Alibaba as part of research and development efforts.
Beyond music, Griiim operates several platforms including including Griiim Stars, a patent-pending service allowing people to contact celebrities through guaranteed delivery of messages for a fee. He has successfully connected clients with figures like Singer/Rapper/Songwriter/TV Presenter William Ray Norwood Jr. (known as Ray J), charging fees based on the certainty of delivery.
Lewis is actively involved in promoting content creation in Flint through partnerships with organizations like 100K Ideas, which he noted is excellent for helping people develop entrepreneurial skills in live streaming and digital marketing.
Lewis shared that he did a lot of networking with other business people at local art gallery Buckham Gallery, as well.
He also recently met with Popular American Kick Streamer Dean the Great and others at Shields’ boxing events and is exploring a boxing promotion venture with Fighter Jung Chan-sung, known as the Korean Zombie and Professional Boxing Coach Elgin.
His personal interests include modeling and combat sports, and he has employed unconventional marketing strategies like guerrilla marketing with markers and business cards in downtown Flint. He told the Courier that he learned he enjoyed getting his photo taken more than he liked getting bruised up.
“So I have spent a lot of time talking to really popular people. Like I’ve had long conversations with Mike Epps, Lil Boosie, I think Paris Hilton once.”
Lewis emphasized the importance of creative entrepreneurship, describing himself as naturally entrepreneurial since childhood, when he sold bubble gum in middle school.
He advocates for accessible business methods that don’t require significant capital, encouraging people to pursue their ideas through renegade marketing tactics and grassroots efforts.
To learn more about Griiim Marketing or Dusable Lewis Jr., visit https://www.griiim.com/
