Ayo Gordon is an entrepreneur, property investor, public speaker and mentor. From unprivileged beginnings, being raised by his single mother on two council housing estates in South London, Ayo decided that he wanted more than the life he saw around him.
Growing up as an only child and having his dad unexpectedly leave when he was still a toddler left things difficult, especially being without money and in a one bedroom flat where his mum slept in the living room. Ayo was bullied, kicked out of school and fostered for a period of time whilst his mum was in jail.
During his teenage years, after dropping out of an IT course at Lambeth College, Ayo decided to enrol into a music course at the Islington Music Workshop (IMW). However, after realising that the course was mainly theory based, he decided not to continue. Ayo was eager to get into the practical side of music rather and so immediately setup a studio in his bedroom where he began his music career. Initially, Ayo started off as a DJ for a group called Fully Equipt, but needed a way to earn additional money so he also began working for a company selling charity subscriptions door to door. Although Ayo had built up his own team and managed to do well, he left the job to give music his 100% dedication. He eventually began rapping and producing, selling over 14000 mix tapes and touring the UK with a live five piece band. After getting a real taste of the business, Ayo decided he only wanted to produce and formed a production duo with his keyboard player, Jonathon Holder ‘TheWizard’.
Over the years Ayo and Jonathon worked with artists such as So Solid Crew, Katy B, JLS, Gabrielle Alpin and many others. They eventually began working with Island Records at Universal, which was great, but after many disappointments and the influence of peer pressure around him, Ayo found himself heading down the wrong path in life in order to make extra money. Eventually, Ayo decided to completely detour from music as he felt there must be better ways to become richer faster and did not want to end up broke at thirty.