HOLLYWOOD—A young man with a dream reaching for the prize! HELLO AMERICA! There is much said about our young people today, both bad and good. However, when one really examines what most of them were born into, then the picture takes on a very positive, exciting hue. When you consider constant warfare, cultural exchanges which affect every facet of American life, the global race to take command of world trade and the Internet that has reduced us all to a small village, the fallout of all this is a new race of youngsters who are set on creating, controlling, taking command of their lives and exploring every possible way to become supreme winners.

Shane Robinson without a doubt is a fine example of his generation. When speaking with him, my admiration, respect, and yes, a kind of envy took place. I suddenly realized that we have nothing to worry about with this generation of young people - their gifts, creative instincts and determination to build on the American dream is a powerful one.

MSJ-Shane, you are the son of television and film actor Chris Robinson. Did that in any way influence your decision to become a part of the entertainment industry?

SR-“I’ve always loved film and movies and grew up collecting an incredible amount of music too. To this day my brothers and I have entire conversations where it is just one movie quote after another, so film and entertainment have always been big to us and I don’t doubt my dad and growing up close to the industry influenced that. To be honest, though, growing up I never had any interest getting into acting, specifically. It’s kind of funny to recall, but I can remember him trying to get me to go to auditions with him, and, truthfully, I’d only go because he’d motivate me with a Game Boy or something like that. I suppose performing was never really my thing back then. I have always loved story writing though and wrote stories for many years on my own or for friends."

“The behind-the-scenes realm of the industry has always fascinated me, especially the notion of seeing my imagination and ideas become tangible. But it’s that same feeling of creating something that has also always drawn me to entrepreneurship, and of course it’s also why I’m running my own business today (SOLETRON!). To answer your question though, he definitely inspired me in many ways and without a doubt influenced the career decisions I have made. He’s an extremely independent and adventurous guy, (very stubborn and eccentric too as you can attest to!), who’s done everything from direct and star in his own films and run his own businesses to being an accomplished archaeologist and Native American rights advocate. It’s that unique adventurism about him and the fact that he has so many complex traits that I think made acting really the perfect profession for him because I think he really mentally connects with the characters he has to play. And I think those same personal traits are also what made me want to go out and experience different adventures and journeys of my own. Will those journeys eventually take me deeper into entertainment? I don’t know, but I’ll never say never.”

MSJ-How did you view the industry as a young kid? Was it something that seemed exciting or simply a world of fantasy?

SR-“Both my mom and dad have always worked in the industry, and they frequently took my brothers and me to the sets with them. I think as a result, I was never particularly mesmerized by the industry, but that’s because Hollywood was literally the only notion I had of a 'working world.' I’ve been far removed from the industry since then. I was a soldier in the Army, worked on Wall Street and lived abroad in China twice, all of which are worlds apart from the entertainment business in a lot of respects. My business now has considerable overlap in the entertainment industry though, and we work a lot with hip hop stars, fashion designers and artists. It’s kind of ironic but now more than ever before do I really understand why there’s so much mysticism surrounding the industry. I also now really respect that it takes an extraordinary amount of talent to make it in the entertainment industry. What is most fascinating to me is that unlike so many other industries, great talent and trends in the entertainment business can literally come out of nowhere, regardless of your background, whether you are a newcomer or a second-chancer, or someone that was born and raised on sets – if you’ve got something special that people want to see, none of that matters.”

MSJ-Watching and listening to grown-ups around you, what was your view of the world as a young kid?

SR-“I was fortunate to be blessed with parents who were always fantastically supportive and encouraging, and as a result I grew up with a very strong belief in my ability to succeed and that the world was full of opportunity if I looked for it and worked hard. I feel so fortunate because I know that in a lot of cases, parents and other adults in children’s lives can be very discouraging, which is often either done in attempt to set realistic expectations or is the result of the elders having tough upbringings themselves. In fact, in film, it seems the quintessential success story is one in which older generations tell the hero that he or she will never make it. Fortunately that just wasn’t the influence I had from older people I knew, especially my parents."

“My parents did go through a pretty rough divorce when I was a young kid, and it lasted for years. Sometimes it was very hard on me, especially as the oldest child…but I actually believe that my experiences with their relationship – although it was unfortunate situation – really tuned me in to and gave me a deep understanding of love and family, and also of responsibility and caution. Despite their more than obvious irreconcilable differences, both my parents have always shared an incredibly strong sense of self-respect, passion, discipline and optimism when it came to their careers and especially when it came to us kids. Despite the turmoil, I really can’t think of a time that I ever didn’t have very positive view of my life, because in their separate ways, they always instilled in me the type of self-confidence that made me feel like I could literally be the best at whatever it was that I wanted to pursue.”

MSJ-Was your time at West Point an eye-opener to certain realities that you never confronted before? If so, how did it change your life and your point of view of survival?

SR-“My experience at West Point was slightly different than the majority of other cadets there because I was actually an enlisted soldier in the Army before I attended West Point (most cadets there come in straight out of high school). So the eye-opening experience, if you can call it that, really began when I enlisted at 18. I think other armed forces members may be able to relate to this, but what impacted me most about my time in the military were the friends I made. They really are, and will always be, brothers to me. In the military, and at West Point, you really learn the importance of trust and friendship. The most special people that I’ve met, places I’ve traveled to and things I’ve experienced have been as a result of that personal network.”

MSJ-What is success to you?

SR-“Success is consistently accomplishing interdependent objectives towards the achievement of a higher, related goal. Success comes in varying degrees, and I think the highest degree is attained when, through the achievement of that higher goal, you have forced self-improvement and are doing something that you truly love. But I think that last part is often the hardest part to get right.”

MSJ-Your current business involves online sales. What made you go in that direction?

SR-“The online business and tech industry in general is a fascinating industry because you can reach customers anywhere in the world instantly and at any time – this is what makes it such a high growth and exciting industry in which to work. Speaking from experience, within my company’s first three months of existence, we were already getting visitors from nearly 200 countries, without having spent a dollar on advertising, and that’s because in the online world, things can go viral very quickly – sometimes overnight. The reality is a lot of the time you just can’t generate that type of momentum at that speed with a brick and mortar startup company. Another thing is customer interaction…being online allows you to really communicate and engage your fans and customers in so many interesting ways, and in real time.”

MSJ-Millions of people are drawn to this type of endeavor. What is the attraction? Is it simply the challenge or what?

SR-“Starting my own business is something that I have always wanted to do. In fact, I can remember carrying a journal with me when I was in the Army – I’d be on a deployment, in the woods, jotting down random business or invention ideas, but I never quite knew when the day would come that I’d feel ready to take the leap…it’s risky for sure. Luckily I have a great partner, A.J. Steigman, who helped me to take the leap and who felt the same way…it’s all about 'building the Lego set' as he personally puts it. At the end of the day, it really is all about creating, and that means a lot of different things to me – creating a product that people love because it makes their lives better (even if to just the slightest degree), creating a culture for employees where they really love coming to work and believe that the company has their best interests in mind, and lastly creating your own destiny. 'You’re the master of your own universe' has been one of the things I’ve always told myself."

“Another thing that motivated me was the negative things I experienced working for a big corporation. Don’t get me wrong, I met some absolutely great people along the way, but there were some major flaws, particularly around corporate culture and the perception of what motivates people at some of those places, and I knew that I wanted to create an environment that was nimble, efficient and that genuinely inspired the people who worked there."

"As for why I chose this industry, that’s easy. I love it personally. The people are passionate and love to create their products. It’s an entertaining environment where there is a lot of overlap with various forms of media. And it’s what I know. I grew up inspired by the products and the people they often typify and have a lot of friends and contacts that work in this industry, which is also what makes it easier for me to look at my business from a customer’s perspective"

“Right now is also a terrific time for the street wear (and hip hop) market, as it represents one of the fastest growing and largest segments of the overall retail and apparel industry, so from a business perspective there’s a lot of reason to want to get involved. At Soletron, we’ve got a lot of exciting things cooking, and the small blog, www.soletron.com, which is currently live, is really only the tip of the iceberg for us and our fans. Soletron’s management and advisory team consists of the former CEO of Adobe, the founder of AND1 Basketball, and Super Bowl MVP Santonio Holmes. Brands from all over the world have signed up to sell on the site, and we also recently formed a strategic partnership with the leading street fashion website in China, Kidulty [kidulty.com]. Lots of people work very hard every day to make our wheels turn.”

MSJ-You seem to gravitate to charity endeavors, helping poor and struggling people from third world countries, such as Africa. What is that all about and what influenced your interest?

SR-“Admittedly, my sole focus is not on charity, but I am a very big believer in giving less fortunate individuals a fair crack at life. Happening by chance to be born into a third world country like some in Africa or Western China for example, is unavoidable and isn’t the result of poor decisions or lifestyle choices. Those individuals legitimately deserve help, and I think we all have a responsibility to see that they get it – regardless of your stance on other charitable causes."

“My partner and I do make a conscious effort to contribute as much as we can through our business, Soletron. Soletron.com gets visitors from nearly 200 countries each month, and we actively use our reach to help raise awareness for various charitable causes such as the III and Long Foundation [santonioholmes.tv/iii-long-foundation], which our business partner Santonio Holmes started for Sickle Cell Disease, and the African Equity Fund [africanequity.org/], which helps provide jobs to people throughout Africa, just to name a couple specific ones. We also have made an ongoing effort to help promote fundraisers for the recent disaster in Japan, which we did in partnership with some of our designer-partners in NYC, including the very talented Old-Soulz crew [old-soulz.com].”

MSJ-If you had the power to create your own perfect world, what kind of world would that be?

SR-“Really?? Feel like I’m in a beauty pageant now in a perfect world, everyone would hold themselves accountable for their own actions and personally charge themselves with following through on their words and making their lives a constant pursuit of self-improvement. I also think people need to chill out. You can’t take things too seriously. Gotta make it a point to have some fun every day.”

MSJ-When you’re alone and look at yourself in the mirror, what do you see?

SR-“I try not to spend a lot of time looking into the mirror if I’m not brushing my teeth or shaving! And even when I am doing those things, I’m usually thinking about everything that needs to be done during the day, the week, the month! Ironically, it’s not exactly a reflective time.”